Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-11-03
FLASH BRINGS
ELECTION THRILL
Within a Few Hours After You
Mark Your Ballot Verdict
Will Be Sent Out


missing name in the foregoing sent
ed Press.
In the business of gathering
ae, developed by this worldwide or
sanitation. the first word sent over
B the wires telling of any extraordinary
event is Flash, 1t is the signal OF
thrill. The ordinary routine of The
Associated Press bureaus and their
hundreds of newspaper members is
often punctuated with tn g
"F-l-a-s-hi" Operators from Bangor
ito San Diego, from Tampa to Tacoma,
tighten their tagging nerves, and edt-
tors come scurrying to the wires to
hear a Pope is dead, a Titanic sunk,
another country ut war. a Lusitania
torpedoed, 4 battle won. a king de-
posed, or President elected.
This latter thrill has a recognized
periodicity, like the passage of a
comet, and the experience of 1t is
again imminent. Within a few hours
after you have scratched your ballot,
The Associated Press will have flash
ed the verdict which you and sixteen
million fellow voters have rendered
will have flashed it perhaps within
few minutes after the last of these
sixteen million ballots has been drop
ped in its box in some of the Western
States, where three hours difference
in time makes late the closing of the
polls.
Working to Break Records
How, in this brief time, anything
approNimating an accurate accounting
OF these sixteen million votes can be
achieved, the returns assembled, and
the result made known throughout
the land is a process both simple and
marvellous. It is true, of course, that
ali or those sixteen million votes are
not counted, but when The Associated
Press announces the election, that
announcement will be as trustworthy
as If they were.
The gathering and distribution of
returns this year will mark one of the
greatest cooperative efforts that has
been made on any similar occasion
TO accomplish this purpose. In pre-
Vlous elections The Associated Press,
relying more largely on it's own re-
sources, has done notable work in the
prompt and accurate reporting of the
eIection figures. In the Roosevelt
Parker contest Of 1904 the organiza-
uon was able not only definitely to an
nounce the result but also to indicate
the tull extent of the victory as early
early as eight o'clock on election
night. Equally remarkable service
mas been rendered in othe reflections.
ana the value of The Associated
Fress ngures has been such that de-
Ieated candidates themselves have.
on the strength of them, sent, their
teIegrams of congratulation to their
VICTORIOUS opponents. The service has
been such that it has inyariahIv
brought to the executives of the or
ganlzauon flood of kilograms on
the day after in tribute to the com
prehensive,' speed" and "accuract-,,
with which the work has been done
rms year 1t is possible that all rec
ordS Will be broken. for The Associat-
ed Press has for the coming election
sh!s'sa the cooperation of its mem
-
concerted effort than ever before.
Preparations Long Under Way
more than two years ago prepara
uons were begun. under the direction
OF the general manager of The Asso-
which will be served TO the nnbI,o
the night of November 7. Flectjnn
eA-SrtS OF the organization have dur-
ing these two years canvassed everv
state IN the Union and arranged viii
the papers OF each State to work TO-
gether on cooperative basis unSer
the supervision of the esta hiisI,ets
Associated Press bureaus. Thousands
oL special forms have been prenared
LOT the systematic conduct of the SER
wee, thousands of typewriter sheets
uLsIELputeo listing candidates and
showing votes four years ago as
basis of comparison, special corras'
pondents appointed and special wire
work, '--'S par FtlcuIar
In the collection of returns. the
county is everywhere made the unit
ana 1t is the purpose OF the svstar, ~
near definitely from every eIectio,,
qlstrict OF the more important States
IN New York State alone these AZ
trlcts number 500. In Illinois tbara
are over 5000 and in other States y
t-.o opoItlohately large number of dis
trlcts 10 be heard from. Taking w,
York State as typical of the svster,
Ihat VIII be followed, in principle a.
least, oy other States, the service there
Is worked out broadly as follows:
New York the Center
avihg arranged for some COM
petent man to take charge of each
county upstate and for co-onsra-
I'VE effort with the New York Or.
news Association for the coIIectios
VI the metropolitan returns, the New
n 6 6ork headquarters of The Associatad
tion Il T, made the center of tabula-
uon: The upstate county man ;e
stauoned at the most conyeniapt
center, usually the county seat froro
Which he throws out his net for III
satnering Of his local returns, 'Ne
LOT me special work in hand
Tba sHne .He extra wires are strung into
me Associated Press offices in W
1ork, giving direct and excIrsi,,o
connection with the principal cites
peLore the operators is Stacked q
n1EIed assortment OF printed forms
wnose plank spaces await the fipuras
mat tell the story. There are ni,'i9
iiohs, oIue forms, buff, green. veiN
low and white to make the var;o,i.
Sonpllauons of the vote for Presi
uenr governor, Senate, Congress- ana
me TWO Houses of the State Ieeis
IN an adjoining room tbera ho,,o
Deen assembled a staff of a hundreS
men 10 serve as tabulators. PrevioI,s
70 the election The Associated prass
has arranged with some OF tbe hes9
banks IN the city to furnish exDest
accountants for this work Tba,.
, "oFk IN relays, the first crew renorty
ing at the close of the polls at f,,o
O'Clock, compiling the figures unt;i
TWO O'Clock in the morning, A'h
Less than ten minutes after ,ho
GG,osihg OF the polls, the work beeins
i, ne nrst returns in New York are
invariably from some of the un4S,ate
cities Where voting machines are en-
proved. There are, however so-ao
Iocahles on Cape Cod and down ir
Maine which for years have nridsd
themselves on being the first IN v-;tb
,helr vote. In such small places tha
law permits the opening OF the haIIot
DoAes as soon as 1t has been made GER
lam that the full vote of the nfoao
mas oeen polled and the result is then
made known 10 tHSH