Front-Row Seat in a "Contingency": Brian Newby's "Snow Diaries"
[Image courtesy of Brian Newby via ElectionDiary]
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Brian Newby’s ElectionDiary. His perspective on the profession of election administration is so valuable that I find myself reading – and referring to – it almost every day.
That’s why, selfishly, I was happy to see that Brian’s Johnson County, KS was one of the counties hardest hit by last month’s powerful snowstorm. Lest that sound heartless, I knew that if Brian’s county did end up getting slammed 1) he’d be prepared for what he could 2) he’d handle what he couldn’t prepare for and 3) we’d get a rip-roaring good read out of it.
Fortunately, I was right – and now that Johnson County has dug out (literally and figuratively) from the combination of a blizzard and Election Day, we get our payoff in the form of a long-form post at ElectionDiary entitled “Snow Diaries“.
Normally, I’d excerpt it for you but there’s just too much good stuff there to edit out a single word.
This piece is particularly timely given the announcement that the National Association of Secretaries of State is convening a national task force on emergency preparedness; while I fully expect the experiences of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy to get lots of play, “contingencies” like the one Johnson County just experienced are far more common and worth considering as well.
Thanks, as always, to Brian for his service and his blog. Hopefully there’s some warm weather and a drink with an umbrella somewhere in your foreseeable if not immediate future!