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Ballotpedia:How we decide when to update vote totals on and after election night

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This page outlines Ballotpedia's policy on when to update vote totals on and after election night. Our policy varies depending on the type of office up for election and whether the election has battleground status:

  • Top-ballot races: Top-ballot races, which we define as elections for the U.S. Presidency, U.S. Congress, and state governorships, will receive updates to their vote totals on a daily basis until the election has been called.
  • Down-ballot battleground races: Down-ballot races that Ballotpedia has identified as battlegrounds will receive updates to their vote totals once every 72 hours until the election has been called.
  • Down-ballot non-battleground races: All other down-ballot races will receive a vote total update only once the election has been called.

Battleground races and elections for U.S. President, U.S. Congress, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state will be covered night-of by Ballotpedia. All other elections may be covered either night-of or the morning following the election.

Following the official certification of results, our vote totals are updated again to match the final official tally. Ballotpedia may, under its own discretion, update vote totals between an election being called and its certified vote totals being released.

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Ballotpedia policy explainers
Candidates and officeholders
Election coverage
How we choose battleground elections • How we cover primaries • How we order candidate lists • How we cover polls • How we cover endorsements • How we cover campaign finance and satellite spending • How we decide when to update vote totals on and after election night • How we decide when to call an election • How we decide when to cover a recall effort • How we cover election lawsuits and recounts • How we write ballot measure article titles • How we write original summaries of ballot measures • How we cover endorsements in support of or opposition to ballot measures • How we cover media editorial endorsements in support of or opposition to ballot measures • How we cover ballot measure campaign finance • How we calculate initiative signature petition costs • The Ballotpedia Power Index • How we handle court-ordered postponements of election dates and candidate filing deadlines
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