I just had a revelation: This is the first election night since I started working as a newspaper reporter in 2002 that you could not have found me sitting around in a county courthouse waiting for election returns until midnight or later. I now work at a publication that focuses on coverage of business, so we have no real need to give blow-by-blow coverage of the evening, and I have to say I'm pretty happy about that. Not that I don't have some fond memories of election nights past.

One election night in Clovis, while we waited for the pizza my editor David had ordered, the biggest, baddest thunderstorm I've ever seen rolled into town. For a while we were wondering what would be the bigger story: The election or the apparently eminent total destruction of the whole town. I remember standing by the little tiny window of the back door to the newsroom with my co-workers Gwyn and Kate, watching trash blow by in the wind and thinking about how I was glad the courthouse was just across the block.

After covering one or two of these shindigs as a print reporter, you learn to bring a book or something else to keep you occupied while the votes are tallied -- because it turns out that the process of democracy is slow and remarkably lacking in drama until the end result is known.This is why when you watch live television coverage of elections, there are huge stretches of time when all you get is random people speculating about what might possibly be indicated by the fact that Candidate A is leading now that 1.5 percent of the vote has been counted.

Tonight, I can't say that I'm sorry that I'm not occupying a folding chair in a musty, fluorescent lighted municipal building. But I will say that I'm thankful for the experiences I have had in doing that work. For one thing, being a reporter forces you to be a somewhat informed voter, because you have to write about the bond issues and sheriff's races and school board elections for months before the voting starts. I think it's also made me more committed to actually going to the trouble of voting. I'd like to say this is motivated by a lofty, overarching sense of duty to my country. But really it's because I know that right now, there are volunteer poll workers making a second pot of coffee for everyone and candidates standing around in the halls making small talk and trying not to look too nervous.

It's not a flashy scene, but it's an important one, and it helps me remember that voting isn't really about all the ridiculous campaign messages that get left on my answering machine and the barrage of political commercials and mailings we've endured lately. That's the sideshow. This is the part that matters.

So here's to democracy, and all the many people who make it possible, including you and your vote. And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. I'll look forward to reading about who won what tomorrow morning. It will be nice to be surprised like everyone else.