Patch Botches Election Results Story

Barely two hours after polls closed in most towns, the Patch announced that Lynne Blankenbeker had been declared the winner of the Second Congressional District Republican primary by the Associated Press.

Two problems – Blankenbeker did not win (she finished third), and the AP made no such declaration.

The Patch's source for the story was an AP report that Blankenbeker had finish first in her hometown of Concord. Concord accounts for less than five percent of the district's voters. No news organization would take such a small sample -- from one candidate's hometown -- and "call" the outcome of the race. Instead, a reporter took this report and hastily posted an incorrect story saying Blankenbeker had won the nomination district wide. Both the Patch's erroneous report, and the original story on which it was based, have been taken down. The race was won by Steve Negron of Nashua, edging out Stewart Levenson as well as Blankenbeker.

The scramble to report election results has led to such premature declarations many times before. CBS News incorrectly declared on national television that Dick Swett had defeated Bob Smith New Hampshire's 1996 US Senate race, and the photo of Harry Truman holding a "Dewey Wins" headline is legendary. The Patch can do better.