Q: How does a newsroom of three people cover Election Day in Santa Cruz County?
A: Double shifts, teamwork and coffee. We knew it was important for you to get the results, a recap and analysis by first thing Wednesday morning, so we planned carefully.
Here’s a rough sketch of our day and night.
- 2 p.m. Tuesday: Natalya Dreszer, our community engagement intern, becomes our photographer and reporter for the day. She visits polling places around Santa Cruz.
- 3:45 p.m.: Kara interviews Gail Pellerin, county registrar of voters, at the Harvey West polling place.
- 5 p.m.: Kara begins the main story for our website, that we update throughout the night.
Natalya Dreszer looks for interviews at Quarry Plaza on Election Day (Seth Phillips — Santa Cruz Local) 
A Swift Street polling station on Election Day (Natalya Dreszer — Santa Cruz Local) 
Katherine Beiers and Kara Meyberg Guzman exchange a laugh at the Santa Cruz for Bernie election night watch party. (Natalya Drezser — Santa Cruz Local)
- 7 p.m.: Stephen arrives in the studio, after finishing his day job. He takes over for Kara on the main story.
- 8:30 p.m.: The county elections office releases the first early results. Stephen posts the first version of our story on our website. Kara and Natalya are at the Santa Cruz for Bernie election night watch party, conducting interviews and taking photos.
- 9:15 p.m.: Kara and Natalya drop by Santa Cruz City Council candidate Don Lane’s house for a quick interview, then return to the studio to process photos and sound clips.
Kara Meyberg Guzman interviews Santa Cruz City Council candidate Don Lane on his porch on election night. (Natalya Dreszer — Santa Cruz Local)
- 10:15 p.m.: Stephen posts a second story, about the county supervisors races, including a phone interview with incumbent John Leopold. Stephen and Kara update the stories as results are released. We begin a script for the podcast. Natalya goes home sometime before midnight.
- 2:23 a.m.: The county elections office releases the last batch of results for the night, with all precincts reporting. Stephen and Kara update the stories.
- 3:30 a.m.: Stephen and Kara finish the script.
- 4:30 a.m.: We finish recording.
- 5:30 a.m.: Stephen goes home, after writing the newsletter.
- 7:15 a.m.: Kara finishes sound-editing the podcast and sends the newsletter.
- 8:30 a.m.: Kara posts the podcast transcript and goes to bed.
We’re small, we’re scrappy and we love our community and our work! It’s time to show your support. We want Santa Cruz Local to keep going through 2020 and beyond, and we need your help. You can count on us. Can we count on you?
Thank you to all our members. We’re a young company and we’re funded almost entirely by memberships. We couldn’t do this without your support.
Kara Meyberg Guzman is the CEO and co-founder of Santa Cruz Local. Prior to Santa Cruz Local, she served as the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s managing editor. She has a biology degree from Stanford University and lives in Santa Cruz.
