It has been nearly a decade since I participated in an election either as a volunteer, city or county chairman, candidate or an incumbent Freeholder assisting other candidates. My first election participation in earnest was as an intern for the late, great Congressman Bill Hughes in 1976 and my last election was in 2009 when I received the top vote totals for the 5^th cycle in a row as a candidate for Freeholder.

During my 5 terms as a Freeholder and nearly 10 years as a County Chairman we won the overwhelming majority of our election contests.

This year, from the vantage point of my comfortable recliner in my warm family room, from what I watch on television and read online, it appears that “late on the ground” campaigning in the COVID impacted 2020 has very little in common with similar campaigning pre-2010

So, for the benefit of my friends who have been involved in campaigns for decades as well as others who have become engaged in the era of virtual campaigning, I am pleased to share an amalgam of decades of memories of the crazy hours beginning about a week before the election and through election night.

From my perspective, the shotgun went off the Wednesday before election day. Those were the days when local daily newspapers (!) endorsed municipal and county candidates the Monday or Tuesday a week before election day. If we were lucky enough to obtain the coveted endorsements, we would scramble to get the them turned into newspaper and radio ads as well as flyers which could be placed in newspaper boxes. Sometimes, the newspapers would split the endorsements which meant that some members of the ticket would obtain a last-minute boost while others would not get that validation. As a chairman or a running mate, I would have the delicate job of explaining to the non-endorsed candidates why we needed to use our resources publicizing those team members who were endorsed.

The week before the election would be the time the walking packets would be put together at the various headquarters. Those packets contained all of the last-minute campaigning essentials; walking lists, a pencil, doorknockers and if we were really flush with cash mini-flashlights and cheap ponchos. At the same time parallel packets were being made for poll watchers with voter lists, credentials, pencils and of course change to use pay phones to call in with turn-out updates on election day!

In Cumberland County which has over 500 miles of county roads, we would have headquarters located in Vineland, Millville and Bridgeton. These locations were critical to providing a place for volunteers to make get out the vote calls from Labor Day on and intensifying as election day came closer as well as the very critical labor walks! The locations had another hidden benefit, it encouraged our supporters and drove our adversaries crazy to see them as a bevy of activity and as a result we did our best to use abandoned car dealerships or restaurants in key locations with tremendous visibility. Even the most jaded of operatives would get excited to view the dozens of campaign vans coming in like liberating fleets ready to be deployed on election day. I heard many stories from my GOP friends how they would drive by the night before the election and count the number of vans lined up in D-Day precision with a mix of horror and admiration. Of course, we would have a night security guard just in case someone decided to deflate the tires of our vans. Yes, that did occur in one election.

The effort the day before the election ended between 11 PM and midnight and election day began at 5 AM with coffee and donuts for the first wave of volunteers; followed by another wave at lunch time and a final wave around 4 PM. From the time the lights went on at 5 AM until obtaining final results beginning at 8 PM between 500- 1000 workers would come through our headquarters and we made sure they were well fed, profusely thanked and worked hard. I took particular pride that our volunteers were always well fed but I typically snuck away for the best lunch of the day at the hall of Union Baptist Church in Bridgeton. Candidates would be shifted from one visible location to another with particular emphasis on plant gates with our union brothers and sisters. Lawyers would be at the Court House making sure anyone legally entitled to vote was not denied the franchise.

In this age of ubiquitous smart phones, one election day relic of the 20th Century which did not survive was the need to drive to as many locations as possible to determine turn-out. Our volunteers would be moved like armies at war from one location to another to prop up areas which were not performing. Anyone who was still left in any headquarters was dispatched to the most visible roads and highways with remaining lawn signs. There was nothing worse than lawn signs or literature which remained in the headquarters the day after the election!

Once the 4-5 PM wave of volunteers was dispatched it was time to prepare for the final event of the day; the election night party where results would be announced. We typically used the Ramada in Vineland but one year when I was feeling especially mischievous, I instead booked the North Italy Hall which was the usual election night HQ for the Cumberland GOP causing a bit of confusion for my Republican friends when they were looking to celebrate their efforts.

If we were victorious and not totally exhausted some of the heartiest among us would celebrate with a big breakfast after midnight analyzing the results, celebrating our victory or commiserating about a loss.

My guess is that many “old timers” like myself could share very similar memories changing only the names of the communities where they worked to get out the vote.

I have enjoyed reflecting on these prior elections and dedicate this essay to the family, friends, supporters, volunteers, consultants and my fellow candidates who made all of those elections so memorable.

Lou Magazzu was a Freeholder in Cumberland County NJ from 1998-2011 and the longest serving Freeholder in that county in the last 50 years. He also served as Freeholder Director as well as County Democratic Chairman. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Counties, was the Chairman of the National Democratic County Officials as well as President of the New Jersey Association of Counties. He can be reached at Lmagazzu@aol.com.