2026 U.S. ElectionS

This topical guide for the 2026 elections, created October 15, 2026, is based on the AP Stylebook and common usage in AP stories.

Below are selected entries.

Election Day, election night:

Capitalized in the U.S. for the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Use lowercase election night in all cases.

voting:

Elections in the United States and many other nations are not limited to a single day. By the time Election Day arrives in a U.S. general election, millions of people will have submitted ballots in advance. Thus, do not use phrasing such as voters cast ballots in Tuesday's election ... Instead: Voting concluded Tuesday ...

While the U.S. Constitution establishes basic rules regarding the election of the president and Congress, and federal law governs some aspects of voting rights, the specifics of elections administration are left to the states.

advance voting, absentee voting, early voting, mail-in voting, mailed ballots:

Electoral systems that allow voters to cast ballots before the day of an election are broadly known as advance voting. Each state has its own procedures for advance voting, which may include voting by mail, voting absentee, or voting in person before Election Day.

Many states offer "no-excuse" mail balloting, which means any voter can request and cast an absentee/mail ballot without providing a reason. Some states send a mail ballot to all registered voters. The Trump administration has sought to curtail the availability of mail balloting and pushed for new rules for how those ballots are processed. Those efforts have been tied up in legal challenges brought by some states and voter advocacy groups. The U.S. Supreme Court in September blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing new restrictions on mail ballots before the midterm election.

Virtually all states (and the District of Columbia) offer some form of early in-person voting. How long it's allowed before Election Day varies by state.

The term advance voting is preferred in states where voters have several options to vote before Election Day. In the states that conduct elections primarily by mail, mail-in voting, mail voting, and mailed ballots are all acceptable. Hyphenate as a compound modifier: advance-voting procedures, mail-in voting, absentee-ballot votes.

votes counted, votes cast:

When describing election returns, it often is most accurate to describe totals as a subset of votes counted, and not votes cast. The total and final number of votes cast is usually not available until several days or weeks after an election. Example: Hernandez had a lead of about 500 votes of more than 1.1 million votes counted.

exit poll:

In the U.S., a survey of voters conducted by the National Election Pool (CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC) through 2024 using a methodology based primarily on in-person interviews at polling places. 

The Voter Poll:

A survey of verified voters conducted in U.S. general elections and presidential primaries by SSRS Inc. for The Associated Press and ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News Media, MSNOW, and NBC News. The Voter Poll uses a methodology based on AP VoteCast and traditional exit polling. The poll and survey are acceptable on second reference. Do not refer to The Voter Poll as an exit poll, although it is acceptable to specify that it has an exit polling component.

AP VoteCast:

AP VoteCast was a comprehensive survey of voters and nonvoters conducted for The Associated Press and Fox News by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in U.S. general elections and presidential primaries from 2018 to 2024. VoteCast, the poll, and the survey are acceptable on second reference. Do not refer to VoteCast as an exit poll.

election returns:

Election returns are usually outdated as soon as they are published and should therefore be used sparingly in stories/scripts — especially shortly after polls close and the vote count is beginning. Early returns often do not provide an accurate reflection of the ultimate outcome, especially in states that take days or weeks to count votes cast in advance and provisional ballots.

It is often better to characterize the state of the vote count, rather than report it directly:

Cruz took an early lead shortly after polls closed in Texas. As midnight approached on the East Coast, Clinton led Trump by roughly 2 percentage points in Nevada. As of Wednesday morning, Trump was ahead of Clinton by fewer than 20,000 votes in Michigan out of 4.7 million votes counted.

Do not use an "exact" vote count, such as 134,654 to 122,991, because those numbers are often outdated seconds later and can continue being updated for weeks to come.

Once a race is called, it is best to use percentage points to describe the scale of a candidate's victory. Example: Trump beat Clinton by roughly 1 percentage point in Wisconsin.

race call: 

AP calls winners of elections in the United States based on an analysis of the vote count, polling research, and other data. An AP race call is not a projection. Once AP has called a race, AP stories say candidate X has won, without attribution to the race call.

noncitizen voting: 

Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections for president and Congress, and anyone attempting to break the law faces the possibility of fines, prison, and deportation.

Illegal voting by noncitizens has never been a significant problem in any state. State data shows that it's exceptionally rare for noncitizens to attempt to register and cast a ballot illegally.

Electoral College:

But electoral vote(s), lowercase. The process by which the United States selects its president.

The "college" consists of 538 electors. Each state gets as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress (535 total), and the District of Columbia gets three. To be elected president, the winner must get at least half the total plus one, or 270 electoral votes. Most states give all their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins that state's popular vote.

The electoral system has delivered a split verdict five times, most recently in 2016, with one candidate winning the popular vote and another the presidency. If no candidate receives 270 electoral votes, Congress selects the president and vice president.

disputed election:

Use care and caution with terms such as disputed election and disputed victory. They require assessing whether the outcome is truly in doubt or unknown, based on reputable sources of information about accuracy and completeness of the vote count.

Do not automatically use disputed when reporting on recounts, which are required by many states (or may be requested by candidates at no cost) in closely contested elections.

Do not describe an election as disputed based on the claims of a candidate who disagrees with the outcome but is unable or unwilling to provide evidence of fraud or malfeasance.

If a candidate questions the results of an election without providing evidence, avoid making that the lead, and be sure to add immediately that no evidence was offered.

If a candidate declares victory before the AP has called a race, it can be noted in a story or scripts, though it should not be included in a headline, lead or banner. Consider whether a candidate's claims are reasonable, or if they are deliberately or obviously untrue, and address accordingly. Any such reporting should quickly note that The Associated Press has not declared a winner.

poll monitors, poll watchers, poll monitoring, poll watching:

The terms poll watchers, poll monitors, and citizen observers are interchangeable, and they can be partisan or nonpartisan.

Nonpartisan poll watchers are trained to monitor polling places and local elections offices that tally the votes, looking for irregularities or ways to improve the system. Partisan poll watchers are those who favor particular parties, candidates, or ballot propositions and monitor voting places and local election offices to ensure fairness to their candidates or causes. They can make note of potential problems as a way to challenge the voting or tabulating process.

Poll watchers in most cases are not allowed to interfere with the conduct of the election, but a handful of states passed laws since the 2020 election that limit the restrictions local election officials can place on them. This gives poll watchers greater access to ballot counting and processing. In some states, they are allowed to challenge individuals' eligibility to vote; in those cases, a voter may need to file a provisional ballot.

Hyphenate as an adjective: poll-monitoring procedures. No hyphen as a noun: They are expanding poll monitoring.

Do not use voter protection workers.

election certification:

In the weeks after Election Day, local election officials meet to ensure that all votes were cast and counted correctly — checking lists of voters in pollbooks against the number of ballots cast, testing voting machines for accuracy, and researching any discrepancies — before results become official.

Results are then sent to a local board for certification, and then to the state for further certification. In all but a handful of states, the process is in the hands of people linked to political parties. For generations, this process drew little public attention, but in recent years some boards have balked at certifying the results, citing unsubstantiated claims of fraud or other wrongdoing.

Those handling certification generally do not have authority to investigate allegations of fraud or other problems. Most state laws make this clear, and some states have taken additional steps since the 2020 election to ensure that certification boards cannot refuse to certify official results. It's up to prosecutors and the courts to handle claims that elections were mishandled or results wrongly tallied, challenges that would be filed by candidates or political parties. Judges can delay or halt certification if there are questions surrounding an election.

misinformation, fact checks, fake news:

The term misinformation refers to false information shared about a particular topic that could be mistaken as truth. It can include honest mistakes, exaggerations, and misunderstandings of facts, as well as disinformation, which refers to misinformation created and spread intentionally as a way to mislead or confuse.

Misinformation can be transmitted in any medium, including social media, websites, printed materials, and broadcast. It includes photography or video and audio recordings that have been created, manipulated, or selectively edited.

The term typically excludes opinions, as well as satire and parody. It does include hoaxes, propaganda, and fabricated news stories.

Avoid the term fake news other than when directly quoting someone using the term. Alternative wording includes false reports, erroneous reports, unverified reports, questionable reports, disputed reports, or false reporting, depending on the context. If the term fake news is used in a direct quotation, push for specifics about what is meant.

Fact-checking is essential in debunking fabricated stories or parts of stories, or other misinformation. This requires reporting or research to verify facts that affirm or disprove a statement, or that show a gray area.

The goal of fact-checking is to push back on falsehoods, exaggeration, and political spin, and to hold politicians and public figures accountable for their words. Basic fact-checking should always be part of the main story, including wording noting when an assertion differs with known facts. Often, however, additional reporting is required to explore disputed points or questions more fully. In those cases, separate stories may need to be done. Some points:

Present the assertion that's being checked, and quickly state what's wrong with it or what is correct. Use the exact quote or quotes that are being examined. Follow with the facts, backed by appropriate citations and attribution.

Stick to checking facts, rather than opinion. A person's personal tastes and preferences might lie outside the mainstream, but as opinions they are not a topic for a fact check.

When fact-checking, stories need not show statements to be clearly correct or clearly incorrect. Words can be true, false, exaggerated, a stretch, a selective use of data, partly or mostly true, etc. Use the most apt description that's supported by what the facts show.

If a statement can't be confirmed, or can't be immediately confirmed, say so. But describe the efforts made to confirm it.

Usage notes: fact check and fact-checking (n.), to fact-check (v.)

OTHER TERMS

battleground states, swing states: What are known as battleground states are those where candidates from both major political parties have a reasonable chance for victory in a statewide race or presidential vote.

The term swing state is used for a state that has gone back and forth between voting for the Republican and Democratic nominees in recent presidential elections.

The two terms can be used interchangeably. In recent election cycles, all the battleground states also have swung between voting for Democratic and Republican nominees for president.

campaign manager: Do not treat as a formal title. Always lowercase.

close race: Avoid the term to describe a political contest unless backed up by election results or recent polls of voters.

Congress, congressional: Capitalize Congress when referring to the U.S. Senate and House together. The adjective is lowercase, congressional, unless part of a formal name.

conservative: Lowercase in referring to a political philosophy.

democrat, Democrat, democratic, Democratic, Democratic Party: For the U.S. political party, capitalize Democrat and Democratic in references to the Democratic Party or its members. Lowercase in generic uses: He champions the values of a democratic society. Use Democratic, not Democrat, in usages such as the Democratic-controlled Legislature and the Democratic senator (except in direct quotations that use Democrat).

democratic socialism: A political ideology not synonymous with socialism. Do not capitalize unless a candidate stands for office as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

district: Spell it out, use an ordinal number, and capitalize district in a proper name: the 2nd District, the 3rd Congressional District.

far-right; far-left; extreme right; extreme left: Use caution when using these terms, which have different meanings around the world and are sometimes contested.

Consider whether they fairly reflect an individual or group’s ideology and position on the political spectrum, whether the group or individual accepts or rejects the term, and whether it is used pejoratively.

Content using such terms should carefully define them and provide evidence to support the characterization, which could include the individual or group’s actions, associations, history, and positions.

Other terms that require caution: left-wing/right-wing and leftist/rightist and ultraleftist/ultrarightist.

If someone uses these terms in a quote, or to describe themselves or others, ask what they mean and include that information.

far-right: Far-right ideology can refer to beliefs expressing insularity and sharp resistance to immigration and multiculturalism that are well beyond the median of society. It can include desire to eliminate large-scale social safety nets or government backed assistance programs, It may be used to describe those who incorporate their religious beliefs into their conservative political and social agendas, and those who want to revive an earlier era of their country’s past. But this description does not fully apply to all such groups, and there are differences of opinion among them.

far-left: Far-left ideology can refer to groups that advocate large-scale redistribution of wealth and oppose capitalism. Supporters also push for open borders and challenge the expansive power of police and prisons. Many demand the end to what they see as systemic racism and push for reforms and reparations. They often call for broadening LGBTQ+ rights. However, as with the far-right, there are important differences among such groups and individuals.

first lady/gentleman, second lady/gentleman: The terms first lady, first gentleman, second lady and second gentleman are always lowercase, even before a name.

front-runner: Candidate who leads a political race; the term is hyphenated. Use with caution, as today's front-runner can become tomorrow's also-ran.

fundraiser, fundraising (one word, no hyphen)

hand-count, hand-counting, hand-counted: With a hyphen in all uses: Hand-counting resumed Wednesday. They hand-counted the ballots. (Or: The ballots were counted by hand.) The hand-counted ballots were added to the results. They seek to expand the hand-count of ballots. (Or ... the hand-counting of ballots; either is fine.)

“head to the polls”: Avoid. Such a phrase does not account for the large number of voters who will cast a ballot before Election Day.

Jan. 6: Acceptable on first reference for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Describing it as a violent attack or riot is also acceptable. Do not refer to it as 1/6.

lawmaker, lawmaking: One word for each.

liberal, liberalism: Lowercase in reference to a political philosophy.

long shot: Use two words for this term describing a big underdog.

MAGA: The acronym for the Trump campaign's 2016 slogan, "Make America Great Again." It has since become a self-adopted synonym for Trumpism and a descriptor of Trump policies and supporters; some people refer to “MAGA Republicans."

The acronym is acceptable on first reference but explain it shortly thereafter: MAGA is short for the 2016 Trump campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

Terms such as Trump supporters may be more clear for global audience and can be a better choice, depending on the specifics involved in a story.

MAHA: The acronym for “Make America Healthy Again,” a loose political and cultural movement championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It is often associated with a rejection of processed foods and skepticism of accepted science on vaccines.

majority leader, minority leader: Capitalize as a formal legislative title before a name; otherwise lowercase.

PAC: Acronym for political action committee. Raises money and makes contributions to campaigns of political candidates or parties. At the federal level in the U.S., contribution amounts are limited by law and may not come from corporations or labor unions. Enforcement is overseen by the Federal Election Commission. PAC is acceptable on first reference; spell out in body of story.

A super PAC is a political action committee that may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, including from corporations and unions, to campaign independently for candidates for U.S. federal office. Its activities must be reported to the FEC, but it is not otherwise regulated if not coordinated with the candidate or campaign.

party affiliation: A candidate's political party is essential information in any election, campaign, or issue story. 

political parties and philosophies: Capitalize both the name of the party and the word party if it is customarily used as part of the organization's proper name: the Democratic Party, the Republican Party.

Include the political affiliation of any elected officeholder.

Capitalize Communist, Conservative, Democratic, Liberal, Republican, Socialist, etc., when they refer to a specific party or its members. Lowercase these words when they refer to political philosophy (see examples below).

Lowercase the name of a philosophy in noun and adjective forms unless it is the derivative of a proper name: communism, communist; fascism, fascist. But: Marxism, Marxist; Nazism, Nazi.

EXAMPLES: John Adams was a Federalist, but a man who subscribed to his philosophy today would be described as a federalist. The liberal Republican senator and his Conservative Party colleague said they believe that democracy and communism are incompatible. The Communist Party member said he is basically a socialist who has reservations about Marxism.

Generally, a description of specific political views is more informative than a generic label like liberal or conservative.

policymaker, policymaking: One word for each. Use sparingly.

populism: Political philosophy or ideas that promote the rights and power of ordinary people as opposed to political and intellectual elites. Avoid labeling politicians or political parties as populist, other than in a quote or paraphrase: He calls himself a populist. Using the term in a general context is acceptable: The panelists discussed the rise of populism in Europe. She appealed to populist fervor.

possessive form: 

SINGULAR PROPER NAMES ENDING IN S: Use only an apostrophe: Harris' campaign, Descartes' theories, Dickens' novels, Hercules' labors, Kansas' schools.

SINGULAR PROPER NAMES NOT ENDING IN S: Add 's: Walz's selection, the Catholic Church's needs, the Mackinac Bridge's towers.

precinct: A fixed area into which a municipality is divided for voting purposes.

precincts reporting: Avoid the term in stories/scripts. In states with large numbers of advance votes, the number of "precincts reporting" may just be one but account for a large percentage of the total vote. Even with 100% of precincts reporting, there may be a substantial number of ballots left to be counted.

majority, plurality: A majority is more than half the votes cast; a plurality is the largest number of votes but less than a majority.

preelection, reelection, reelect (no hyphen)

president, vice president: Capitalize these titles before names; lowercase in other uses. No hyphen in vice presidential as adjective: the vice presidential candidate.

Donald Trump: In keeping with AP's general practices, no middle initial for the president.

JD Vance: No periods in the initials of the vice president. Retain the periods if they appear in directly excerpted material.

presidential, presidency: The first term is lowercase except as part of a formal name; presidency is always lowercase.

presidential election (lowercase)

press secretary: Lowercase unless part of a formal title.

progressive, progressivism: Lowercase in reference to a political philosophy.

rank and file (n.), rank-and-file (adj.): Ordinary members of a political party.

ranked choice voting: An electoral system in which voters rank their choice of candidate by ordered preference, with those rankings used to determine a winner in the event no candidate wins a majority of ballots on which they appear as voters' first preference. No hyphen in the compound modifier. Ranked voting is acceptable on subsequent references and in headlines. Avoid the abbreviation RCV.

red state, blue state, purple state: Terms used to describe how a state's voters tend to lean politically, with red signifying Republican, blue signifying Democratic, and purple indicating a swing state. They stem from TV networks' use of color-coded graphics. Though the terms are widely understood in the United States, use them judiciously because they could confuse international audiences.

supermajority: A requirement that a proposal or candidate gain a level of support that exceeds the threshold of a standard 50% plus one majority, such as two-thirds or three-fifths.

Republican, Republican Party: Both terms are capitalized. GOP, standing for Grand Old Party, may be used on second reference.

representative, Rep.: Use Rep., Reps. as formal titles of House members before one or more names. Spell out and lowercase representative in other uses.

spokesperson: In general, use the gender-neutral term spokesperson unless the -man or -woman terms are requested by an organization or individual.