The Associated Press has informed their readers that any fluctuation of live results on election night are completely normal, and nothing to worry about.
In an explainer article written by “misinformation” reporter Ali Swenson, the Associated Press reminded readers that if live election results change and “fluctuate,” the most likely reason for that happening is down to “typos,” which they explained is “not a big deal”:
“Why might live election results fluctuate? The short answer: People make typos sometimes. As local election offices across the U.S. count millions of votes on election night, they share the results with polling firms, which transmit them to viewers watching live on their TV, laptop or phone screens. Along the way, humans reporting these results occasionally transpose two digits, add an extra zero or swap candidate tallies, causing false vote counts to temporarily appear in news graphics and social media updates.”
EXPLAINER: People reporting election results occasionally transpose two digits or swap candidate tallies by mistake.
Fortunately, election offices and polling firms have quality control measures to ensure this happens rarely and gets fixed quickly.https://t.co/PuLaaP1631
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) October 26, 2022
Swenson wrote that any “small mistakes” posted on election night are “not a sign of anything nefarious,” and that due to “quality control measures in election offices and polling firms,” any errors that do occur get fixed “quickly”:
“In elections offices, clerks test voting equipment before voting begins to ensure tabulators are functioning properly. On Election Day, poll workers report any issues with results, such as differences between the number of voters who cast a ballot and the number of votes recorded. After voting is complete, officials use canvass and certification processes to continue hunting for discrepancies and verify tallies. Companies that track down these local election results and share them with media outlets on election night also have safeguards in place to catch errors. These measures include questioning unusual data, using computer software to identify discrepancies and employing quality control analysts to check the numbers.”
The report cited a quote from Rob Farbman, the Executive Vice President of Edison Research, a company that provides live data to ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, said that they have a “quality control” process, with two people looking at the vote count as it comes in, fixing any “inevitable” errors that come up.
Commenters on Twitter were concerned with the post, with the Hodge Twins saying that the news group were “lying,” and Republican David Giglio arguing that it was “crazy” that this “completely ‘normal’ phenomenon never happened until 2020 and now we are… told to pretend like it has always happened,” slamming the article as “Newspeak.”
At least theyre consistent.
— Allen Ivermecterson (@JUNKY_to_CHUNKY) October 26, 2022
Let's hope the votes for our side is enough to overcome what's coming. You know, the thing…
— Emerald Seeker (@AaronRattler8) October 26, 2022
Last month, left-wing website Politico warned Americans that they may not know the results of the midterms for days, or even weeks, after the election happens, mostly caused by pandemic-era mail-in voting still being available across a number of states.
“Many of the same factors” as the 2020 election “are at play in 2020,” Politico explained. “Add in the continued popularity of mail voting and state laws in Pennsylvania and elsewhere that can delay processing of those ballots, and the chance of another waiting game is distinct — possibly with control of the Senate up in the air.”
This news and commentary by Jack Hadfield originally appeared on Valiant News.
