A perfect storm of panic, anxiety and excitement

The Primary Election may still be three months away, but I am already starting to feel a bit of anxiety over it.

No, I do not have a personal stake in this or any previous election night, but there is a panic, and also thrill, associated with covering the event as a reporter.

Being that I cover mainly government and politics, part of the anxiety is in learning who I may be working with in the coming years. It's not because of feelings of not wanting someone to take office because I am a big believer that change can equal progress, but because it may be a new person I have never spoken to.

Before I moved here, meeting new people always created a high level of anxiety for me, but that is part of the reason I chose this profession. I don't like to fail and I knew it would force me to get over myself. For the most part, I believe I have done well in that aspect, but old habits still come to the surface just a little.

When it comes to election night itself, we come together as a staff and are able to successfully complete the work to inform the people of who their new representatives are.

Sitting at the courthouse watching the numbers come in has an eerie "calm before the storm" atmosphere.

We are somewhat relaxed, taking notes as each precinct reports, talking to the candidates who are there with us as their anxiety about the results fill the air.

Then, when all the numbers are in and everyone knows who has won, the anxiety of all the candidates is immediately transferred to our staff, as they begin to either celebrate and relax or reflect on disappointment.

It is almost a political version of the movie "Twister" for us. We know the time is coming, but when it is there, we all seem to move in hyperdrive. In only a couple of hours, we fly around to conduct interviews and take pictures before returning to the office to write numerous stories and transfer the poll numbers onto the pages of the paper itself, which is a time consuming process. For the 2008 Primary Election, more than 2,000 numbers had to be entered in individual boxes, which in a time crunch, feels like there are too many to get in before deadline.

However, as a team, we have been able to make it with time to spare and the "after effect" begins to settle in.

Inevitably, we all take our individual sigh of relief when done with our own assignments, then an even bigger one together once everything is finished.

The entire day is one big roller coaster of emotions, but yet -- on some twisted level -- it is a bit fun, but we sure are glad when it is all over.

Then it is off to a night of either rest or restlessness before returning to the office the following day, knowing that six short months later, we get to do it all over again.

However, the biggest thing to remember about election night is that we, as Americans, are part of a Democracy. One of the most important, and imperative, things we can do is to go out an vote because it is ultimately the decision of all of us, collectively, to decide who is given the privilege to speak for us on the local, county, state and national levels.