In the newspaper business, Election Day is the biggest day of the year. Come 10 p.m., fingers will be flying as reporters and editors undertake the hard work of getting all today's elections results online and into our newspaper.

Of course there are big news days all year long, but those stories don't demand the intense deployment of nearly all our resources that covering an election does. After the polls close at 9 p.m., our reporters need to wait for the results and then gather reaction from all sides, a task that usually takes them to candidates' Election Night parties.

With deadlines approaching, reporters then either phone in their stories or return to the newsroom, where they write their stories with amazing speed. The amount of writing and editing that goes on between between 10 tonight and our midnight deadline is staggering.

Working in the newsroom on Election Night is intense, but not exactly exciting. That's because the work itself – getting the results, writing the stories, editing the stories and laying out the pages – takes so much concentration. It will be quiet here about 11 p.m. as the stories flood in and the copy desk editors, the unsung heroes of Election Night, rip through them as quickly as they can.

Years ago, our copy desk had a tradition of wearing funny hats on Election Night. The hats, along with a good supply of pizza, made the night a bit festive despite the stress. While the hat traditional has fallen by the wayside over the years, it's always possible a cowboy hat or crown could pop up somewhere in the newsroom tonight.