How Election Day Polls Track Voters and Their Choices

The Voter Poll combines interviews at polling places with surveys by phone, mail and online to include people who voted early or by mail as well as those casting ballots on Election Day. SSRS, an independent survey research firm, is collecting and processing the responses for seven news organizations, including NBC News, MS NOW and The Associated Press.

The project plans to reach about 100,000 voters, with a national sample exceeding 75,000 and samples in all 50 states. In-person interviewers work at randomly selected sites, offering questionnaires to voters as they leave. Surveys ask which candidates respondents supported, what shaped their decisions and when they made their choices. Some state questionnaires also cover Senate and governor’s races or ballot measures.

The results are processed as responses arrive and released in stages. The earliest estimates may appear at 5 p.m. Eastern time, but will not include answers that could indicate the result of a specific race. Candidate-choice results are held until voting is scheduled to end in each state; the Texas Senate results, for example, are due after polls close statewide at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

The polling organizations say the data can help explain which issues mattered to voters and how preferences differed among demographic groups. Results may change as additional responses are collected and incorporated. News organizations may also use some of the data to help assess election outcomes, while emphasizing its role in describing voters and their motivations.