We survived election night.
The newsroom always tries to do some up-to-the-minute reporting on our website on election night, usually with a varying amount of success.
I worked to update the vote tally in the three ridings of Battlefords-Lloydminster, Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek and Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, the latter because reporter John Cairns correctly predicted it would be a close one.
My team members kept Facebook updated and visited the campaign offices based in the Battlefords.
It wasn’t a long night, except in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, where a recount is now looming after a razor-thin 70-vote victory for NDP candidate Georgina Jolibois over Lawrence Joseph of the Liberals.
It was just shortly after the polls closed that Cairns filed a photo from a subdued Gerry Ritz campaign headquarters at the Tropical Inn. The photo showed a couple of people quietly watching the results on the television. Cairns noted the lack of jubilation that had prevailed in previous Ritz campaign victories. While Ritz won the seat handily, as expected, gone is his role as minister of agriculture.
The red tide that swept the rest of the country, launching Justin Trudeau’s Liberals into power, has Ritz planning his strategy for operating on the opposition side of the house.
It was a lively night for voting in the Battlefords, however. Various circumstances led to me not getting to the polling station at Alex Dillabough until about 7:15 p.m. I was surprised to see the parking lot jammed and a steady stream of people entering and leaving. There were lineups at a few of the polls and more people were coming in the door. One election worker was concerned he might have to close the door on people still wanting to vote.
The women manning my poll said there had been a steady stream of people voting throughout the day. Such enthusiasm bodes well for democracy in the Battlefords.
I’ll leave it to others to digest the outcome of Monday’s vote, but will add my vote of thanks to all the candidates. To put one’s name forth on an election ballot of any kind shows a commitment to community and country that must be respected and appreciated.
