The news organizations declined, saying they will declare a victor as soon as one emerges.

Secretary of State Bill Jones issued the plea as he projected that 76 percent of California voters will cast ballots next Tuesday, the highest proportion since 1980.

That also was the year that early news media declarations affected the vote in the West after President Carter conceded defeat, based on exit poll projections, well before the polls closed.

The concession decreased voter turnout by 2 percent, Jones spokesman Alfie Charles said, and is thought to have cost Democrats at least one congressional seat.

News organizations often call races based on surveys at the polls. Jones said he was troubled by early declarations of races using such polling.

The exit polling is conducted nationwide by Voter News Service, a consortium of the television networks and The Associated Press.

It is the AP's policy not to project winners in individual states until the polls there have closed, but AP will declare a winner in the presidential race as soon as a candidate reaches an electoral majority.

ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN said Wednesday they have similar policies.

"We're journalists in the business of telling people information, not holding back information," said Tom Hannon, political director at CNN.

"We will report the winner when we see a clear winner," said Kim Akhtar, a CBS News spokeswoman. "We're not in the business of hiding that information from the public."

Fox spokesman Robert Zimmerman said he was unsure of the network's policy.

In 1996, Fox and the other networks declared a winner by 6:01 Pacific time, two hours before the polls closed in California, despite requests from nine Republican governors that they hold off.

This year, the issue could be moot. The presidential race is so close in so many states, particularly in the Midwest, that news organizations may be unable to declare a winner until the polls close on the West Coast.

In addition, Oregon switched to a mail-in voting system this year. Ballots must be received by election departments by the close of business Nov. 7.

In Washington, polls close at 8 p.m. PST, but about half the state's voters are expected to cast absentee ballots. Jones predicted nearly 30 percent of Californians were voting absentee.

Nevertheless, Jones and other secretaries of state sent news executives letters asking them to wait until polls close on the West Coast. Jones also has asked members of Congress from California to pressure the executives, he said.

"Please, do nothing to pour cold water on our aggressive effort in the West" to boost voter participation, Jones said he told the executives. "Let us participate as a full partner in the democratic process."

Jones said he had no responses to report, and several network representatives said they were unaware of any such letter.

Jones predicted that excitement surrounding tight California races, a purge of registration rolls and a record number of absentee ballot requests would boost turnout to 76 percent on Tuesday. That would mark a substantial jump over the 66 percent turnout in the last presidential election.