As the world watches the United States count its votes for President and Congressional representatives, the election season has provided many lessons in democracy. Voting and ballot counting went smoothly, despite a challenging and contentious campaign. The high voter turnout shows that Americans care deeply about issues that affect them and want to participate in democracy.
However, as the 2024 elections demonstrate, there are still challenges in making sure that all valid votes are counted and that the results accurately reflect the preferences of the electorate. In addition, it is essential to communicate clearly with voters about the process and provide timely, accurate and transparent election results.
This is an especially critical task for electoral systems that use the ranked choice vote (RCV). As the FT notes, 2024 has been a graveyard for incumbent parties defending their record in government—everyone from Vice President Kamala Harris to the British Conservatives has suffered a catastrophic drop in their share of the vote.
The EAC hosted a conversation this week to discuss the challenges of reporting and predicting election results. The panelists, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, and AP Senior Vice President and Managing Editor Brian Carovillano, discussed how to avoid misinformation and disinformation, managing expectations, determining unofficial election night results, ballots received after election day, and audits. The full recording can be viewed here.