Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle has put together a nice package for Election Day. They're running a live blog throughout the day, allowing reporters—and readers—to file photographs, video and narrative sippets from the field. Here's some of what I found by digging around the site this morning:
Obama has edge among Buffalo Bills players... Yep, that's right. A reporter in the Bills locker room polled the players on their pick for president. This article is quite funny. After a lengthy quote from Bills quarterback Trent Edwards—in which he declaims the need for, you got it, "serious change"—the reporter, whose name is not amended to the article, writes:
Edwards appears to be in the majority, according to my totally unscientific, random poll of 15 Bills players. Obama received about 60 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Republican John McCain with 13 percent undecided. Our poll's margin for error? Huge.
"I don't know if we're exactly representative of the general public," Edwards said, smiling. "I wouldn't draw many conclusions from what you discover from us."
The president of the Bills offense is right to caution us against making any projections from these findings. After all, this is an NFL locker room populated mostly by millionaires. You won't find any Joe Sixpacks or Joe the Plumbers on the 53-man Bills roster.
Really, a fun article worth checking out.
One of the live bloggers picked up a story from the Associated Press about a tiny town in New Hampshire that has long maintained a tradition of being the first in the nation to tally its ballots. Sen. Barack Obama won the day there.
With 115 residents between them, Dixville Notch and Hart's Location get every eligible voter to the polls beginning at midnight on Election Day. Between them, the towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948.
Being first means something to residents of the Granite State, home of the nation's earliest presidential primary and the central focus - however briefly - of the vote-watching nation's attention every four years.
Town Clerk Rick Erwin said Dixville Notch is proud of its tradition, but added, "The most important thing is that we exemplify a 100 percent vote."
They've even got the token quote in this one about this "historic" election.
Another live blogger got up this interesting bit of info:
Susan B. Anthony, portrayed by Rochesterian Barbara Blaisdell, will lead a group of women at 11:30 a.m. today from the Susan B. Anthony House, 17 Madison St., to the site on West Main Street where Anthony and a group of women voted in the 1872 presidential election, according to the Susan B. Anthony House.
Two weeks after the 1872 election, Anthony was arrested for voting.
Visitors from Nigeria and Sudan, who are guests of the state department and are in the United States to observe the national election process, are expected to attend the event.
We're hoping to get up some great coverage ourselves here at The Batavian today. I know I will be out among the polls, talking with voters, getting the numbers. But that doesn't mean you have to wait for me. Please, feel free and be encouraged to get up your own Election Day story. If you've got a camera, take a picture. If you've got a video camera, make a video. We'll get your story right up to the homepage for everyone to share.
