Hundreds of newsrooms across the country, including PBS News, will rely on the Associated Press to count votes and call winners on election night. In the U.S., each state has a chief election official and/or commission that oversees elections. Each state and the District of Columbia have different rules for running elections. The AP started counting votes in national, state and local elections in 1848, since the United States does not have a nationwide body that collects and releases election results to the public. This year, the AP's team is tracking more than 5,000 competitive races. Using the vote tallies along with survey data, the "expected vote," historical data and registration patterns, the AP will call a race once it is statistically certain only one person can win. To collect the vote tally, the AP will have around 4,000 reporters spread out across the U.S. at county election offices and voting precincts. There is also a team monitoring data feeds and election websites. For a general election, the AP also looks at data from its VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey it expects will include 120,000 people across all 50 states. AP's team will also look at the "expected vote," which is how far into the results a precinct is or the percentage of results available. All of that information along with historical data and registration patterns, are fed into the AP's analytical tools. "We're looking to know one thing. Can the trailing candidates catch up? And once we're certain that they can't, then that's when we call the race," the AP’s David Scott told PBS News' Lisa Desjardins last month. Accurately tallying the final results takes time and people power. It's not uncommon if some races aren't called on election night. In 2020, the AP called the presidential race for Joe Biden four days after Election Day. PBS News will have special coverage on election night with results and analysis. Tap the link in News Hour’s bio to see our live Electoral College calculator and track results. Photos by: Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images; David McNew via Getty Images; Jim Watson/ AFP via Getty Images. This was produced and edited by Steff Staples and Dan Cooney. #electionnight #election2024 #electionday #2024election #electoralcollege #pbsnews #newshour #pbsnewshour #electionday - @pbsnews