Wednesday, November 03, 2004
The aftermath
Reporting election returns in NWI is rough business. Got there at 6, because I was told that most of the absentee ballots would be ready. The good news was, Lake County had an outstanding turnout, possibly the largest in years. The bad news? At 6, there was maybe 30 percent of that vote counted, so for 3 hours, I sat around dishing with a competition reporter (I may despise the competition, but I like quite a few of the people) as well as one of my local TV station friends, who's, like, the coolest person ever (plus she thinks I'm funny, something I always get a charge of).
And then the results started coming in, and no sooner would I spend 20 minutes on the phone with the lovely EA who did a fantastic job of plugging in the stats when I'd get the NEXT SET OF NUMBERS handed to me. That happened three different times before we finally stopped at 98 percent returned. (And before you say, "Why didn't you just fax the damn results?" -- no. Having been an EA in the Sports department -- yeah, I know, that's a thought, idn't it? -- it is a thousand times easier to have things read to you than it is reading them, even if I wanted to cry by the fourth set of stats.) But what I want to know? How is it that some precincts didn't turn in the cartridges on which the votes were cast!?!?! When we finally called it a night at 11:30 p.m. (the paper, not the election counters, who were there until the wee hours), there were still eight machines locked up in buildings, the cartridges not turned in to be counted. How does that fucking happen? Seriously. After spending 12 hours devoting your time to manning an election, how do you NOT TURN THE THINGS IN!?!? GAH!
As for the Shrub winning, I'm as stunned and saddened by it as anyone, but plenty of other people have articulated my thoughts for me to, too. I'm just glad that Pete Visclosky was reelected to the House.
And then the results started coming in, and no sooner would I spend 20 minutes on the phone with the lovely EA who did a fantastic job of plugging in the stats when I'd get the NEXT SET OF NUMBERS handed to me. That happened three different times before we finally stopped at 98 percent returned. (And before you say, "Why didn't you just fax the damn results?" -- no. Having been an EA in the Sports department -- yeah, I know, that's a thought, idn't it? -- it is a thousand times easier to have things read to you than it is reading them, even if I wanted to cry by the fourth set of stats.) But what I want to know? How is it that some precincts didn't turn in the cartridges on which the votes were cast!?!?! When we finally called it a night at 11:30 p.m. (the paper, not the election counters, who were there until the wee hours), there were still eight machines locked up in buildings, the cartridges not turned in to be counted. How does that fucking happen? Seriously. After spending 12 hours devoting your time to manning an election, how do you NOT TURN THE THINGS IN!?!? GAH!
As for the Shrub winning, I'm as stunned and saddened by it as anyone, but plenty of other people have articulated my thoughts for me to, too. I'm just glad that Pete Visclosky was reelected to the House.
CNN’s got breakdowns by county on their site. Indiana’s a hoot: Lake was the only county even remotely blue. Go figure.
Check it out
It’s interesting to see this type of detail though. You begin to see patterns… like any county in or near a major city tended to be highly Democratic. Rural Americans must have either too much God or money or both for them to be sooooo Rep-happy.
Oh well, another 4 years of the same-old same-old. Frankly though, Kerry scared me, both because of his flip-flops and how his victory might have been twisted by Osama and his ilk to “prove” that their terror campaigns have worked to their advantage and thus justify additional carnage. Of course, a Bush win means that Americans endorse Bush’s policies and are now fairer game than ever as casualties of jihad.
K, enough soapboxing.
-Dix