Too early vs. too close to call: What is the difference?

As the calendar flips to Wednesday, and Election Day turns into Election Day Part II, there are certain terms we will continue to hear while states continue to count their votes.

Two of those terms used by the NBC News Decision Desk include races either being "too early" or "too close" to call. What is the difference between the two?

Here is a breakdown of how the Decision Desk will be categorizing races:

• Projected winner: The Decision Desk has made a projection that a candidate will win the race.
• If a race is considered too early to call, that means that either there is not enough data to definitively determine the margin, or that a significant margin for one candidate does not yet meet the Decision Desk’s standards for a call.
• If a race is too close to call, that means the final margin in the race is less than 5%. The Decision Desk will not use this characterization until it has statistical confidence that the race will be this close.
• The Decision Desk will issue a leaning characterization when it is confident that the candidate who is ahead is going to win, but the race may take some time before it reaches its standards for a call. 

A race only gets called by the NBC News Decision Desk after the final polls close in that race, and when it can be determined statistically that one of the candidate's leads is insurmountable.

MSNBC digital reporter Clarissa-Jan Lim contributed to this report.