Readers of this newspaper can expect fact-based recounting of vote tallies as they are published. We do not “call” close races, avoiding incorrect and embarrassing moments such as those recently experienced by our larger peers in an attempt to be “first.”
Instead, we’ll note if a race has a large enough gap to make a switch in results extremely unlikely, or note those races that are too close to call and publish follow up stories as the Secretary of State releases more information. Next week’s print edition will have what results have been released by 2 p.m. Wednesday immediately following the election, while the edition scheduled for Wednesday, May 25 will have more details as ballots are collected.
Online, we will publish basic election results for free at BanksPost.com and GalesCreekJournal.com Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, for those eager for information. You can follow along by visiting the state’s election results website at results.oregonvotes.gov.
For those who follow along with newsrooms and election night, here’s some “inside baseball” for you: it’s a tradition here (and at other newsrooms) to eat pizza and (responsibly) drink whiskey to get through the often late night and early morning as we publish results, search for reactions from winning and losing candidates, run numbers, and tackle the unenviable task of calling people who’ve just lost an election. If you’d like to donate to the pizza-and-whiskey fund, head over to https://paypal.me/chashundley, Venmo @ChasHundley, or mail a check to 8995 NW Gales Creek Rd, Gales Creek OR 97117 to keep your friendly neighborhood journalists going all night long.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.