Reading Election Returns
This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.
An election return is read by answering four questions in order: what share, what rule, what margin, and what threshold.
Take returns: Alvarez 48 percent, Barker 46, Cole 6. Question one, shares: the three sum to 100 — a complete field. Question two, the rule: under plurality, Alvarez wins with the most votes; note that 52 percent of voters chose someone else, so "majority support" cannot be claimed. Question three, the margin: 48 minus 46 is two points — compare it to any margin of error before calling a pre-election poll vindicated. Question four, the threshold: if the office requires a majority, nobody won; the top two advance to a runoff, and the runoff is a new election, not a formality. Presidential returns add a fifth question — the map: totals matter state by state, where 270 of 538 electoral votes decides, and a national percentage decides nothing.
Every claim in a returns story — "won," "majority," "landslide," "mandate" — is checkable against these questions; check before repeating.