The Electoral College Tracker is a tool — primarily for use on Election Night — to combine your forecast of state-by-state results with declared results from the news media.

For example, by 9 p.m. Eastern, winners will probably be declared in states like Kentucky, Indiana and Georgia where polls close at 7 p.m. But it's easy to expect California will be a Democratic state, even though its polls don't close until 11 p.m. Eastern.

This tool combines the declared results with your forecast of the remaining states to project a final electoral college vote. As more states are declared, it becomes less speculative until at least 270 electoral votes are declared for one candidate.

A primary value is helping you spot trends such as states defying your projection. If toss-up states are breaking toward one candidate or several states projected for a particular candidate are becoming cliffhangers, you can see where the election is headed sooner than if you wait for the networks to declare enough states for 270.

I developed this for myself in 2000 and have used it every four years since then. Nonetheless, I make no guarantees. Rolling it out to the public is more complex than something for personal use.

It arrives with my projections in place, but you can change them to fit your own expectations. If you think the Republican will carry California, you can project it that way. It's up to you.

For states with multiple closing times, the tracker uses the later time — the time when all polls in the state are closed.

Compatibility

Compatible with these and newer operating systems.

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