Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Election Day!

Welcome to Election Day 2016.

Today's entry is dedicated to my involvement in this whole thing.  I'll return to the "pin boy" reference I made last month.  I'll set them up.  Someone else gets to knock them down.  It's okay.  That's the way things work on the morning shift.

I anticipate my day going like this...  Preview stories have been written, tweaked, and edited.  We'll pick a polling place and let you know what to expect.

After Newswatch 16 This Morning, we'll make a quick jaunt around to check on turnout, races, etc.  I'm sure something unexpected will pop up, and we'll handle that, too.  A photographer and I will slam it together for Newswatch 16 at Noon.

After that, my day and week are done.  I'll vote, go home, have lunch, take a nap, and watch my friends and coworkers fill in the blanks on WNEP, WNEP2, and WNEP.com.

As always, I'll digest it all for a Tuesday morning blog entry.  I have a feeling as to how things will go.  We'll see if I was right.

I hope to keep you up to date here and on Twitter.  Plus, this is my first Facebook election.  I'll try to put an update or two there this morning.

A lot of people have said the election process has left them burned out.  I get that.  In spite of it all, get out and vote today.  Please.

>>>12:01 AM UPDATE:  I couldn't sleep.  I've been up since 10 PM Monday night, going over a lot of things in my head.  Preview stories have been tweaked and retweaked.  We've picked a location for our live shots this morning.  Even though I've been doing elections for a long time, I still get that nervous feeling in my stomach.  Don't get me wrong.  It's fun.  Election Day is the Super Bowl of the news business.  We show off the strength of our staffs, our knowledge, our equipment, our planning, our technology.  Above all else, it's democracy in action.

>>>2:50 AM UPDATE:  I've been at the office for about 20 minutes, after my traditional morning breakfast of a spicy chicken sandwich (no mayonnaise) and fries.  There is only one 24 hour fast food restaurant that serves the delicacy, and it has to be the worst fast food restaurant in the area.   I've often considered changing to another chain, but tradition keeps calling me back.  The food was good this time.  Hot and fresh.  Service was hideous.  I'm checking scripts and web sites now, boning up before a day on the road.

>>>4:10 AM UPDATE:  We've arrived at our live location for the next few hours.  The mast is up.  The microwave signal is tuned in.  Photographer Jason has set up some lights.  Fresh bottle of Diet Pepsi.  New tie.  New pants.  Let's make some Election Day TV!

>>>10:20 AM UPDATE:  The morning broadcast was trouble free.  After that, it was an election morning story, touching on turnout, vote rigging and more.  Photographer Jason handed off to Photographer Bonnie, and a noon story is being edited right now.  By the way, we're hearing reports and seeing first hand big voter turnout across our area.

>>>1:50 PM UPDATE:  The noon broadcast was smooth.  I went to vote, and expected a line.  None.  I breezed in and out, but the poll workers told me it was busy all day, and they topped 200 voters by lunch.  That rarely happens.  After a snack and a haircut, it's time to relax a bit, and get some sleep.  As noted earlier, I just couldn't sleep last night.  A nap would be nice, and I'll be up in plenty of time to watch my co-workers deliver the numbers and field reports.  The station and I received a lot of compliments during my travels today.  Thank you.  We'll go over the numbers tomorrow.