Because of the increase in early and absentee voting, The Associated Press will no longer report vote totals as “precincts reporting,” Hotline On Call reports. Instead, the AP will report election results with percentages of the “expected vote.”
“Some counties, for example, dump all their absentee votes and call it one precinct even though these votes may be half of the county’s total,” Hotline On Call reported. “Others report partial precinct results and keep adding to the total.”
New Mexico is clearer about this distinction than many other states.