Tuesday was election day here in Portland.
It wasn’t a particularly important election unless you were running for Mayor or a supporter of the county library. I fall into the latter category. I was lucky enough to get the chance to work on the campaign to renew the library levy. Officially referred to as Measure 26-125, the levy renewal ensured all library branches stay open and primary services remained in tact. I joined the campaign the month before the election to help with earned media and online influential engagement.
Portlanders are known for loving their library. A number of factoids reinforce why it is such a community jewel – it has the second highest circulation behind NY Public Library; it is the oldest library system west of the Mississippi; and this year represents the 100th anniversary of its Summer Reading Program.
But given the continued economic uncertainty, the campaign could not take the YES vote for granted – even if there was no impact on taxes. The team at Winning Mark did some awesome work with the Show Your Library Some Love initiative. Most notably, it was the first time a public entity has used place-based networks for engaging constituents.
When I joined the team, polls indicated a lower than “normal” level of support for the levy. Leading up to May 15, polls reflected an increase but there was still concern around the fact that voter turnout was expected to be low.
On election night I joined a gathering of the campaign leads, several county commissioners, library staffers and supporters and others who had a stake in the levy vote. The party started at 7p. The election commission was slated to post the first numbers right after 8p. At 8:05 Brian Wilson, the campaign chair, stood up to announce that the levy was passing by a whopping 82% (final number was 83%). This is the biggest margin ever for the library. Cheers reverberated, spilling out to the patio.
Unexpectedly, I got a bit emotional when Brian announced the results. I had only been on the campaign four weeks and the chances of it passing were pretty good, so it wasn’t a long slog with a nail-biter ending for me. But it did get me thinking about how the campaign regulars must feel. I can only imagine how it must be like working on a campaign for many months and the emotion that hits when the results are announced.
My brush with politics was pretty exciting. I now have a glimmer of what the rush of politics must be like.