Fox, Ellis and Election Night 2000

From 1931

20th Century Fox






John Prescott Ellis

Election Night 2000

During the night of the 2000 U.S. presidential election Ellis was working as a consultant for Fox News, where he analysed data from the Voter News Service. According to an interview that Ellis gave to Jane Mayer of the New Yorker magazine in 2000, he was responsible for Fox News' decisions in calling states for Gore or Bush, based on statistical results from the VNS data. Fox News had called Gore for Florida early in the evening, and was the last major network to retract their call for Gore. However, they were the first (at 2:16 am ET) to call Florida for Bush. Ellis also admitted sharing exit poll data with his cousins by phone. After the magazine interview was published, Fox News Vice President John Moody admitted that Ellis had broken rules by sharing the data and was considering disciplinary action.

Ellis provided CBSNews.com with a copy of a letter he says he sent to the editor of the New Yorker. In the letter, Ellis says that he “did not share with [Governor Bush] any of the information that was appearing on our screens" during two afternoon phone calls. The letter says that later in the evening "as actual vote results" came in, Ellis spoke frequently with the Bushes about "what was happening” in several states. According to Ellis, other workers on the decision desk – “most of whom are registered Democrats” – were talking to the Gore campaign. Ellis says that he was ultra-scrupulous because of his relationship. "We obeyed those [rules] more strictly than any other news organization, precisely because my cousin was running for president," Ellis told USA Today.

This controversy was picked up by, amongst others, Michael Moore in his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11.

John Ellis Biography

20th Century Fox