The Associated Press declared Hillary Clinton the presumptive Democratic nominee June 6 — a night when no votes were cast.

"Hillary Clinton has commitments from the number of delegates needed to become the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for president, and will be first woman to top the ticket of a major U.S. political party," the polling authority wrote at 8:20 pm.

The news sparked excitement over its historic significance for women, and confusion over how exactly the Associated Press determined Clinton as the nominee. To clear things up, here's exactly what happened on the night of June 6:

The AP made their call based on the results of Puerto Rico’s June 5 caucus, and some last-minute pledges by super delegates.

Authorities announced Monday that Clinton secured 36 of Puerto Rico’s pledged delegates, and seven of their super delegates. That same day, The AP made phone calls to super delegates around the country, polling them on their vote — something they’ve done routinely for the last several months.

According to the news organization, a number of super delegates announced their support for Clinton, pushing her to the 2,383-delegate threshold to secure the nomination.

"Clinton is now the 'presumptive nominee,' because according to our count, she now has enough delegates backing her candidacy to win the nomination," The AP's U.S. political editor David Scott said in a statement.


The Bernie Sanders camp was not happy with the decision.

Sanders' spokesman Michael Briggs refuted Clinton as the presumptive nominee, arguing that The AP made their call based on super delegates, not the popular vote.

"Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates secure the nomination. She will be dependent on super delegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then," Briggs said in a statement.

But pollsters were quick to point out that Clinton maintains a commanding lead over Sanders in the popular vote, as well.

"Clinton will be the Democratic nominee because substantially more Democrats have voted for her," Five Thirty-Eight founder Nate Silver wrote. "In addition to her elected delegate majority, she's received approximately 13.5 million votes so far in primaries and caucuses, compared with 10.5 million for Sanders."

According to FiveThirtyEight’s count, Sanders could win the upcoming California primary by 20 percentage points and still be behind by about 2 million votes. Regardless, it seems Sanders is not ready to give up the fight just yet.

"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those super delegates that Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," Briggs said.

Meanwhile, other prominent Democrats pledged their support.

Democrat minority leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Clinton Tuesday morning, saying, "I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and I'm proud to endorse her for that position."

She also hinted that she'd like to see a woman as Hillary’s running mate, reminding voters that "we've had two men over and over again for hundreds of years."

President Barack Obama is also expected to pledge his support for Clinton — who would be the country's first female, major-party nominee — sometime this week.