South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Here’s how the Sun Sentinel is covering the 2020 election
Months of planning has gone into what is the Super Bowl for newsrooms
ElectionNight is the Super Bowl for newsrooms. The South Florida Sun Sentinel has been planning for months how to cover the biggest event of the year. We thought it important to explain the details behind the stories youwill see in our coverage.
Q: Howis the SunSentinel covering the 2020 election?
The Sun Sentinel has a team of reporters, visual journalists, editors and opinion writers covering the local, state and federal races this year fromall angles. We also have teams to cover the voting process, including early and mail-in voting; a team focusing on disenfranchisement, suppression and misinformation; and street teams prepared to cover demonstrations if necessary. Journalists will fan out across the region on ElectionDay,
Nov. 3, to bring youthe results and reaction. Onelection night, our staffreporters will be covering local and state races, andwe will use the Associated Press and other wire services forsomefederal races and the presidential election. We are ready for other scenarios, such as a contested election or a recount.
You’llfindall thenewsstories and editorial endorsements written over the past severalweeks in our onlineVoters Guide at sunsentinel.com/2020.
Q: Whereis thedatacoming from for results on election night?
TheSunSentinel reliesupon results provided directly by county electionsoffices, the state division of elections and the Associated Press for results outside our region.
Q: Whointhenewsroom declares the winners when the races are close and all the votes aren’tyetcounted?
TheSunSentinel generally relies onthe AssociatedPress to call state andnational races. We also consider what other major news organizations are reporting before we declare a winner, especially for the presidential election. For local races, it basically is amatter ofmath: editors check the results to see if any candidate has an insurmountable lead. Until that happens, races are considered too close to call. We arenever in a hurry to call a race before the outcome is clear.
Q: WilltheSunSentinel declareawinnerinthepresidentialelectiononelection night?
This year, inparticular, we might justhave towait andsee. It all will depend onhowclose the race is and whether a candidate has obtained the necessary 270 electoral college votes to win. In Florida, voters havetwodays after the election tofixmail-in ballots rejected for mismatched signatures. Final results in other swing states could take evenlonger as someofthemarenot allowedto begin counting mail-in votes until
ElectionDay.
Q: How often will the election resultsbeupdated?
Thefirst results are usually released shortly after thepolls close at 7p.m. ESTand consist of the mail-in balloting and early voting that happened before ElectionDay. Thewestern part of the Panhandle isonCentral time, so the first results fromthose counties don’t comeinuntil 8p.m. EST. Somecounties can finish within a couple of hours, while other more populous ones, especially those herein South Florida, can take longer. Longlines can complicate the situation. State lawsays if a person is inline by 7p.m. local time, whenpolls are scheduled to close, they stillmust be allowedto vote. So that polling station stays open, delaying its results.
Q: What are the different ways to get the most updated results on election night?
Come to sun sentinel. com on ElectionNight or download our SunSentinel app andwatch thenumbersroll inas they are updated. Individual county electionwebsites also post the numbers, asdoes the state division of elections. Thestate site tends to lag behindwhatyoucan see at the county level, and it will not put out any results until the final polls close in thePanhandle at 8p.m. EST. Still, during the primary, the results ofsomelocal raceswere knownless than an hour after the polls closed, thanks to the massive influx in early voting– andthe ability of the counties to release those results quickly.
Q: What’s thedifference betweentheSunSentinel’s EditorialBoardandthenewsroom?
A: Thenewsroomconsists of reporters, visual journalists and editorswhosejobs are to gather information and reportnews stories ina fair, impartialmanner. TheEditorial Boardis a separate groupof peoplewhosejob is to produce opinion content, including columns, letters to the editor and editorials, whichexpress the SunSentinel’s institutional opinion. TheEditorial Board’s views donot influencehowthe newsroomreports or covers stories.
Q: Who decides the Sun Sentinel’ s candidate endorsements?
A: Election endorsements are the opinion of the SunSentinel Editorial Board, whichconsists of Opinion Editor Rosemary O’ Hara, deputy opinion editorDan Sweeney, columnist Steve Bousquet, and the Editor-in-Chief. I did not weigh inonthe endorsements this cycle, leaving it to the full-time opinion staff. Decisions are typically reached through a consensus, though some Editorial Board membersmay ultimately disagree with the outcome.
Q: Do newsroom reporters take part in Editorial Board candidate interviews?
A: Yes. Newsreporters are allowedto listen to interviews to collect information fornews stories, but theydonot participate in the Editorial Board’sprocess of selecting a candidate for an endorsement. Thecandidates’ answers to our interview questionnaire, whichwe askthemto submit prior to the endorsement interviews, are available within each endorsement article if the candidates completed them.