Election 2024-Explaining Election Day, Digest

EDITORS:

Democracy in America is complicated.

In this year's November general election, voters nationwide will cast roughly 160 million ballots — in several different ways — to pick a president, hundreds of members of Congress and thousands of members of state legislatures, city councils and any number of statewide and local offices. This year's election comes at a moment in the nation's history when the very basics of how America votes is challenged as never before by disinformation and distrust.

To help make sense of the way America picks a president, The Associated Press offers the following package of stories examining and explaining the ins and outs of U.S. elections as the country moves from the campaign season to Election Day to certification and inauguration. The package also includes explanatory stories that cover the role AP plays in counting the vote and declaring winners after polls close.

All stories will be published on Tuesday, Oct. 8, and are available for use any time thereafter. Find all of the AP's Elections content on the U.S. Election 2024 hub on APNewsroom. Find our latest plans on Coverage Plan.

Questions may be directed to Shelley Acoca at sacoca@ap.org.

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ELECTIONS TOP 25

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-TOP 25 — From Shenna Bellows to Brian Kemp and dropboxes to the Election Systems & Software DS200, these are the Top 25 people, places, races, dates and things to know about Election Day. By The Associated Press.

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EXPLAINING ELECTION DAY

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-HOW AMERICA VOTES — American elections are messy: human exercises conducted by thousands of election officials and volunteers in thousands of jurisdictions nationwide, where roughly 160 million ballots will decide a presidential race that might be determined by a tiny fraction of those votes. Yet that messy, uniquely American system reliably produces certified outcomes that stand up to scrutiny, even in an era of misinformation and hyper-partisanship. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-PROPHETS — Eager to know who will win the White House, America has embraced a handful of modern day prophets who use polling averages, predictive modeling and betting markets to tell voters what might happen on Election Day. They will all tell you not to place so much faith in their predictions of the future. By Leah Askarinam. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-EDGE CASES — Think America conducts its elections more or less the same way from state to state? Think again. A look at the many, many ways in which voters cast ballots and officials count votes on the way to picking a president. By Maya Sweedler. UPCOMING. Photos, video. With: ELECTION 2024-KEY DATES.

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ADVANCE VOTING

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-HOW WE VOTE — There was a time when almost everyone cast their ballots in person at a neighborhood polling place on Election Day. This year, the ballots of most voters will be in the box before polls even open. A history of how the act of voting has changed and, along the way, become a partisan issue. By Robert Yoon and Maya Sweedler. UPCOMING. Photos, video. With: ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-HOW WE VOTE-GLANCE.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-WHO CAN VOTE — Eligibility to vote varies from state to state, each setting their own rules governing everything from age, whether you can be a felon, the need to provide a photo ID and, most recently, whether noncitizens may cast a ballot. By David Lieb. UPCOMING: Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-HAND COUNTING — Donald Trump and many local Republican elected officials say they want to count ballots by hand rather than trust machines to tabulate the vote. But hand-counting is actually more prone to error, delays results and requires an intensive and costly staffing effort. Research has shown that using hand counts for every vote on every ballot would actually increase the chances for mistakes and fraud. By Christine Fernando. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-VOTING MACHINES — Voting machines have been at the center of a web of conspiracy theories that erupted after the 2020 election, with false claims that they were manipulated to steal the presidency from Donald Trump. There was no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines in that election, and multiple reviews in the battleground states where Trump disputed his loss confirmed the results as accurate. By Christina A. Cassidy. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

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POLLS AND SURVEYS

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-POLL SAMPLING — Chances are, you’ve never been contacted for an election poll. But the dozens of high-quality election polls that will be released before Election Day still represent a reasonable estimate — and it's just that, an estimate — of the opinions of all Americans. By Linley Sanders. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-THE HORSERACE — The presidential race is close. And that might be about as much as polls are able to tell us this year, when the number of truly persuadable voters is relatively small. The tiny margins of an especially tight race are simply beyond the scientific capabilities of even the best surveys to assess with pinpoint precision. By Linley Sanders. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-AP VOTECAST — On election night, the opinions of the American electorate and what issues proved decisive to voters will come from surveys of voters taken as they cast their ballot. At the Associated Press, that survey is called AP VoteCast, and it helps AP and other media organizations explain the “why” of Election Day. By Linley Sanders. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

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COUNTING THE VOTE

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-LIKE A PRO — A guide to watching election results like an elections professional. By Leah Askarinam. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-WHY THE WAIT — It took Florida and California just minutes after polls closed to start reporting results in the 2020 presidential election. Florida finished a few hours later. It took California a few weeks. Why such a difference? It comes down to different choices two of the nation’s largest states make on what to prioritize when counting the vote. By Maya Sweedler. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-BELLWETHERS — The important bellwethers of American elections go beyond just the tightest counties. That’s because modern elections are not decided just by swing voters, but also who shows up to vote and where. The bellwether counties to watch include everything from big Democratic cities to Republican-leaning suburbs, plus sprawling counties that include a little bit of everything. By Maya Sweedler. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-COUNTING THE VOTE — In a nation without a single government agency to handle the mechanics of democracy, The Associated Press has been tallying results in U.S. elections since 1848. In broad strokes, the process is the same today as it was then: AP collects election results at a local level, then adds them all up so America can know as soon as possible who has won. By Maya Sweedler. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-LIVE STREAMS — It may not be the most riveting video but live streams of the 2024 election are already online, making a patchwork of feeds across the country as elections officials aim to demystify how votes are cast and ballots are counted. By Mike Catalini. UPCOMING: Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-VOTER FRAUD — Voter fraud does happen, but it’s rare, gets caught and can end with a felony conviction. Perhaps most importantly, there is no instance in modern times of any widespread, systemic fraud throwing an election. The nation’s multilayered election processes provide numerous safeguards that allow election officials to detect any signs of fraud. By Ali Swenson. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

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DECLARING WINNERS

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-DECISION DESKS — Why does the media play such an outsized role in American elections, counting the vote and declaring winners long before election officials certify the official results weeks after Election Day? By Robert Yoon. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-RACE CALLS — One question will be asked over and over again on election night: who won? The Associated Press will answer that question for nearly 7,000 races across the country and up and down the ballot, from president to state ballot measures to a variety of local offices. By Robert Yoon. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-POLL CLOSE CALLS — Some winners will be declared as soon as polls close on Election Day, a decades-old practice that combines voter survey and a state's political history to jump ahead of the vote count. By Robert Yoon. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-TURNOUT — The most important data point when it comes to calling races and declaring winners on election night is also the most elusive: just how many people turned out to vote? By Robert Yoon. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

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CERTIFICATION TO INAUGURATION

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ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-RANKED CHOICE — Two states and the nation's largest city will pick winners in November using ranked choice voting, an increasingly popular approach to elections that allows voters to cast a ballot based on their preference among many candidates rather than their single choice for just one. By David Sharp and Maya Sweedler. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-RECOUNTS — There will undoubtedly be elections this November so close that officials will have to recount the votes. But while they might offer hope, recounts rarely change the outcome of an election — even when the margins are very close. By Stephen Ohlemacher. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-LEGAL CHALLENGES — There's no formal role for the U.S. court system in American elections, but ever since the nation's top court stepped into the process in 2000 with a decision that made George W. Bush president, judges have increasingly found themselves involved in Election Day. By Lindsay Whitehurst. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-CERTIFICATION — Results reported on Election Day are unofficial until certification, a once uneventful process of vote count review (and some pomp and circumstance) that has become overtly political in some places following Donald Trump's loss four years ago. By Nicholas Riccardi. UPCOMING. Photos.

ELECTION 2024-EXPLAINER-ELECTORAL COLLEGE — Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. So did George W. Bush in 2000. Neither won the popular vote. What put them in power was the Electoral College, a creation of the framers that lives on today. By Mary Clare Jalonick. UPCOMING. Photos, video.

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HOW TO REACH US

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The European Union's top court said Friday that some FIFA rules on player transfers are contrary to European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement, in a ruling that will likely lead to a shakeup of the soccer market's regulations and could change the sport's economy.

The European Court of Justice's ruling came after former France international Lassana Diarra legally challenged FIFA rules following a dispute with a club dating back to a decade ago. Diarra argued that FIFA's restrictions meant he was unable to find a new club after his contract with Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow was terminated in 2014.

FIFA's rules state that if a player terminates his contract without “just cause," the player and any club wishing to sign him are jointly liable for paying compensation to the previous club.

“Those rules hinder the free movement of players and competition between clubs,” the court said in a statement. “The rules in question are such as to impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club.”

The ruling is seen as crucial because it could make it easier for players to terminate their contracts and join another team – potentially leading to a scenario where bigger clubs could more easily poach players from smaller rivals.

The global players’ union FIFPro, which had supported Diarra's case, said the ruling “will change the landscape of professional football.”

However, it could take a couple of years before any changes to the system go into effect as Friday’s ruling is part of a Belgian court case that is still ongoing.

And although the ruling was seen as a defeat for FIFA, the court recognized that the current transfer regulations can also be necessary to help maintain a form of stability within professional squads and guarantee the regularity of competitions.

FIFA said it would “analyze the decision in coordination with other stakeholders before commenting further.”

Diarra's lawyers called the ruling a “total victory” after a long-running legal battle.

Diarra had signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2013 but the deal was terminated a year later after Diarra was unhappy with alleged pay cuts. Lokomotiv Moscow applied to the FIFA dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the player submitted a counterclaim seeking compensation for unpaid wages.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the Russian club and the player was ordered to pay 10.5 million euros ($11.2 million). Diarra claimed his search for a new club was hampered by FIFA's rules stipulating that any new side would be jointly responsible with him for paying compensation to Lokomotiv.

The former Real Madrid player also argued that a potential deal with Belgian club Charleroi fell through because of the FIFA rules, and sued FIFA and the Belgian federation at a Belgian court for damages and loss of earnings of six million euros ($7 million). With the lawsuit still going through Belgian courts, the case was referred to the European Court of Justice for guidance.

In Friday's ruling, the court added that current rules “impose considerable legal risks, unforeseeable and potentially very high financial risks as well as major sporting risks on those players and clubs wishing to employ them which, taken together, are such as to impede international transfers of those players.”

It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling will have on players and leagues more broadly, but some analysts have compared it to the ECJ’s 1995 decision on Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman.

That ruling removed restrictions placed on foreign EU players within national leagues and allowed players in the bloc to move to another club for free when their contracts ended.

That ruling ultimately skewed the player trading market in favor of wealthier clubs in western Europe who could lure free agents with big salaries and avoided paying transfer fees that many smaller clubs relied on.

If FIFA introduces rules making it easier for player to terminate their contracts and join new clubs when they want, the whole system of transfers largely based on transfer fees could be challenged, with clubs less tempted to invest millions in players with more freedom to leave.

But it could also give more power to the richest clubs capable of luring players with gigantic salary offers.

“All professional players have been affected by these illegal rules and can therefore now seek compensation for their losses,” Diarra's lawyers claimed in a statement.

The Diarra case went through FIFA judicial bodies before the 2016 election of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has made it a priority to modernize transfer market rules. During the progress of the Diarra case, FIFA indicated it is open to a wide-ranging consultation with unions, clubs and leagues to address the courts’ opinions.

FIFA said the ruling “only puts in question two paragraphs of two articles of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, which the national court is now invited to consider.”

Concerning competition rules, the court slammed FIFA's rulings for restricting and preventing cross-border competition between European clubs.

“The Court recalls that the possibility of competing by recruiting trained players plays an essential role in the professional football sector and that rules which place a general restriction on that form of competition, by immutably fixing the distribution of workers between the employers and in cloistering the markets, are similar to a no-poach agreement," it said.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.

FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Sept. 14, 2018, Paris-Saint-Germain player Lassana Diarra during a French League One soccer match against Saint-Etienne at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)