Election Day is surprisingly ho-hum for politicians – and the journalists who cover them | Steve Collins
Read all of our coverage of Maine's 2026 election or stay up to date with the latest developments through the Maine Political Report in your inbox or text messages from politics editor Kirby Wilson.
People have this idea that Election Day is nirvana for political journalists. It isn’t.
All day long, people and politicians alike are desperate to know how it’s going: What are you hearing? Who’s winning? Any clues about who’s up or who’s down?
The reality of it is that nobody ever knows.
I should say this: If the polls are still open when you read this, go vote. I haven’t missed a chance to cast my ballot since I turned 18 (a long time ago).
Since I often know the candidates, it is usually easy for me to decide among them. I still get it wrong sometimes.
Mostly, though, for me, Election Day has been a time to work.
Advertisement
Reporters hustle around at the polls trying to talk to voters and perhaps get a finger on the pulse of what’s happening. They then file stories that are regularly updated to show that, yes, voting is going on and people are showing up. Ho-hum.
It isn’t much better for politicians themselves. I’ve spent many, many hours chatting with candidates who are stuck outside the polls, shaking hands as they wonder whether it will make any difference.
I remember volunteering for a congressional candidate decades ago in Virginia. His campaign manager told me the best thing I could do was to drive the guy around all day from polling station to polling station so he would think he was doing something useful.
It wouldn’t make any difference to the outcome of the race, the manager told me, but it would make it an easier day for his staff since they wouldn’t have to endure his repeated unanswerable questions about how things were shaping up.
One contender I knew in Connecticut understood that he could do no better on Election Day than staying out of the way. He went to the movies.
This year, there’s potential for some drama at voting locations. There are federal observers sprinkled around — who could get worse assignments than Maine in autumn — and other oddball characters with mischief in mind, no doubt. Even then, chances are things will, as usual, be pretty darn dull.
Advertisement
Until the polls close.
Then there’s an hour or so of dead time as numbers are tallied and begin to be released. It doesn’t take long for political insiders to know what the trends are, but nobody can say who’s going to win a close race until most or maybe all of the ballots are counted.
Sometimes, the outcomes are utterly one-sided.
I remember as a college student going to a Democratic victory party on election night in 1980 — except Republicans won darn near everything that night so decisively that almost nobody even went to the planned celebration.
I remember my pal Jerry chattering away on live television about the outcome because the reporters there had little choice about who to put on air. Who wants to be the face of defeat, after all?
As a reporter, I always tried to go first to the parties held by the candidates I thought would come up short. Losers are tough to reach for comment once they go home. Winners stick around.
Mercifully, I don’t have plans to go anywhere after the polls close. Whew. I just hope I’m happy when it’s all over.
Copy the Story Link
Tagged: columns, election 2026
Steve Collins became an opinion columnist for the Maine Trust for Local News in April of 2025. A journalist since 1987, Steve has worked for daily newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Maine and served. More by Steve Collins
