Monday, November 7, 2016

T minus eight hours


This is it. The election is tomorrow and many people are breathing a sigh of relief. The last 48 hours of news coverage are unlike any campaign coverage I have seen before. Rallies are covered live, countdown clocks adorn the corners of nearly every cable news screen and journalists, pundits and friends are reflecting on the magnitude of tomorrow.
I surprised myself by going to make calls yesterday – not for president, but for a young Democrat running for state legislature (when your boyfriend is the acting President of the CT Young Democrats, duty calls). 

Tomorrow’s media coverage will feature something new – “real-time projections of how the candidates are faring in each state throughout the day” based on exit surveys. Slate, Vice News and Votecastr are partnering on the effort which is drawing concern from some in the media. Politico reports “[they] worry that collecting and reporting this data while votes are being cast could impact the outcome.”

This strategy goes against the currently established practice of amalgamating survey results to be released after polls in that state close.

It will be an interesting thing to watch.

I’m now forcing myself to close the computer, put down the phone and turn off the TV. I’ll admit it, studying the media has led to an unhealthy obsession with campaign coverage. I feel like an addict going back for one more hit, I’m constantly on alert for something breaking, something new, something BIG. I compulsively cycle through social media and news sites – and I’m nearly always awarded with a new story; I haven’t been to bed before midnight in at least two weeks.

It’s beginning to make me crazy and I know tomorrow will be worse. I can’t seem to shake the notion that if I look hard enough, I will find the golden nugget that will give me the answers.

Tomorrow is Election Day. That means it will all be over soon…right?

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