I had a few "happy thought" dollars to offer at our Gloucester Rotary meeting this past Tuesday.

First, I offered to put up a buck for each of our members who had already voted in the Gloucester election — and that did make me happy, since nearly 20 had voted as of noon.

Then, I couldn't resist offering one more: not for any candidates, but for one basic thought: I noted that, 24 hours from then, the election would be over — and, unless you've been in a newsroom on an election night, you have no idea what a sense of relief that brings.

I remember when Election Night coverage meant coordinating perhaps four or five stories for the next morning's paper, with one or two people gathering results, reporters crafting their stories, and with editors drawing up the front page, always mindful of leaving room at the top for a potential upset.

Fast forward to today's new wave of coverage, as carried out by our Times team here last Tuesday night.

The work began the day before, when Jimmy Carlson of our systems department firmed up the extension for our Election Night Hot Line and Web site coordinator Scott Pytlik built the results charts for the paper and gloucestertimes.com.

Next, we mapped out our office game plan; Night Editor Jeff Pope would take the results by phone from City Hall, relay them to Scott for the charts — and to me constantly updating our "Election Night hotline," which actually started ringing off the hook before the polls even closed. Scott and I would update our gloucestertimes.com "Breaking News" coverage and send out text alerts as the results became clear.

Election Night Hot Line? Text messages for mobile phones? Regular online Breaking News updates? Doesn't sound much like the Election Night newsroom of the past, does it? And why would your community's newspaper want to do all that?

Because we know it's no longer enough to gather election results, stories and photos and deliver them to you the following morning. Through online and other coverage, we're committed to getting you the results within minutes after they're available — and that was the plan Tuesday night.

How did we do it? Well, reporters Patrick Anderson and Richard Gaines headed out to City Hall to get results and talk with the candidates, developing stories for council-at-large, School Committee and the Civil Service vote. Jon Phelps, who usually covers Manchester and Essex, pulled together the story on the Ward 2 race, while photographer Mary Muckenhoupt was part of the City Hall team as well.

At the office, Day News Editor Andrea Holbrook drew up Page 1 and planned the "jump" — or continuation pages, while Jeff took City Hall cell-phone calls from Richard with the vote totals. By then, the Hot Line and online updates were in full swing.

There is a tangible energy in an Election Night newsroom. It's exciting, challenging — and, yes, chaotic — all at once. After a "team meal" from Chili Choice, our staffers didn't head to City Hall until shortly after 8. Yet, less than 90 minutes later, however, all the results were in; between 9:30 and 10, the first stories were through; by 10:20 all the stories were in — and by 10:35, the last pages were being sent to print. In the meantime, we had also sent out four text alerts and updated our online coverage at least four times.

Sound crazy? It was. We didn't even have the chance that night to firm up the turnout, or the "blanks" and write-ins cast in the unopposed mayor's race. There were times the votes didn't jive with the City Hall count. And there was a time I lost my place reading numbers into the Hot Line. But with a real team effort — we got the job done. By the next morning, it was over. City Hall updated its final vote totals, including turnout figures and the blanks. We put another "Breaking News" story online, and the numbers on the Election page at gloucestertimes.com are official.

Was I "happy" it was over? You bet. But nothing matches the excitement, and unites a news team, like Election Night. And that was the case again this week.

Questions? Comments? Is there a topic you'd like to see addressed in a future column? Contact Times Editor Ray Lamont at rlamont@gloucestertimes.com