Down River

End of an Era:
Therecord-online last Tuesday was all set to load things up and head to Clinton County’s Piper Building to present to you the viewing public our live coverage of Clinton County’s May 16 primary election, a tradition started at WBPZ radio a long, long time ago and continued with therecord-online in recent years.

Down River had his coat and tie out ready to go, Record publisher Michael Frank was getting all the gear together. Just to let the folks down by the airport know, we sent an email to Chief Clerk Jann Meyers, alerting her to our plans to set up shop in the Piper Building meeting room, from which we had streamed in the past.
Then came this response from Maria Boileau, the county’s voter registrar:

I understand you wanted to conduct a live stream on election night at the Piper Building.
As you know, my office has been moved to the first floor and all election processing is completed in the 1st floor meeting rooms.

We are not allowing anyone from the public in the building on Election Night.
Please understand that there is no way to offer you a space that is separate from the Election Processing.
The election results will be available on the county web page and Facebook page.
Should you need further information please feel free to email or call me.
Thank you.

And just like that, a tradition maybe going back all the way to 1947 and the start of WBPZ has come to an end.
Election night coverage was carried out by Down River in his reporting capacity all the way through three county buildings, first the courthouse, then the Garden Building and most recently the Piper Building.

Over the years the post 8 p.m. processing effort was something of a celebratory event, marking the end of a day of the public’s voting for their representatives, their supervisors, their commissioners, even the occasional president. Poll workers, election officials, media types, hangers-on and more than a few successful candidates would mingle together, talk some politics, have some ring bologna and a piece of cheese, even some pie.

No more. Who do we blame? Donald Trump? The guy in charge of voting in Georgia? Rudy Giuliani? We should have seen this coming, given that a large percentage of Americans still believe the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

So the vote tally standards have been tightened, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, particularly on the national scene. Having covered such events locally for half a century or more, Down River never observed any problems here, so far be it for any of us to blame Maria Boileau or any of her predecessors.

Over the decades WBPZ and therecord-online did often get a chance to talk to successful candidates who meandered into the courthouse, Garden Building or Piper Building. There was even a quite heated bru-ha-ha in the courthouse between pro and anti-dike/levee forces when the Lock Haven flood protection system was part of one election back in the 1980s.

Just four years ago, in November of 2019, Angela Harding was at a level beyond elated when she talked to the record-online after she had come to the Piper Building late that Tuesday night, after the unofficial results determined she would become Clinton County’s first female commissioner.

But no more. No more first-timers will be allowed inside this election night or in the future. Therecord-online crew will follow the election results online, just like you. For the Record, no more cheese cubes, no more late-night visits from the always pleasant precinct gals from far-away West Keating Township bringing in the handful of results from somewhere out there just below God’s Country, always the last precinct reporting.

Tough stretch, so far this year in Clinton County. No more Lock Haven Hospital, the Woolrich Store is shutting down, the now closed nearby woolen mill is selling its contents, The Renovo Energy Center has been scrapped and now the Piper Building is closed to the media and any others on election night.

But the sun came up as we voted on election day this week, democracy lived for another day and we can’t give up the fight to make Clinton County and our country a better place. Just no more free pie on election night.