Election Front Page

It was a long night (I’m posting this at 12:29 a.m. Wednesday), but all in all, this was a stress-free Election Night for The Herald. Typically, results come in much later than expected or there are so many races, it gets tough to get all the information in the two-hour window between final tallies and deadline.

We got the unofficial final votes around 10:15 Tuesday night, which meant we had plenty of time to get a lot of stuff in. The only setback was the Ward 5 Sanford City Council race, which still isn’t “official” because Linwood Mann and Earl Barker are separated by only five votes.

So here’s Wednesday’s front page for those of you who stayed up late …

In addition to it being a good night for Mike Stone, Charles Taylor, Clem Welch, Woody Beale and Lynne Green (candidates we endorsed), it was also a good night for The Herald. My blog got 300 hits Tuesday night between 9 p.m. and midnight (I average 150 hits daily). Hopefully, when our actual Web site is improved, our site will become Election Central for those of you looking for instant results.

I’m going to be on vacation starting today (Wednesday) through Sunday. I’ll be able to check e-mail, but not that often, and I’ll be refreshed and ready for another thrilling month come next week.

Until then, enjoy a week of no campaigns.

P.S.: Had Lora Wright won, the headline would have been “Wright on” … headline writing is so fun and nerdy.

Election Night

Well, it’s 7 p.m. on Election Night, and The Herald’s newsroom skipped the usual pizza night and chose Chinese food instead. A few plates of General Tso’s chicken and white rice later, and I’m too tired to work now (the crab rangoons were overrated).

Check back throughout the night for updates on the election … when I hear results, you’ll see results here. Fee free to comment along the way … we’ll make it interactive if you want.

That is, if I don’t get sick from the eggrolls ….

7:30 PM
Well, the polls just officially closed, and we’re probably a good hour away from getting some results.
Already Kim Pritt has responded to the first part of this blog, only to question why we ate Chinese food (we ran into her at the restaurant when we were picking it up), because it makes us sleepy.
Good question. I’m wondering that myself right now.

8 PM
It’s been quiet as a church mouse the past half hour, and that’s usually how Election night works in a newsroom. You get your whole crew to basically stand around and get their stories “ready,” then it’s slow, slow, slow, slow up until about 9 p.m. … then BAM, it’s chaos. Luckily, it’s not a “big” election with a lot of races, but it will still be pretty hectic.
Until then.

8:21 PM
I’m told some of the results are coming in, but I’ve yet to see them. If you’d like to follow along tonight, the following link will be updated throughout the night as the precincts come in.

LEE COUNTY MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

8:26 PM
First round of results have come in (from 8:20 p.m.) … we don’t have precinct numbers. So far, Mike Stone, Charles Taylor and Earl Barker each have leads.
at-large
Stone 468, Wright 415
Ward 2
Harrington 124, Taylor 179
Ward 5
Barker 24, Fox 17, Mann 19

8:31 PM
Congratulations Woody Beale … numbers show about a 269-42 win over John Eldridge for the two-year term in the town of Broadway.

8:34 PM
According to Channel 16, Clem Welch and Lynne West Green defeated George Bates and David Harrington by a pretty close margin to win Broadway’s four-year term for the town board. That would make The Herald 3-for-3 in its endorsements for Broadway. Hooray for us.
And congratulations to the candidates.

8:40 PM
Mike Stone and Lora Wright’s race will lead our newspaper tomorrow … which means I’ve been trying to come up with good headlines if either wins. Right now, Stone has about a 200 vote lead with more than half of the precincts in.
I have the headlines written, but if anybody has a better two-word headline for me, let me hear them. No cussing. OK, you can cuss.

9:05 PM
Updated numbers … not all the precincts in yet.
at-large
Stone 918, Wright 695
Ward 2
Harrington 367, Taylor 183
Ward 5
Barker 97, Fox 32, Mann 102

Charles Taylor’s on TV right now pretty much making his “winner” speech. Congratulations, Charles.

9:26 PM
Hoping this isn’t my Dewey defeats Truman moment, I’m going to go ahead and call Mike Stone the winner in the at-large race. Nearly 250 votes is tough to make up with fewer than 2,000 votes in all. It’s semi-official, I’m guessing.
So semi-congratulations, Mike.

9:39 PM
Watching Mike Stone’s acceptance speech on TV, so I’m guessing it’s official he’s won. Also just got word that the total voter turnout was just over 20 percent … not too bad considering they expected 13 to 17 percent, which would have been better than the last municipal election.
Congratulations Mike, and good job, Sanford and Broadway.

9:53 PM
OK, so we endorsed Stone and Taylor, so posting this picture is not mean-spirited.
But it is kind of funny … they’re clearly pretty happy.
Headline: I now pronounce you Chuck and Mike

10:36 PM
Well, we have official unofficial results ….

Sanford
City Council
At Large
• Mike Stone 1405
Lora Wright 968
Ward 2
• Charles Taylor 452
Dan Harrington 222
Ward 4
• Walter McNeil 252
Ward 5
• Linwood Mann 102
Earl Barker 97
Ervin Fox 32

Broadway
Mayor
• Donald Andrews 279 100%
Broadway Town Council (4-year term)
• Lynne West Green 174 30%
• Clem Welch 156 27%
George P. Bates 141 24%
David E. Harrington 109 19%
Broadway Town Council (2-year term)
• Woody Beale 270 87%
John M. Eldridge 42 13%

If you want to stick around … I’ll post our front page around midnight tonight. Until then, ….