Journalists Explain Election Night Mistakes

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 21, 2000 -- The networks’ mistaken early calls ElectionNight that Al Gore — and later George W. Bush — had won Floridawere due in part to flawed exit polls in the Tampa area and a“significant computer error” in Volusia County’s election agency,CBS’ news chief told Congress.

CBS News President Andrew Heyward said in a letter to Rep. BillyTauzin, chairman of the House Commerce Committee’stelecommunications panel, that his network’s initial call for Goreat 7:50 p.m. ET on Nov. 7 was based on Voter News Service exitpolls and actual vote data, interpreted through tested statisticalmodels.

But at about 9:20 p.m., Heyward said in the letter releasedtoday, CBS found that exit poll results in the Tampa area hadoverstated Gore’s lead and that tabulated votes in Duval Countywere probably wrong. That call was retracted at 9:54 p.m.

When the networks then erroneously called Florida for George W.Bush a few hours later, Heyward said, “another series ofconfusions took place — including what at this juncture appears tobe a very significant computer error made by the Volusia CountyElections Department — which led to another series of bad calls bythe television networks and newspapers across the nation.”

That mistake has been traced to a faulty government computerdisk.

Tauzin, R-La., is investigating what led to the early electioncalls, how they affected voter turnout where the polls were stillopen and whether any inherent biases were involved, partisan orotherwise. Tauzin, planning congressional hearings in January, today released responses from the networks and The AssociatedPress to a series of questions he has asked in preparation.

‘We Were as Good as the Information’

CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN and The AP make up the consortium thatuses Voter News Service exit polls and actual results to projectelection results. The AP never called Florida for Bush but didgive, and then retract, the state’s critical 25 electoral votes toGore earlier in the night.

Although Tauzin received responses from all six newsorganizations, Heyward went into the most detail about what led tothe mistaken early Florida calls. He said the matter will bethoroughly reviewed by a three-person panel headed by Linda Mason,CBS’ vice president of public affairs.

“We were as good as the information we were getting fromsources we trusted,” Heyward said. “In this case, thatinformation was not good, and neither were we.”

Journalists Investigating Themselves

Top executives at ABC, CNN, Fox and NBC also said they had begunintensive internal examinations of what went wrong and assuredTauzin of their future cooperation. VNS is also conducting an investigation.

CNN Chairman Tom Johnson stressed that “there was nointentional bias in the Election Night reporting” at his network.

“Nothing is more upsetting than to make an incorrectprojection,” added Robert C. Wright, NBC’s president and chiefexecutive officer.“We’re in the midst of a top to bottom review of Election Night procedures,” said Kerry Marash, vice president of Editorial Quality, ABCNEWS.

Tauzin has indicated it may be time to update a 1985 agreementbetween Congress and the networks on when races should be called soall of a state’s polls would have to be closed, not just most ofthem.

On that point, CBS’ Heyward noted that in Florida “it would beextremely difficult to argue any impact on turnout” because allbut 5.8 percent of the state’s precincts were closed when the callfor Gore came at 7:50 p.m. ET — and the rest closed 10 minuteslater.

Republicans have complained that the initial Florida call forGore might have depressed voter turnout in California andelsewhere, tipping the balance in close House races and helpingGore to a lead in the national popular vote.

Meanwhile, the senior Democrat on the Commerce Committee, Rep.John Dingell of Michigan, has complained to Tauzin that noDemocrats have been involved in the investigation. Of particularinterest, he said, is the presence at Fox of a Bush cousin in aposition to influence when the network called state results.

“If the work of this committee on this important inquiry is tohave credibility, bipartisan cooperation is necessary,” Dingellsaid.

The Associated Press and ABCNEWS contributed to this report