There was a time on Election Day, after the polls closed, when politicos couldn’t wait to gather for voting returns, no matter whether it was a primary or general election.
The old Holiday Inn Bordeaux & Conference Center was the place to be.
“Those were the days,” said Jeff Thompson, who spent 25 years with WFNC 640 AM and later time at WIDU 1600 AM as a radio newsman. “Back in the day, we used pencil and paper and adding machines to tabulate election day winners and losers. We would spend hours, usually past midnight, analyzing and calculating the votes. George Breece, Billy Richardson and I would do our best to get the numbers right. Radio listeners depended on us. The candidates were on hand watching for the numbers to be posted on the big boards around the convention center room.”
There was an excitement to it all.
There was an anticipation.
Who would be the county sheriff? Who would be the next county commissioner? Who would be the city mayor or the next city councilman or councilwoman? Or the next district court judge? Who would be the next school board member? Or who would be heading to Raleigh to serve in the state Senate or the state House?
Election Central was the gathering place.
Radio folks, such as Thompson, would be there early interviewing political supporters about their predictions. George Breece and Billy Richardson would work alongside Thompson offering Election Night color and analysis. Across the way, you’d find Wes Cookman and Troy Williams with WIDU. Danny Highsmith of WFAY 1230 AM, formerly WFAI, was there, too.
“We had many people involved from the station helping to tally the returns, filling out individual precinct returns,” Highsmith said. “Sometimes the precincts were slow to report, meaning we were there at midnight and beyond. One time I worked all night, then left and went straight to WFAI to do the news. Our aim was always to get the returns on the air as quickly as possible and to interview the winners and losers to get their reaction from the results of the voting. It was fun, but often exhausting.”
He recalls the late Jack Lee, the former station owner, who also reported Election Night results. Lee was the Fayetteville mayor from 1971 to 1975.
Election Day brought community residents together.
“Years ago, when we all gathered at the Bordeaux, it was really like a family reunion,” George Breece said. “Folks who hadn't seen each other for a year or more would gather and watch the chalkboard as the good folks from the board of elections would post the results precinct by precinct. Folks would move from one board to another in anticipation of the results for their favorite candidate or maybe hoping someone would lose. You would hear loud cheers and then silence from some. There were some happy candidates and some disappointed ones. Families hugged regardless of the outcome of the elections and you would see candidates who opposed one another sharing a laugh and congratulating one another.”
Breece is scheduled to be on the WFNC radio again at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, joining with “Good Morning Fayetteville” host Jeff Goldberg, aka Goldy, for their post-election takes on Tuesday’s results, including the presidential and gubernatorial returns in addition to all of the state and local primary results. Breece later will join with Wes Cookman at 8:15 a.m. on WIDU for more post-election conversation.
Nat Robertson is a former two-term Fayetteville mayor. Before becoming mayor, he served as a young councilman from 1989 to 1995, then again from 1999 to 2001.
“Those were the most exciting and terrifying days of my life,” said Robertson, now president and chief executive officer for the Greater Fayetteville Chamber. “After an extremely hard day at the polls, the team would meet at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux to wait for the results, precinct by precinct. Every time Mrs. Barbara, Mrs. Terri Robertson or one of the staff would post a new precinct reporting, the crowd would shift to that part of the room to see what was going on, who reported and what the status of the candidate was.”
He sees it all in his mind’s eye.
“When we heard the crowd roar, it was always obvious that the candidates and their volunteers were celebrating their hard work and precinct win,” Robertson says. “The room was filled with the ‘Who's Who’ and the ‘Muckety Mucks’ just watching and waiting for the outcome. The news media was always set up around the perimeter of the ballroom wanting to talk to the winners and losers of the race.”
It was the place to be — the politicos to see and the place to be seen. Women were dressed to the nines, and the men in their suits or open-collared white shirts and blazers.
“It was an opportunity to meet the movers and shakers,” said Linda Devore, now a member of the Cumberland County Board of Elections and once a candidate for the N.C. House Dist. 44, “and engage on issues affecting the community.”
‘Times have changed’
The old Holiday Inn Bordeaux & Conference Center is a thing of the past for Election Central. The county tried the Cumberland County Social Services building once. It wasn’t much of a turnout. We’ve been to the Crown Complex ballroom.
There was no Election Central on Tuesday.
“The North Carolina Board of Elections now provides live updates on election night,” Devore said about how voters and candidates follow the returns. “As the votes roll in from individual precincts, and thumb drives are uploaded to mainframes, they are available on every cell or laptop with a click on Board of Elections (cumberland.nc.us). Technology has done much to improve our instant access to information. Technology works to keep us away from coming together as a community. Election night, as a community event, is another casualty of technology.”
The old chalkboards are a thing of the past, along with the sense of community.
“I often joke that technology is getting out of hand,” Thompson said, when reminded of the election nights of the past. “The internet has destroyed the good times you recalled. Everyone was in touch. These days, as you point out, there is no camaraderie. Times have changed, and not necessarily for the better.”
These days, you will find candidates isolated with small gatherings of political supporters, often at their homes or in different venues here and there.
“The excitement is now shared only in small groups of election night parties,” Devore says. “Hosted by one candidate, a slate of candidates or a political party group, but none of the live interactions among candidates and everyman voters that helped the public feel a part of the action.”
No argument from Breece.
“Chalkboards gave way to video screens and hardline phones gave way to cell phones and the internet,” Breece said about laptops, iPads and smartphones, which are now the order of the day. “Those were the days when the night of the elections was special because of those who gathered together to celebrate democracy at its best in one’s home county.
“I remember back to the days when results came in at what is now the ‘historic courthouse’ on Gillespie Street, when it took forever for the vote totals to come in. I have been fortunate and blessed to have been able to share some of these great memories on the radio. I have watched and learned from the likes of Jeff Thompson, the consummate analyst, and Jeff Goldberg of WFNC past and present, and watched Wes Cookman with WIDU reporting and interviewing for his many loyal listeners.
“Those days,” said Breece, who served in the state House from 1974 to 1976, “have moved on to the age of the internet, instant winners and private gatherings, which isn't bad. But wouldn't it be great to revisit those election nights in person and on the radio again?”
No argument from Robertson, either.
“Those days have fallen along with the rotary dial phones, vinyl albums and VHS tapes,” the mayor, who served from 2013 to 2017, said. “But they will always be remembered as an event that those who have an interest in the political world wouldn’t miss.”
Epilogue
Some of us miss Election Night at the old hotel and conference center, where we still see the excitement of Marshall Pitts in 2000, when he became the first Black mayor. Or the surprise of Charles Evans becoming a county commissioner. Or the heartbreak of a tearful and crestfallen young woman coming up short in her bid to become a Spring Lake alderwoman.
And, of course, we miss the clackety-clack of the typewriters and the humming keyboards inside the old newspaper office along Whitfield Street and the fast-approaching deadlines for the morning headlines of the “unofficial” tallies.
It was just being there, if you will, with the Who’s Who of the political scene. When Election Central at the old hotel, once upon a time, was the place to be and all of us together seemed to be a part of it all.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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