Outside of Florida (2000), what called races/states have been wrong?

[sg0508]

The ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

1) 1960- HI was called for Nixon but JFK won it, barely
2) 1960- AK was called for JFK, but Nixon won it.  How ironic given the political landscape of these states now?
3) 1960- CA was called for JFK late on Election Night, but after all final tallies were in, Nixon was the winner of the 32 EVs
4) 1976- OR was called for Carter, but with the late count, Ford won it by < 2K votes.
5) 1996- NH Senate- Sweat was projected the winner, but Bob Smith survived in the end.
6) 1968- I believe that MO was called for Humphrey, but Nixon won it by 1 pt (not sure about this call).

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

If I'm not mistaken, Illinois was called for Dukakis in 1988 before being pulled back.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

The ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

1) 1960- HI was called for Nixon but JFK won it, barely
2) 1960- AK was called for JFK, but Nixon won it.  How ironic given the political landscape of these states now?
3) 1960- CA was called for JFK late on Election Night, but after all final tallies were in, Nixon was the winner of the 32 EVs
4) 1976- OR was called for Carter, but with the late count, Ford won it by < 2K votes.
5) 1996- NH Senate- Sweat was projected the winner, but Bob Smith survived in the end.
6) 1968- I believe that MO was called for Humphrey, but Nixon won it by 1 pt (not sure about this call).

I have another:
1981- NJ Governor- two TV stations in New Jersey called the race early for Jim Florio, but after a lenghty recount Kean won by less than 2,000 votes.

I know Hawaii and California were both initially called wrong in 1960, but I don't know about any of the others you mentioned, or any that I can think of myself.  This year, the networks made plenty of bad calls, and although they all turned out to be pretty accurate, they were made while the races were still much too early and too close to call.  I remember on Election Night Fox News called Wisconsin for Obama with less than on percent of the vote in, and I believe Romney was leadin in the raw vote tally at that time.  I remember that less than half an hour after the polls closed in Colorado, the ticker showed over 40% of the vote there already in.  There were plenty of things that I thought seemed screwy.  In my limited experience, 2012 was the worst Election Night coverage that I have ever seen to date.  Granted, it wasn't as bad as 2000, but I wasn't really that interested in politics then.  And as for not calling races before all the polls are closed, didn't they do that in Kansas the past two presidential contests?
And another thing, I hate it when they say "we make our calls based on raw vote totals and exit polls."  Exit polls mean nothing.  If they were any good, then John Kerry would have won in a landslide in 2004, or Al Gore would have won by a similar margin in 2000.  After what happened in 2000, the networks still haven't fully learned their lesson.  And as long as they keep making calls like they made this year, they will get burned again some time in the future.  Believe me, another bad call like Florida in 2000 WILL happen again, as long as the networks keep making calls the way they do it now.

[Thomas D]

The ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

1) 1960- HI was called for Nixon but JFK won it, barely
2) 1960- AK was called for JFK, but Nixon won it.  How ironic given the political landscape of these states now?
3) 1960- CA was called for JFK late on Election Night, but after all final tallies were in, Nixon was the winner of the 32 EVs
4) 1976- OR was called for Carter, but with the late count, Ford won it by < 2K votes.
5) 1996- NH Senate- Sweat was projected the winner, but Bob Smith survived in the end.
6) 1968- I believe that MO was called for Humphrey, but Nixon won it by 1 pt (not sure about this call).

I still can't believe the people of New Hampshire deprived us of having a Senator Dick Sweat

[sg0508]

If I'm not mistaken, Illinois was called for Dukakis in 1988 before being pulled back.

No, but it was the final state called in 1988 after WA state was called late the following morning.

[Franzl]

The ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

1) 1960- HI was called for Nixon but JFK won it, barely
2) 1960- AK was called for JFK, but Nixon won it.  How ironic given the political landscape of these states now?
3) 1960- CA was called for JFK late on Election Night, but after all final tallies were in, Nixon was the winner of the 32 EVs
4) 1976- OR was called for Carter, but with the late count, Ford won it by < 2K votes.
5) 1996- NH Senate- Sweat was projected the winner, but Bob Smith survived in the end.
6) 1968- I believe that MO was called for Humphrey, but Nixon won it by 1 pt (not sure about this call).

I have another:
1981- NJ Governor- two TV stations in New Jersey called the race early for Jim Florio, but after a lenghty recount Kean won by less than 2,000 votes.

I know Hawaii and California were both initially called wrong in 1960, but I don't know about any of the others you mentioned, or any that I can think of myself.  This year, the networks made plenty of bad calls, and although they all turned out to be pretty accurate, they were made while the races were still much too early and too close to call.  I remember on Election Night Fox News called Wisconsin for Obama with less than on percent of the vote in, and I believe Romney was leadin in the raw vote tally at that time.  I remember that less than half an hour after the polls closed in Colorado, the ticker showed over 40% of the vote there already in.  There were plenty of things that I thought seemed screwy.  In my limited experience, 2012 was the worst Election Night coverage that I have ever seen to date.  Granted, it wasn't as bad as 2000, but I wasn't really that interested in politics then.  And as for not calling races before all the polls are closed, didn't they do that in Kansas the past two presidential contests?
And another thing, I hate it when they say "we make our calls based on raw vote totals and exit polls."  Exit polls mean nothing.  If they were any good, then John Kerry would have won in a landslide in 2004, or Al Gore would have won by a similar margin in 2000.  After what happened in 2000, the networks still haven't fully learned their lesson.  And as long as they keep making calls like they made this year, they will get burned again some time in the future.  Believe me, another bad call like Florida in 2000 WILL happen again, as long as the networks keep making calls the way they do it now.

I see you don't understand anything about statistics.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

The ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

1) 1960- HI was called for Nixon but JFK won it, barely
2) 1960- AK was called for JFK, but Nixon won it.  How ironic given the political landscape of these states now?
3) 1960- CA was called for JFK late on Election Night, but after all final tallies were in, Nixon was the winner of the 32 EVs
4) 1976- OR was called for Carter, but with the late count, Ford won it by < 2K votes.
5) 1996- NH Senate- Sweat was projected the winner, but Bob Smith survived in the end.
6) 1968- I believe that MO was called for Humphrey, but Nixon won it by 1 pt (not sure about this call).

I have another:
1981- NJ Governor- two TV stations in New Jersey called the race early for Jim Florio, but after a lenghty recount Kean won by less than 2,000 votes.

I know Hawaii and California were both initially called wrong in 1960, but I don't know about any of the others you mentioned, or any that I can think of myself.  This year, the networks made plenty of bad calls, and although they all turned out to be pretty accurate, they were made while the races were still much too early and too close to call.  I remember on Election Night Fox News called Wisconsin for Obama with less than on percent of the vote in, and I believe Romney was leadin in the raw vote tally at that time.  I remember that less than half an hour after the polls closed in Colorado, the ticker showed over 40% of the vote there already in.  There were plenty of things that I thought seemed screwy.  In my limited experience, 2012 was the worst Election Night coverage that I have ever seen to date.  Granted, it wasn't as bad as 2000, but I wasn't really that interested in politics then.  And as for not calling races before all the polls are closed, didn't they do that in Kansas the past two presidential contests?
And another thing, I hate it when they say "we make our calls based on raw vote totals and exit polls."  Exit polls mean nothing.  If they were any good, then John Kerry would have won in a landslide in 2004, or Al Gore would have won by a similar margin in 2000.  After what happened in 2000, the networks still haven't fully learned their lesson.  And as long as they keep making calls like they made this year, they will get burned again some time in the future.  Believe me, another bad call like Florida in 2000 WILL happen again, as long as the networks keep making calls the way they do it now.

I see you don't understand anything about statistics.

How!?  What makes you think, after the disastrous exit polls in 2000 and 2004, that they are worth anything when calling elections?

[Mr.Phips]

In 1988, Maryland was called for Dukakis fairly early on, but a gun rights referendum drew out more Republican voters than expected in the rural parts of the state, allowing Bush to win by about 50,000 votes.  Washington was called for Bush early on, but Dukakis ended up winning there narrowly at the end. 

In Senate races that year, Florida was called for Democrat Buddy McKay, but a surprisingly strong absentee showing by Connie Mack tipped that race to him later in the week. 

In the 1992 Georgia Senate race, most networks announced about five minutes after polls closed that Wyche Fowler would win over 50% and that the race wouldnt go to a runoff.  However, the Atlanta suburbs most have been underrepresented in the exit polling and they ended up pushing Fowler a little bit below 50%, forcing him into a December runoff, which he lost to Republican Paul Coverdell.