Elections API v3.2 Release Notes
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Maine Reporting Units
AP Elections is revising and updating its coverage of election reporting units in Maine beginning with the June 9, 2026, primary election. This update will more completely align AP's elections data with the geographies and naming conventions used by the U.S. Census Bureau, a change aimed at facilitating easier data analysis and mapping. For more information, see Maine Reporting Units.
Gzip Requirement Effective May 7, 2026
Elections API requires all requests to use gzip compression to ensure that data requests during large election events do not exceed Amazon Web Services thresholds, and responses to your requests load faster, especially with larger data sets.
To comply with this requirement, make sure the following request header is included:
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Request Header: Accept-Encoding
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Value: gzip
This request header is required for all Elections API methods (for example, Elections Request and Election Reports Request).
Beginning May 7, 2026, any requests to the Elections API that do not include this header will return the following error:
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406 - 'P
This change will help ensure all AP Elections customers are fully prepared for the demands of election night.
Spring 2026 Reporting Unit Updates
AP Elections is preparing a series of updates to the historical election results archive and implementing a revised county naming convention for future elections, to align AP reporting unit names and FIPS codes with the U.S. Census Bureau standards. These changes will take effect beginning with elections held on May 2, 2026, and other corrections will be applied retroactively where appropriate on April 9, 2026. For more information, see Spring 2026 Reporting Unit Updates.
Voter Registration Requirements Report Updates
These fields have been added to the Voter Registration Requirements report:
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AUTOMATIC_VOTER_REGISTRATION. Indicates whether the state has automatic voter registration (YES/NO).
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SAME_DAY_REGISTRATION. Indicates the availability of same day registration (YES/NO).
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PRIMARY_NOTE. Additional notes specific to primaries.
For more information and an example, see Voter Registration Requirements Report.
Candidate Report Updates
New Report Available
Previously, four types of of candidate reports were offered:
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U.S. House candidates
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U.S. Senate candidates
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Gubernatorial candidates
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Candidates running for President in each state
In addition to these report types, a new combined report is now available, providing candidate information for all of these offices in a single report.
New Fields Added
These new fields are now included in the reports:
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StateNumber. State ID tied to race data.
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OfficeID. Unique office type ID (P, G, S, H).
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Office. Confirms the name of the office the candidate is running for.
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SpecialPrimaryDate. Special primary date (MM/DD/YYYY).
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SpecialGeneralDate. Special general election date (MM/DD/YYYY).
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SpecialRunoffDate. Special runoff date (MM/DD/YYYY).
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PolID. Unique National Politician ID across all states and races. Replaces the NPID field.
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UncontestedPrimary. Indicates uncontested primary (Yes/No).
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UncontestedGE. Indicates uncontested general election (Yes/No).
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FilingStartDate. Filing start date (MM/DD/YYYY).
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FilingDeadline. Filing deadline date (MM/DD/YYYY).
Examples
See Election Candidate Reports.
Deprecated Race Types
These race types and corresponding race type IDs have been deprecated:
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Hybrid Nonpartisan Election (HNE)
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Hybrid Nonpartisan Special Election (HNS)
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Hybrid Nonpartisan Special Runoff Election (Y)
Updates to Switching to Certified Data
Using the resultsType=b parameter in the Elections request allows you to switch to certified data as it becomes available without having to change from resultsType=l to resultsType=c to get certified results.
Previously, when the resultsType=b and votetypes=true parameters were specified in the Elections request, the response included only certified cumulative results, but no vote type data because certified data is currently not available for vote by type.
Starting Feb. 12, 2026, you will receive a blend of certified cumulative data and live vote type data when you specify resultsType=b and votetypes=true in the request. The response also includes new fields to indicate the source (certified or live) for cumulative results and each vote type if applicable; for example:
Election Calendar Report Updates
In the Election Calendar report, the govOrSenIncl field has been replaced by the nationalOffices field. This field confirms which national-level races (represented by the office IDs) will be covered in the event; for example, P for President, S for U.S. Senate, H for U.S. House, G for Governor.
Additional updates include the following new fields:
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additionalEventDetails. Includes details on races AP will be tabulating for the event.
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specialOnly. Specifies whether the event includes only special elections.
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balanceOfPower. (For special elections) If applicable, indicates that the special election will affect balance of power; for example, chamber control.
For more information, see Election Calendar Report.
Virtual Timestamps During Testing
During the scheduled test sessions, Elections API used to return timestamps with the date and time of the test in real time.
Starting Feb. 2, 2026, results returned during scheduled elections testing will include "virtual timestamps," so that the times noted in the results response are as if they are those during the election event. These "virtual timestamps" replace the previous timestamps, which reflected the time of the results response during the test event.
For example, during a test taking place on Oct. 10, 2025, for the November 2025 general election, the lastUpdated field in the test results response would show a date of 2025-11-04 rather than 2025-10-10. The time in the lastUpdated field would show the simulated time on election night, and not the time of the test results response.
This change affects the following response field values:
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lastUpdated (JSON); LastUpdated (XML)
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pollClosingTime (JSON); PollClosingTime (XML)
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winnerDateTime (JSON); WinnerDateTime (XML)
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minDateTime in the next request link