Few events are as important in our democracy as the chance to select government leaders, from president on down to the volunteer soil and water district board. Tomorrow, on Election Day, millions of Americans will cast their ballots, and election officials will release initial counts. At Salem Reporter, our goal is to give you clear information as quickly as we can without sacrificing accuracy. That includes the outcome of races, as well as any questions that arise about the election and ballot counting process. Let me share with you our plans to do so. Our focus will remain primarily on local races – Marion and Polk county offices, state legislators serving Salem. But we’ll also have reporters Joe Siess and Madeleine Moore at local Republican and Democratic campaign parties to capture reactions to the presidential race and larger national context. Editor Les Zaitz will maintain a blog updating regularly on Election Night with national and statewide news coverage as our team covers local races. This will give you a quick sense of how the evening is unfolding across the country. I’ll lead our local results coverage from our office in downtown Salem, updating the results of local races on our results page.  Reporter Abbey McDonald will be at the Marion County Clerk’s office, watching ballot counting and keeping us posted on what remains to be counted as results are released. Reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian will be writing about the outcome of local races and helping keep our results updated. We’ll rely on our colleagues at Oregon Capital Chronicle for coverage of and results graphics for statewide races, ballot measures and U.S. Congress. It’s likely the winner of some races won’t be clear Tuesday evening.  In Oregon, mailed-in ballots are counted if they’re postmarked by Election Day and arrive up to a week later. That changed in 2022 – previously, ballots had to be received by Election Day to count. In 2022, Polk County counted 593 valid ballots postmarked after the election, Clerk Kim Williams said. In Marion County, it was 1,584 according to Clerk Bill Burgess. Such late votes could be enough to determine close races. In recent years, Salem has seen city council and school board races settled by just a few hundred votes. We’ll be clear with readers about how many ballots officials report remain to be counted, and which races those ballots might affect. Our team will remain alert to efforts to intimidate, coerce or otherwise interfere with the election, like the recent arsons at ballot boxes in the Portland area. We’ve reached out to local law enforcement agencies and county clerk’s offices to ask that they alert us to any such efforts. So far, it’s been quiet, authorities told us. But police are bracing for demonstrations and potential contention following the election results. Salem police have denied all non-urgent time-off requests for Election Day and the day following, Deputy Chief Treven Upkes told us, in an effort to be prepared for potential large demonstrations or violence. In case of any major protest, riot or other disruption in Salem, in the aftermath of the election, our team will work quickly to report what’s happening on the ground, and follow up as needed. We’ll take great care to provide context, to not overstate or downplay what is happening in the community. As we make our final preparations for Election Day, I invite you to send along the questions you have – about the process, about ballot security, about the impact of elections in Salem. You can reach me directly at [email protected] if you haven’t voted, you still have one day to make your voice heard. Ballots should be dropped off at a drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday – here’s a list for Salem-area boxes. Contact Managing Editor Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post EDITOR’S COLUMN: How Salem Reporter will cover 2024 election results appeared first on Salem Reporter.