FeedElection results: No news is good news
February 27, 2007 in Local
It’s 10:30 p.m. and the polls have been closed for three hours. Not one single people news organization has posted election results on their web sites.
I was able to catch just a glimpse of WMBD 31’s 10 p.m. broadcast, and I recall that Gary Sandberg, Ryan Spain and George Jacob were the top three vote getters. But I was with family when the report came on and there was a lot going on so I missed it. No, matter, I thought, because surely SOMEONE would have the results. How naive. I guess Peoria’s professional news media still thinks its the 1980s, which is sorta like being in the buggy whip business after Ford came out with the Model T.
Sad, Sad, Sad.
UPDATE: WEEK posted an article soon after I posted this one:
It was no surprise that current at-large council member Gary Sandberg was the top vote getter. He has been a council member since 1989.
Other at-large incumbent running, Eric Turner, came in fourth. The top ten go on to the April ballot where voters narrow it down to five. Those include Ryan Spain, George Jacob, Jim Montelongo, Gale Thetford, Patti Polk, Dan Irving, Charles Schierer, and Gloria Fitzgerald.
It’s a little short on specifics.
UPDATE 2: Dave Dahl, WMBD 1470’s intrepid reporter, has the complete details here:
| Gary Sandberg | 5,518 | 17% | ||
| Ryan Spain | 4,575 | 14% | ||
| George Jacob | 4,540 | 14% | ||
| Eric Turner | 4,371 | 14% | ||
| Jim Montelongo | 3,420 | 11% | ||
| Gale Thetford | 2,233 | 7% | ||
| Patti Polk | 1,622 | 5% | ||
| Dan Irving | 1,592 | 5% | ||
| Charles Schierer | 1,565 | 5% | ||
| Gloria Fitzgerald | 945 | 3% | ||
| Dan Gillette | 602 | 2% | ||
| Bradley Carter | 566 | 2% | ||
| Kelley Mammen | 338 | 1% | ||
| Donald Cummings | 327 | 1 |
February 28th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Could it be that the City Election Commission is no longer efficient since Jeanette Mitzelfelt no longer is there? Ask Camille and Mary why no results were avaiable at 10:30! That’s what happens when politics gets in the way of objectiveness.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Plus we can add to the problem, some delay due to the fact that the election equipment purchased wasn’t fully capable of dealing with the cumulative voting system in Peoria. As I recall, the Election Commission had to get a waiver from the State so that results could be tallied differently then required by law (I believe back at the main office rather than in the field) - I’m sure this added to the delay in getting out the vote counts.
February 28th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
There was no delay. All the results were posted on WEEK and WHOI by 9:30. I checked WEEk at 9:00 and there was only a few precints left. (http://www.week.com/election/results.aspx) I checked HOI’s website about 9:20 and all the races were counted. HOI even has a timestamp on their page (http://whoitv.com/)
WHOI’s link is on the right side of the page..it says Vote 2007…don’t know how you could miss is. WEEK’s was a little harder to find, but it didn’t take very long.
Go ahead, blame the stations for not holding your hand because you looked in the wrong place. Now you know for March.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Billy,
You really need to explore our Web site more often. We posted early returns from the election by 8 p.m. We had final results before unofficial 10 p.m.
The link was clearly on our home page, on the top half of the page under the headline “Elections Results” and packaged with our pre-election coverage.
Jerry Smith
Online Editor
Journal Star
March 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Billy,
You really need to explore our Web site more often. We posted early returns from the election by 8 p.m. We had final results before 10 p.m.
The link was clearly on our home page, on the top half of the page under the headline “Elections Results” and packaged with our pre-election coverage.
Jerry Smith
Online Editor
Journal Star
March 1st, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Don’t you love double posters?
March 1st, 2007 at 12:38 pm
No.
Seriously, as I explained, I wasn’t looking for special links. I was looking in the “updates” for coverage. Sidebar links are often overlooked because they go to static, not dynamic, content. I think there’s a lesson to be learned here for everyone.