Voter News Service
The Voter News Service was an
Members
The VNS included major
- Both parties, Republican and Democrat
- ABC News
- CBS News
- NBC News
- CNN
- Fox
- The Associated Press
ABC News scooped its partners all night in reporting outcomes of the
Role in the 2000 presidential election
A possibly unwritten secondary mission of the Voter News Service was to provide election results as quickly as possible on election night—a point which came to haunt the VNS in the
Election night in Florida
The VNS received intense criticism for its 'flip-flop' calling of the state of Florida in that election.[3] During the course of the evening, it first called the closely contested state of Florida for Al Gore, then George W. Bush, and then as 'too close to call'. Critics argued that the state should never have been called until the state's fate was clear. The Voter News Service also received specific criticism for calling the state of Florida for Al Gore before the polls closed in the Florida panhandle, which was located in the Central Time Zone and heavily Republican. In addition, criticism also came because of the call for Bush which occurred before precincts in Broward, Palm Beach, Volusia, and Miami-Dade Counties reported their results to the state which occurred after the networks called the state for Bush well after 2 AM eastern standard time.
Bush vs. Gore
The next day it was discovered that 'bad data' resulted in the confusion of the previous night. Due to the Bush margin of victory being less than 0.5% of the total number of votes cast, an automatic statewide machine recount was ordered. In Palm Beach County, a
2002 attempt and disbandment
In 2002, the VNS intended to make calls in the
In January 2003, the Voter News Service was disbanded largely because of failures in 2000 and 2002. Murray Edelman, VNS editorial director, criticized the decision as making the VNS a scapegoat.[5]
National Election Pool
In the
References
- ^ Doan, Amy (November 29, 2000). "Antitrust Group Targets Voter News Service". Forbes.com. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ Barnes, James (December 1996 – January 1997). "Election Night Heats Up - The Networks Race to Make the Calls" (PDF). The Public Perspective.
- ^ Barringer, Felicity (2001). "CBS Plans Changes in Election Night Reporting". The New York Times.
- ^ Bauder, David (September 5, 2003). "VNS Data From '02 Midterm Votes Released". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ a b Morin, Richard (January 14, 2003). "Networks To Dissolve Exit Poll Service". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 August 2011.