Kantakouzenos
Rookie
Posts: 74
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« on: February 04, 2017, 01:39:56 PM » |
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A few things nobody mentioned that might answer this question.
For one, I think everything is done on a state by state basis, meaning results in one state won't be used to extrapolate the results in another similar state or area. To give an example, if Indiana is called for the Democratic presidential candidate before polls close in Ohio (something that would probably only happen in a landslide Democratic victory) they still wouldn't call the race in Ohio, despite Ohio being similar to Indiana demographically, but less Republican leaning than Indiana is. Why that is? I don't really know. Also, I could be wrong on this point.
Secondly, unequal poll closing times. With a large geographic area, and no federal guidelines coordinating the state’s poll closing times, the poll closing times vary quite a lot. The earliest will usually be Eastern Kentucky, and most of Indiana closing their polls at 6:00 PM eastern standard time, ending with the Aleutian islands in Alaska closing theirs at 1:00 AM eastern standard time. With everything being done on a state by state basis, this guarantees that process takes longer. Also, some states have multiple poll closing times (like the aforementioned Kentucky and Indiana), and even if it is pretty obvious that a state will be won by a candidate before the other polls close, the networks won't make projections until the rest of the states polls close.
A third reason is that lines are a lot more common at many polling places. I heard that in most European countries, you basically never have to wait in line to vote. In America, you the average time you will spend in line to vote is 14 minutes, with 5% of people having to wait an hour or longer. Worth mentioning is that precincts with long lines one year will probably have long lines the next year, so getting results from key precincts could end up taking a long time.
Also, although it can’t be done as quickly as in other countries, the house of representatives can and very frequently has been projected early on before a majority of individual districts have been projected for a party.
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