National votes tallied locally
With white walls and desks full of computers, the nondescript room on the fifth floor of the Lincoln Building in downtown Spokane doesn’t particularly reflect its importance.
It’s only used a few times a year, but one night every four years the room becomes the epicenter of history in the making.
The location is one of four – including two in Spokane County – the Associated Press uses as results collection centers during elections.
Counties and states around the nation tally their election results and send them to about 350 people at the Lincoln Building and at Eastern Washington University before the rest of the nation sees them.
Dana Bloch, director of the AP’s Spokane Data Center, said correspondents from counties around the country send their results via email, fax, phone call or a website.
“If AP calls the race in a state, you’ll see the flash on CNN or NBC or whatever saying AP has called Georgia for whoever within seconds,” Bloch said.
The Spokane County locations handle results from 31 states, a number that could change this year as a result of Superstorm Sandy.
The country’s other two data collection centers are in New York City and New Jersey, areas heavily affected by this week’s storm.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/nov/02/national-votes-tallied-locally/
