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Dave Shabaz
June is approaching and that can only mean one thing. You may be asking yourself, “what in the world is Dave referring to?” Could it be the humidity? National Dairy Month? National Papaya Month? National Turkey Lovers Month? (all real, I looked them up). Other than the humidity, all of those sound pretty tasty, but I’m referring to our yearly Best of Hopkins County competition and the digital voting will begin on June 1, 2021 and end on June 30, 2021.
Last year was the first time the voting was all done digitally. When it was all said and done, we had just under 79,000 votes cast. Now, some of the “old school” business owners did not like the new way of voting. Well, let me rephrase that. Some of the people who didn’t win their category, didn’t like the new way of voting. But like I told them last year, “this is the world we live in now.” We live in an American Idol world. I know us “Boomers” want to hold on to our VCR’s and 8-track tape players, but digital voting is just better. It’s more engaging, more inviting to voters and it’s more accurate. In my newspaper career, I’ve sat around a table with thousands of actual newspapers that readers either brought in or mailed in and we counted them by hand. Not only was it time consuming, and filthy, but it wasn’t accurate. There was so much human error when you count ballots by hand, especially with 180 categories. And when I was asked last year about the “integrity of the vote,” I let people know that when we had paper ballots, people would come in and buy one hundred newspapers or go to a newspaper rack and take every paper out of there and vote for their favorite business and/or person over and over.
My point is, this is a fun popularity contest. If you want to win or you want your favorite person or business to win, get your family, friends, customers, and everyone you know to go to our website, www.ssnewstelegram.com on the 1st of June and click on the link to the Best of Hopkins County ballot and start voting. You can vote once every hour and you have an entire month to cast your votes. Don’t blame modern technology for why you didn’t win, because every business out there starts out on an even playing field. And actually, the voting process is really fun and kind of addicting once you start.
And finally, what’s with this Texas thing where if you come in second place, you call it being the “first loser?” I’m laughing and rolling my eyes right now as I type this. I love that you guys are so competitive, that to you, coming in second is the same as losing. We have so many categories where ten or more businesses were voted for and we only ac knowledge the top two vote getters. So, it’s a pretty impressive accomplishment to finish in the top two. Well, apparently it is everywhere but here in Texas. Joking, of course.
Last year, when I was calling the runner-ups, to “congratulate” them, you would have thought I was calling to tell them a family member died. One guy yelled at me for ten minutes. I’m glad I have a great sense of humor and I’m not sensitive because I took quite an unexpected verbal beating during those “congratulatory calls.” I’m ready for it this year though! Let’s have some fun and vote like crazy for your Hopkins County favorites. If you have any questions or comments, always feel free to call me at: 903-885-8663 or stop by our new building at 200 Main Street in beautiful downtown Sulphur Springs. You can also email me at: dave@ssnewstelegram.com.