Ballot bingo and other election day uncertainty

I love election day. Not because it's so much fun to cast a ballot ... but just because it's a night of unpredictability and beat-the-clock for the late evening newscast. I plan to blog throughout the night as this evening's results come together.

Sometimes the big story is a head-to-head race and other times it's a big school levy. Usually there's at least one major hiccup or problem at the polls that turns into breaking news. Every four years we toss in the Presidential Election results too and it turns into an evening free-for-all (nothing will ever beat the 2000 Bush-Gore 3 a.m. drama).

Tonight's lead will probably tinker between the Canton Mayoral Race and Issues 20 (ADM) and 21 (CSB) in Summit County. If Janet Weir Creighton wins big and the ADM or CSB levies are still undecided at 10 p.m., we may end up leading with the issue results. Likewise, if William Healy is headed for a big upset in Canton and the issues are long-since-decided, we could turn that direction too. The challenge is figuring out where to send our one videographer tonight if there's any chance of getting some of his video back for the 10 p.m. Akron-Canton News broadcast.

I still can't get over the mega-gyro-super-deluxe-heavy-bonded-ballot-as-big-as-my-head that we Summit County optical scanners get to fill out. Every time I see one, I feel like I should be folding it into a paper airplane instead of using it to fulfill my right to vote. They just feel very juvenile compared to the computer touch screen our fellow citizens in adjacent counties get to use. Thank you Ken Blackwell. Thanks very much for that one.

Not sure what to expect from the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Clerk's race. It usually wouldn't generate any extra attention in the media's coverage of the November election. But this race has gotten nasty and weird. Widowfield versus Carano. If you watch Widowfield's ads, you'd swear the guy should be Governor. If you listen to others in politics, many say he's an Arshinkoff puppet. Widowfield certainly didn't take time to distance himself from the "NameGate" scandal when AA put up six different women with three names each (well, i guess one only used her first and last) to add confusion to the ballot for those who were looking to support incumbent Lisa Zeno Carano. I wonder how much of an impact Widowfield's attack ads will have on voters. Of course, others may remember Widowfield as one of two local Republicans who've held up the appointment of two additional judges to an overworked courthouse too ... but that's just politics being politics. Should we consider that race as the lead since so many dollars were spent to attack this race?

I think our newsroom will also being paying close attention to Akron's City Council races. There's a chance a Republican could end up in the bakers dozen for the first time in a decade. Should that be the lead if Cole defeats Keith in Ward 8?

AHHHHH .. I love election night ... I do. See ya here in blogville and also on the air. Eric