Video:What to Expect While Watching Election Returns

Transcript:What to Expect While Watching Election Returns

Hi, this is Kwanza Hall, Atlanta City Councilman for District 2. District 2 is the heart of Atlanta, Georgia. And I'm here to tell you what to expect while watching election returns.

Meaning of Election Returns

These are the numbers that come out that tell you whether a candidate is doing well in a respective city, state or around the country. Expect to see newscasters, political pundits, current elected officials and former elected officials all discussing the exit polls, the polls that were just taken from voters as they've just come out and cast their ballots.

Results Are More Accurate as Night Goes On

These polls are placed into various formulas and demographic reports that are presented and discussed, debated to determine the potential outcome from elections. So over the course of an evening, the numbers become more and more factual based on the results that have come in. And typically, by close of the evening for business, the results are pretty predictable, but not in all cases.

Much Research Goes Into Election Returns

Expect to see a newscaster or reporter presenting data that has been culled together by hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals who have taken the respective reports from the exit polls and matched this data together to make predictions that you will see presented on the screen behind this newscaster, tons and tons of numbers just running and running and running. And these numbers will eventually turn into salient data that determines who will win the election for the evening.

I'm Kwanza Hall, Atlanta City Councilman for District 2 for About.com.