Get Out the Vote by Mary Dutta

This year’s wave election is quite a story, but isn’t every election about stories?

Candidates tell us stories of how things are and how they could be if they win (or remain in) office.

They tell stories of who they are, or at least who they want voters to believe they are.

Their mailers and ads feature the stories of real people affected by the policies for which they advocate or the ones they oppose.

Incumbents highlight the stories of their performance in office while their challengers use the same stories to argue that change is needed.

Polls tell one story, pundits another, and predictions a third. Sometimes all are right, sometimes all are wrong, and sometimes it’s a bit of both.

Stories can get ahead of election results, as with the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline.

The news cycle doesn’t abandon election coverage once all the votes are tallied. Stories from podcasters, TV talking heads, and newspaper columnists continue long after the results are certified.

At the end of any election, only one candidate gets the happy ending they were hoping for. The losing candidate then has to decide on the story that explains their defeat, a story that can be based on reality or denial.

I came up with a few election story ideas of my own when I went to vote on Tuesday. For instance, who was the man standing behind a tripod camera outside my polling place? Was he a journalist? Or maybe an investigator letting someone know they were being watched?

And what about that friendly poll worker handing out “I Voted” stickers? Was she simply an upstanding citizen? Or was she using her position to get access to the church building where the vote was being held?

Ultimately, every election story is written by the voters. And if we don’t like how the story ends, we get the opportunity to revise it in the next cycle. The chance of that happy ending is always on the ballot.

 

Do you have a favorite election story?