The Washington Post will use automation to help cover the election

On Election Day, journalists at The Washington Post will get an assist from their non-human counterparts. The newspaper announced Wednesday morning that it will use automation to cover 500 races. The automation technology, Heliograf, was first used by The Post to cover the Rio Olympics and will be repurposed to provide "up-to-date reporting, analysis and results for nearly 500 races." In addition, the Post will surface stories based on the readers' location. In August, Washington Post Director of Strategic Initiatives told Poynter that Heliograf wasn't aimed at replacing human reporters -- rather, it's intended to be a complementary service aimed at freeing up reporters and editors to cover more nuanced stories.