In todays US elections final results might take several days to emerge due to a one-of-a-kind system where news-outlets announce winners. The Associated Press leads this non-official but well-established process which differs from most democratic nations election procedures
The practice doesnt have any legal standing: its just a work-around solution for Americas huge size and diverse state rules. Back in mid-19th century states could pick voting dates between nov-dec until the government made a single election day (a change that happened about 179 years ago)
The Associated Press started result-calling when telegraph lines first spread across America: they forecast electoral college outcomes which determine the president. This method helps deal with slow vote-counting in a country where each state follows its own vote-counting rules; meanwhile other big democracies like the UK or France finish counting in just hours
The US ballot system is extra-complex because it includes many positions at once:
- Presidential race
- Congress seats
- State officials
- Local school boards
- County positions
This step-by-step result release (instead of one big announcement) sometimes creates issues — like the protest about 24 years ago or when Donald Trump demanded to “stop counting“ roughly 4 years ago