Letters to the Editor: Stop reporting ballot counts as if Biden and Trump are still in a race

Los Angeles Times Opinion
·1 min read
Lehigh County workers count ballots as vote counting in the general election continues, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, in Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
An election worker in Allentown, Pa., counts ballots Friday as vote tabulation continues. (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press)

To the editor: The media, including the Los Angeles Times, make a mistake when they report on vote counting as if the race is still going on. It is misleading to audiences to suggest that one candidate is "in the lead” or "closing in."

Headlines like these suggest that the race is going on currently when, in fact, the race ended when polls closed on Nov. 3 and the last ballots were dropped off or postmarked. What is going on now is the counting of ballots cast days or even weeks ago.

It would be more useful to simply report how many ballots are being counted and what they constitute as a percentage of the whole number of votes cast in that state. Reporting the tally by the hour is misleading and potentially even dangerous.

Please find another way to report on ballot tabulation, and please stop reporting on it as if it were a horse race or some other sports competition going on right now.

Alaine Weiss, Long Beach

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.