'I’m calling with results for Kalamazoo, Michigan'

With around 4,000 participants, the Associated Press calls it the “biggest act of journalism there is for a single story.” This year, I got to be a part of it. That story: Who won the elections? Every election, the AP hires people across the country to call and inform them throughout the night as ballots are counted and results are tallied. As this year’s Kalamazoo County AP Election Stringer (a synonym for paid freelancer whose etymology is debated), I hunkered down in the county administration building from 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3 to around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4., with my laptop, phone, and plenty of ebooks. My job: call the AP whenever county results were updated, tell the election worker on the other end my state and county, and read off how many votes each candidate had at that moment. Before the AP releases the results of a race to nationwide and local news channels, they’re checked multiple times over by AP election workers.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.