As results come in throughout the night (and possibly beyond), it's important to remember that NPR is not calling any races. We rely on race calls from the Associated Press.
The AP doesn't "project" winners as many TV networks do, so their results may take longer.
The AP's Decision Desk is made up of election analysts, researchers and dedicated race callers, described by AP as "employees who are deeply familiar with the states where they declare winners."
And race calls, the AP says, are based on provable facts, primarily from the AP’s vote count, which is compiled from state and local election offices around the nation.
As the AP explains: "All of this reporting and analysis is aimed at determining the answer to a single question: Can the trailing candidates catch the leader? Only when the answer is an unquestionable 'no' is the race is ready to be called."
So how come the AP has called some races as soon as that state's polls have closed, and in other cases decided not to call a race at all? Read more about the process here.
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