Why and how AP counts the vote for thousands of US elections

By MAYA SWEEDLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — There isn’t an easier way to count votes than to count the votes.

The Associated Press has been tallying results in national, state and local elections since 1848. In broad terms, the process is the same today as it was then: Vote count reporters collect election results at a local level as soon as polls close, then submit those results for the AP to collate, verify and report.

This year, AP will count the votes in about 5,000 contested races around the United States...