It’s fascinating to read about Edison Research and AP VoteCast, the two competing, privately run businesses, that acquire all of the national Presidential Election data from thousands of local boards of elections and provide it to major news services – Edison Research (ABC CBS NBC Reuters wire newspapers) and AP Vote Cast (PBS NPR Fox and AP Wire newspaper).

These companies have enormous power in their ability to call the race and operate in near obscurity. They’ve been around for decades, providing an essential service but fall into obscurity but all for one night every four years. It’s actually fascinating how an important part of democracy is actually a private business. But like all things in our democracy, power is decentralized and consists mostly of local governments often following their own rules based on state and national standards.