Last time, I — we — thanked the candidates. Today, on our belated Election Day, when it’s too late to mail your ballot but you can still use the dropbox at the library or vote there in person, both until 8:00 p.m. . . . Today we focus our thanks on some other good people.

Thanks to Poll Workers, Guest Writers, Volunteers

First, poll workers. We don’t use as many as we did when nearly all of us would seek out a polling place in person, but they’re still important. Thank you, poll workers! We appreciate your long days in our behalf.

Next, two guest writers here at afelection.info: John Mulholland and Bryce Shelley. I spill a lot of my own metaphorical ink, but we’re all better off when I’m not the only one reporting or opining here.

If you’d like to join us next time (or in between) , let me know. You don’t have to be a fine or seasoned writer. You just have to have thoughts and put them into words, then endure some editing (often very light editing). And you don’t have to agree with me. It’s more interesting to me and more helpful to readers if you don’t.

Third, campaign volunteers. Whether they place signs, make videos, stuff envelopes, make phone calls, or tag along with the candidate for an afternoon of knocking on doors, they do important work. In the process, they demonstrate something important to candidates: they are not alone, despite growing temptations to feel that way as a campaign wears on. Rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, candidates have souls too.

Thanks to You

Finally, you. There are thousands of you. Thanks for reading!

In a typical local election cycle this website attracts readers from 1,500 to 2,500 households in American Fork. Most of you come and stay awhile, long enough that we know you’re reading. And most of you visit multiple pages while you’re here. In this year’s election, so far, traffic is up more than 50% — and that’s after I exclude a spike before the primary, when a false narrative with a nasty bit of doctored video went national on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter.

But it’s not just metrics. Thanks to several of you for commenting publicly here. Thanks to even more of you for what you’ve said to me in person, by phone, and in private e-mails.

I wonder if we’ll have clear results before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of which, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Image generated by DALL-E.