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Twists, turns in election news
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share thisIt was a municipal election year in 2009, and for newsrooms that always means a heavy load on election night, both in May and November.
This year, however, was even more demanding than usual.
The issues weren't necessarily more important nor were there more candidates; there were, however, a number of unique circumstances.
We add an hour to deadline each election night, and even that usually isn't quite enough. It's simply a case of too much information coming to us in too short of a time span after the polls close at 8 p.m. No amount of prior preparation - we pull file mug shots, write background into stories, have names and issues sorted out, divy the work to almost every editor and reporter we have - and the end-of-night rush can still bog us down.
The challenges, controversy and heightened interest for the primary and general elections of 2009, however, went beyond the two election days.
They started early in the year when the candidacies of two police officers running for Shamokin Area School Board seats were challenged. One did get out of the race, fearing a violation of the federal Hatch Act, while the other fought to stay on the ballot and won that fight - and his re-election. As it was, 11 men and women (after the one dropout) were running for four open seats, so there was plenty to talk about in that race prior to the candidacy challenges.
The drama continued after the May 19 primary. In Mount Carmel and Zerbe townships and Kulpmont Borough, it was announced on May 28, write-in votes had changed the complexion of the races for supervisor and borough council.
After all this, it was no surprise that the general election came with twists and turns, too.
A Web posting error by Northumberland County led to an incorrect tabulation of votes for the heated Mount Carmel Borough Council race. That resulted in a headline in our Nov. 4 edition that read, "Barrett ousted from MC borough council." The error was found and corrected the next day, leading to a Nov. 5 headline, "Barrett's in after all."
Even this week, election stories continued, with Tuesday's details on the county election bureau's final tally, and one on a write-in candidate's victory in Ralpho Township.
Indeed it was a challenging and interesting election season. Still, it wasn't the worst. This generation of editors and reporters compares all things to the 2000 and 2004 general elections, when the conclusion of the presidential races exceeded deadline, not by an hour, but by days.
(Heintzelman, editor of The News-Item, writes "The Week In News" for each Saturday edition.)
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