Beginning at 8:00 pm EST, VOA's 24-hour English-language service, VOA News Now, will air a special five-hour election simulcast on radio, television, and the Internet to millions around the globe.  Coverage will include the latest election returns; live correspondent reports from the Gore and Bush camps and from Democratic and Republican headquarters in Washington; updates on key Congressional races; regional election updates; and concession/acceptance speeches live from Austin and Nashville. VOA News Bureaus will add to the coverage by providing election results from both national and local races, as well as international reaction from Beijing, Cairo, Hong Kong, and Moscow.

In addition to English broadcasts, numerous VOA language services will be dedicating or expanding their radio air shows to provide special election coverage.  These programs will feature round table discussions with outside analysts, correspondent and stringer reports, and election updates.  WORLDNET Television will produce TV spots in Mandarin, Thai, Indonesian, Macedonian, Hungarian, and Russian to be aired throughout the evening on IBB radio and TV affiliates around the world.

Hablemos Con Washington, a weekly radio call-in program, will be televised especially for election night.  Host Tony Cano will be joined in the studio by two political analysts to discuss the election and what it might mean for Latin America.  The program will feature calls from listeners and viewers throughout Latin America.  A group of visiting Latin American journalists will also participate.

Videojournalists from the VOA-TV pilot will be contributing stories to the election night coverage and for the following day's television programs in Mandarin, Russian, Indonesian, English-to-Africa, and Balkan (Bosnian, Serbian, and Albanian) languages. 

IBB's Internet audience will be able to access the latest election results and news stories from VOANEWS.COM, VOA's new 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week Internet news service. 

Contact: Lesley Jackson
Phone: 202-401-4572