Decision Desk HQ

Decision Desk HQ
Type of site
Election results
Available inEnglish
Created byBrandon Finnigan
URLdecisiondeskhq.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationNo
Launched2012
Current statusOnline

Decision Desk HQ is an American website that focuses on reporting election results in the United States. The company's president is Drew McCoy.[1] Decision Desk HQ uses an application programming interface (API) to get election results at the same time as they are published on websites provided by election officials.[2]

History

Decision Desk HQ, originally named Ace of Spades Decision Desk, was founded in 2012 by Brandon Finnigan as an alternative to what he deemed "slow" election calls by the Associated Press.[3]

It has called major races since the 2012 United States elections, and it first became known for calling the upset defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor during his reelection bid to Virginia's 7th congressional district in 2014.[4]

In 2020, Decision Desk HQ was considered one of nine "official sources" for election results by Twitter[5] and provided election results to The Economist, Reuters, BuzzFeed, Vox, and Business Insider.[1]

Decision Desk HQ was the first major election reporting organization to call the 2020 United States presidential election for Joe Biden.[1] The call was made shortly before 9 a.m. ET on Friday, November 6.[6] It made this call after projecting that Biden's lead in outstanding mail-in ballots from Pennsylvania left incumbent Donald Trump with no realistic path to win Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. McCoy told Vox that the great majority of mail-in ballots from Pennsylvania were from heavily Democratic areas around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. According to McCoy, Biden was winning the mail-in vote in those areas by a margin large enough to make his lead in the state insurmountable. By Decision Desk HQ's accounting, adding Pennsylvania to Biden's total gave Biden 273 electoral votes, three over the threshold to make him president-elect.[7] Vox, who partnered with Decision Desk HQ, called the election for Biden shortly after.[8] Statistician Nate Silver praised Decision Desk HQ's call and hoped other sources would follow suit.[9]

In November 2021 Decision Desk HQ acquired election news site Elections-Daily.com.[10] It also partnered with Europe Elects during the German and French elections of 2021 and 2022.

It did call the Missouri Congressional District 1 Democratic primary wrong, when Cori Bush beat incumbent Lacy Clay by almost three points.[11] Two years earlier, it miscalled a closer general election in California's 21st Congressional District for David Valadao who was beaten by Democrat T.J. Cox.[12]

During the 2022 United States elections, Decision Desk HQ provided election data to Nexstar Media Group owned media outlet NewsNation, ultimately calling control of Congress on November 15, 2022, 6:13 pm EST, a day before other media outlets.[13]

In November 2023 Decision Desk HQ announced a partnership with Nexstar Media Group owned The Hill for 2024 United States elections coverage.[14] Decision Desk HQ reprised providing election data to NewsNation, and was the first to call the 2024 United States presidential election for Donald Trump.[15]

In May 2024 Decision Desk HQ announced a partnership with Ballotpedia to provide real-time election results coverage for local elections in the United States.[16]

Decision Desk HQ News

In 2021, Decision Desk HQ announced the creation of Decision Desk HQ News and the subsequent acquisition of its first site: Elections Daily. The new undertakings are designed to expand Decision Desk HQ's local news and international elections coverage.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Nover, Scott (November 6, 2020). "Meet Decision Desk, the First to Call the Election for Joe Biden". AdWeek. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  2. ^ Steiger, Kay (March 3, 2020). "How Vox calls elections, explained". Vox. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  3. ^ Smith, Ben (September 25, 2014). "A Right-Wing Truck Dispatcher Is America's Fairest New Election Night Vote Counter". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  4. ^ Lahut, Jake (November 6, 2020). "Why Decision Desk HQ and Insider called the election for Joe Biden". Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Gadde, Vijaya; Beykpour, Kayvon (October 9, 2020). "Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election". Twitter. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  6. ^ Hanke, Michael; Stöckl, Sebastian; Weissensteiner, Alex (2022-03-01). "Recovering election winner probabilities from stock prices". Finance Research Letters. 45. Elsevier: 102122. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2021.102122. ISSN 1544-6123.
  7. ^ Prokop, Andrew (November 6, 2020). "Why Decision Desk called Pennsylvania, and the presidential race, for Joe Biden". Vox. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  8. ^ LaForme, Ren; Grau, Mel (2020-11-06). "Vox.com, working with Decision Desk HQ, was one of the first news outlets to call the election". Poynter. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  9. ^ Levin, Josh (2020-11-06). "Decision Desk HQ Was First to Call the Election for Biden. What Is Decision Desk HQ?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  10. ^ "Decision Desk HQ Announces Formation of Decision Desk HQ News and Acquisition of Elections-Daily.com | DDHQ". decisiondeskhq.com. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  11. ^ "State of Missouri - State of Missouri - Primary Election, August 04, 2020". Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  12. ^ Matthews, David; Steiger, Kay (November 6, 2020). "How the press calls elections, explained". Vox. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  13. ^ "NewsNation first to call US House of Representatives". NewsNation. November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  14. ^ "The Hill and Decision Desk HQ Announce New 2024 Election Partnership | DDHQ". decisiondeskhq.com. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  15. ^ Samuels, Brett (2024-11-06). "Donald Trump wins presidency, Kamala Harris loses in tight election". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
  16. ^ "Ballotpedia and Decision Desk HQ Partner To Offer Real-time Local Election Results Coverage | DDHQ". decisiondeskhq.com. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  17. ^ "Decision Desk HQ Announces Formation Of Decision Desk HQ News And Acquisition Of Elections-Daily.com". November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.