EXPLAINER: Why might live election results fluctuate?Associated Press, Oct 25, 2022
Why might live election results fluctuate?
The short answer: People make typos sometimes.
As local election offices across the U.S. count millions of votes on election night, they share the results with polling firms, which transmit them to viewers watching live on their TV, laptop or phone screens.
Along the way, humans reporting these results occasionally transpose two digits, add an extra zero or swap candidate tallies, causing false vote counts to temporarily appear in news graphics and social media updates.
Here’s why that’s not a big deal:
CAUGHT! ... FIXING AN ERRORIn recent years, hawk-eyed viewers at home have noticed some of these brief election-night slip-ups and used them to falsely claim they’d caught TV networks or election offices switching or deleting votes to rig the results.
However, these small mistakes are not a sign of anything nefarious — and fortunately, quality control measures in election offices and polling firms ensure they happen rarely and get fixed quickly.
More:
https://apnews.com/article/why-election-results-change-18343a391f9ccd143f4c0189d6bcd31e
