What it's like covering Election Day at USA TODAY: See what happens hour by hour in our newsroom
5:40 a.m. ET: It's Election Day. We launch a blog to publish news updates. We'll update it continually. Politics Managing Editor Caren Bohan and Deputy Managing Editor Luciana Lopez and their team have been planning this day for months.
Millions of readers will find USA TODAY coverage from search engines. If you publish your blog early, it has all day to gain search strength, so when races start to be called in the evening, your work is prominent in search results.
We also want to answer reader questions and help voters to the polls. One of our first posts was a guide with the full rundown of when polling places open and when they close by state.
8:30 a.m.: During our morning news meeting, Senior Director Kristen DelGuzzi shares a Twitter thread of more than a dozen USA TODAY fact checks, including:
Colorado's mail-in ballots initiative is indeed constitutional, as no court has ruled otherwise.
People online are sharing a video claiming to show troops in Washington, D.C., ahead of midterm elections. But the video is actually from January 2021 in the wake of the Capitol riot.
People online have misinterpreted a Connecticut ballot initiative by falsely claiming it would reduce ballot security. It actually just removes an antiquated requirement to seal ballots with hot wax that wasn’t being followed.
"The more times people see or hear misinformation, the harder it becomes to set the record straight," DelGuzzi says. "Our journalists find the truth before a lie can take hold online."
10 a.m.: The USA TODAY Network has journalists in every battleground state. More than 200 reporters, editors and others are sharing tips in our internal chat. Their updates will appear in our live coverage on USA TODAY and news sites across the country.
In Philadelphia, reporter Candy Woodall writes that chaplains are working to ensure 3,500 ballots that have been set aside for address or date discrepancies will be counted. They are calling parishioners to come solve the problems.
11:32 a.m.: In Tallahassee, reporter Douglas Soule says Florida’s top election official said the state is not allowing federal monitors at polling locations in South Florida because it’s counter to state law and federal authorities failed to present evidence warranting such an action.
1:53 p.m.: Reno Gazette Journal reporter Jason Hidalgo checks in from Nevada, reporting high turnout despite snow. Reno resident Margaret Smith, a Democrat, said the weather couldn't keep her away. "I’m like the U.S. Postal Service – neither rain, sleet or snow will stop me,” Smith said. “(Voting) is that important.”
4:26 p.m.: Staffers start to assemble in our downtown Washington, D.C., bureau. Assistant Washington Editor Ledge King is loading the conference room with cookies, fruit and muffins. "Sugar up," he advises the newsroom. "But don't sugar down."
5:30 p.m.: Reporting fellow Eleanor McCrary reports that Guam elected its second Republican, James Moylan, to become its newest nonvoting House of Representatives delegate. This is our first result of the night. "You heard it here first. The red wave has started," says King, referring to polls that show Republican candidates poised to gain ground across the U.S.
7:14 p.m.: Amalie Nash, who heads our local news network, shares an early race call: "Rand Paul wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Kentucky." We rely on The Associated Press' team of analysts and researchers to name winners. "AP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners. If our race callers cannot definitively say a candidate has won, we do not engage in speculation," its election primer states. "Only when AP is fully confident a race has been won – defined most simply as the moment a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory – will we make a call."
If two or more credible news outlets project a winner, we will report that news as well and credit the projection to the two news organizations.
7:39 p.m.: SEO editor Bobby Shipman sends around a list of terms people are searching online: "(South Carolina Sen.) Tim Scott," "Indiana Senate race," "(Wisconsin Sen.) Ron Johnson," and "When is Biden out of office" are near the top. We often look at search terms to make sure we are answering readers' questions and covering topics of interest.
8 p.m.: Winners are flying in. Alerts are sent, posts updated, videos published, social graphics posted. The senators: Democrat Richard Blumenthal wins Connecticut. Republican Katie Britt wins Alabama. Republican Markwayne Mullin takes Oklahoma. And the governors: Republican incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis wins Florida. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker easily beats Republican challenger Darren Bailey.
8:30 p.m.: Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders wins governorship in Arkansas, the first woman to do so. Maura Healey, the attorney general of Massachusetts, is on track to become the first woman to be elected governor in the state and would then be one of the country’s first openly LGBTQ governors.
9 p.m.: Republican Kim Reynolds wins reelection for governor in Iowa. Republicans Jerry Moran (Kansas), John Hoeven (North Dakota) and John Thune (South Dakota) win their Senate races as well as New York Democrat Chuck Schumer.
9:05 p.m.: Planning editor Holly Moore walks the room handing out water bottles. "Hydrate, everyone, hydrate."
9:30 p.m.: White House reporter Francesca Chambers is writing about the top issue on voters' minds: the economy. Close behind, abortion. She's drinking coffee out of a chipped mug that says "Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics." She was on the student advisory board while at the University of Kansas. As she writes, she's "crushing Vitamin C chewables." She's due on Air Force One on Thursday to cover President Joe's Biden's trip to Asia. "I can't get sick," she says.
9:32 p.m.: Some polling places in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous, have tabulator issues. Voters can still deposit ballots, but they will be counted at a downtown Phoenix center, and top races are expected to be agonizingly close. A judge rejects an attempt to keep the polls open longer. Arizona Republic Editor Greg Burton sends us a picture of a designer working on the front page. It reads, "ARIZONA ANGST."
10 p.m.: "Polls just closed," King calls out. "Nevada; Utah." You can hear hissing sounds as cold soft drinks pop open.
10:30 p.m.: Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is projected to win reelection, besting former Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Democrat Josh Shapiro is projected as the winner for Pennsylvania governor.
10:54 p.m.: Republican J.D. Vance is projected winner in U.S. Senate race in Ohio. Minutes later, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom is reelected in California.
11:24 p.m.: A red wave doesn't appear to be materializing, reports White House reporter Joey Garrison, quoting Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
2:23 a.m: “Call it a red ripple, if you will,” deputy opinion editor/national columnist Suzette Hackney writes from Los Angeles in the final entry of our opinion analysis live blog.
2:28 a.m.: Georgia statewide reporter Abraham Kenmore pops into the chat to say the Georgia Senate race will go to a runoff. Cristina Silva, managing editor for nation, is editing from Los Angeles.
4 a.m.: Luciana Lopez is finally leaving the D.C. bureau, calling it a night. Politics editor Katie Wadington picks up where she left off.
At 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, we start a new live blog, readers still have questions, and millions of people will come to USA TODAY for the answers. We had more than 64 million election page views across our network in the past 24 hours.
It's Election Day, still.
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Nicole Carroll is the editor-in-chief of USA TODAY. The Backstory offers insights into our biggest stories of the week. If you'd like to get The Backstory in your inbox, sign up here. Reach Carroll at EIC@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nicole_carroll.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's how a newsroom covers Election Day, hour by hour
