Reflections on covering my first real election nightPosted by Cody Kitaura on June 11th, 2010
I was told there would be pizza.
Coincidentally, I had a slice of pizza for lunch on the day of California’s June 2010 primary election. Maybe some part of my subconscious was telling me that I couldn’t really do my job without some kind of election-night day pizza. There was no newsroom party at our small, twice-weekly newspaper. Instead of a whole flock of staff members staying at the office late into the night, we had two reporters (myself and my editor) and two photographers bouncing around the two prominent races that were relevant to our area (a county supervisor race and a sheriff contest). I was assigned to the sheriff race, which I had been covering closely.
I would spend the night at two very different campaign parties – one at an upscale bar in midtown Sacramento, and another in the ballroom of a local hotel. I arrived at the first party (the upscale one) a short while after it was scheduled to start, and the candidate was nowhere in sight. I chatted with our photographer for a bit, and noticed there were at least four TV news vans and a photographer from the local metro daily.
I saw a few sources I recognized from previous city meetings, but didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary (the buff guy with a Lakers jersey and no shirt underneath seemed a little out of place, but I’m not one to judge). Eventually, the candidate arrived. I spoke to him briefly and then left to the second event. In the car, I checked my phone and realized the county elections office had released the first round of results sometime after we left the first party. The second candidate was in the lead.
The photographer and I arrived at the second party, and I was struck by how different it was. First, the news coverage was almost non-existent. Two news vans and another photographer from the same metro daily. There was a reporter from a Spanish-speaking TV station, but the other station had (as far as I could tell) sent a solo photographer.
I wasn’t sure if it was because the first party was at a glitzier location or if all the stations had favored the first candidate to win handily, but the difference in attention surprised me.
After several minutes and a couple chats with the second candidate, we headed back to the first party.
Nothing much had changed at the first party, largely because the county elections office was very slow to release results. I stayed until 10:30 p.m., and barely any results had been posted to the county’s website. By the end, I realized I had probably spent too much time at the two parties. Then again, if the election had gone differently and a candidate had been declared a winner (instead, the two top candidates won spots in a November runoff election), there likely would have been much more worth reporting.
But as it ended up, I spent a lot of time at the parties … waiting. I tend to spend way more time at an event than I really need to, but I can’t decide if that’s a good or bad thing. Sure, I could pop in, say hello and then leave, but it seems to have been beneficial to me to stick around for a little longer than I need to. The occasional extra detail I catch seems to make it worth it.
To November!
Any other reporters with interesting stories from this year’s elections? Post them in the comments section below!
(by the way, click here for the story I wrote from this night’s events)