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After producing an exhaustive package in the build-up to the US presidential election, AFP's North America team is switching its focus to voting on November 3 and the immediate aftermath -- which could drag on for longer than usual. The nerve center of operations will be AFP's Washington newsroom where we resumed in-person work in early September, with rigorous social distancing and hygiene measures in place. We have a dedicated team of more than 100 journalists working on our election coverage, pumping out production from across the country in a wide variety of media and formats, ranging from our core text, photo and video coverage to fact-checks, graphics and a podcast. As well as our HQ in downtown DC, it will be all hands to the pump in AFP's bureaus in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and New York. We are also dispatching journalists to key locations such as Joe Biden's base in Wilmington, Delaware, and to Portland, Oregon, which has been the epicenter of sometimes violent protests against the Trump administration. AFPTV is planning to broadcast live from around 15 different locations throughout the day while voting takes place on November 3, as well providing clients with rapid images and soundbites. As well as coverage from the major cities, we will have VJs on assignment in all the potential battleground or swing states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas and New Hampshire. After the polls close, our focus will shift to the two candidates and their supporters -- whether they are celebrating victory or drowning their sorrows and venting their anger. We will have 29 photographers working on election day, along with an eight-strong team of editors, to ensure dynamic and comprehensive coverage from across the country, bringing you the latest images from the polling stations or from candidates. We are part of the select group of news organizations who will have access to the Biden camp and to Team Trump as members of the White House pool. Neither of the candidates' campaigns have announced their plans for the night but we are expecting them to be in Delaware and Washington. As well as the regular and rapid updates to our main election wraps, our reporters will be filing on-the-spot reportages from the battleground states in the daytime before we really start to crank up the production in the evening after polls close. We will have a special results desk in Washington which will alert the outcome in every one of the 50 states as well as in the most-closely watched contests for the Senate where the Republicans' majority is in danger. We will have a news flash for the result of the presidential election and alert when the battle for the Senate and House of Representatives is settled. While the outcome could be clear at an early stage in the evening if either candidate builds up a commanding lead, the record number of early or postal votes present logistical challenges that could complicate or slow up the counting process. Once we know the winner, then we will start moving an extensive package of stories on a broad range of topics. These will include updated profiles of the candidates and their key lieutenants and family members. And we will explain what we can expect from the next administration -- their economic policy, diplomatic priorities or expected impact on climate change. AFP's North America Fact-check team will also be working round the clock to call out misinformation that gains traction on social media, particularly premature declarations as we await the official results. Our graphics journalists will serving up interactive computer graphics, including a color-coded map of the US, that will be updated with each result. A 3D videographic which details the final results will be available in the morning of November 4. And finally, we will be posting a new edition of our French-language Twenty-Twenty election podcast on the morning of November 4. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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