The tables have been set up, the chairs wiped down, and the red and white tablecloths are being placed. When the doors of the Lane County Fairgrounds’ Performance Hall open at 6 p.m., everything will be ready to ring in the election results during Election Central 2000.
Election Central has been held for “probably close to 15 years,” said Linda Roz Smith, sales and events manager for Lane County Fairgrounds. This year, 48 tables, two big-screen TVs and lots of concessions are highlights of the Fairgrounds’ festivities.
“About 300 people are likely to attend, including representatives from political action committees and candidate supporters,” said Thomas Markham, event coordinator for Lane County Fairgrounds.
Those scheduled to show up include members of the No On 9 campaigns, State Rep. Vicki Walker D-Eugene, who is up for re-election in District 41, and contenders for the District 40 representative spot, including Democrat Phil Barnhart and Republican Dr. Bill Young.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and the Democrats have their own private room reserved, and because the group wants to watch Fox Regional News during the event, cable had to be installed. Republicans had a room reserved but later decided against it, though Markham said he wasn’t really sure why.
Most of the action, however, will take place in the large hall, where 33 of the 48 tables are reserved by campaigns and committees, said Sharon Kimball, operations lead worker for Lane County Fair Board. That leaves about 15 tables for the public.
Even though the deadline to reserve tables at the event was Oct. 23, about a quarter of the calls came in just last Friday.
“They’re all procrastinators,” Markham said.
Procrastinators or not, when everyone arrives tonight, they will be surrounded by campaign signs and decorations provided by the candidates and committees.
Two televisions will broadcast election results as they are counted, but will show only results of contested races. About every hour, updates for all races will be counted by the Elections Department, assembled on paper and passed out to candidates and committees.
The party is a bit smaller than it has been in the past.
“It’s scaled down this year,” Kimball said. The television stations “used to do their broadcasts from here.”
But this year, the only television station broadcasting from Election Central 2000 will be Metro, the local government TV station. All other media will sit at tables lined against the walls of the large hall. Phone lines were installed for reporters to call information to their offices, and results will be provided to reporters who requested electronic results so they can e-mail them back to their stations.
Markham said that during the primaries, anarchists harassed Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey, who was running for re-election, each time he was on camera. In response, this year three security officers, two from on-site security and one from the Eugene Police Department, will be there in case anything out of the ordinary should happen.