To mark the US election, the AP is conducting the world's largest journalistic effort

Long before the advent of the Internet, smartphones or social media, The Associated Press has been reporting the results of elections in the United States. Our fundamental role in American democracy – the greatest act of journalism in the world – dates back to 1848, when we called the White House for Zachary Taylor.

Today, nearly two centuries later, the AP remains the gold standard for trustworthy information on election night.

As a nonpartisan, independent global news organization, our mission is to provide fact-based information that helps voters make decisions at the ballot box. We have no political agenda or vested interest – we are solely focused on getting it right.

The AP will be available again on November 5th Name the race exactly Up and down, from the president to Congress to state and local elections in all 50 states. We will choose winners in 5,000 races held across the country without fear or favor, based only on the facts. In 2020, the AP got every election call for president, governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House correct — and over 99.9% correct overall. Although we aim to report results as quickly as possible, our main focus is on getting it right – no matter how long it may take.

This important work is being done against the backdrop of an electorate that is increasingly skeptical of the election results. A 2023 AP-NORC poll showed that only 44% of Americans say they are very confident that votes will be counted correctly in the 2024 presidential election.

This shows us that at AP we need to better explain and demystify the process.

So that's us. In addition to factual election coverage before, on and after election night, the AP is increasing its efforts to explain the election. We know that reporting results is not enough. We need to show our work – make it clear what numbers we came up with, where they came from and how we ensured their integrity. You have an obligation to be as transparent as possible in our race calling process.

This is, after all, something the AP has been doing for nearly two centuries. Since the early days of the Republic, elections in the United States have been conducted at the state and local levels; There is no federal body that counts the votes or divides the results. For this reason The AP stepped in to fill this gap shortly after our founding in 1846 – to independently report election results to the world.

We play a critical role in the American democratic process. We have met this responsibility through world wars and pandemics and political and social unrest. No organization has called elections longer than the AP.

We look forward to once again delivering results you can rely on. You can trust The Associated Press to get it right, just as we have for more than 170 years.