By Gerry Goldstein - a monthly contributor, is a retired Providence Journal bureau chief and columnist.
Forgive my nostalgia, but as I watch our approaching presidential election process sullied daily from on high, I’m recalling times when many thought it honorable to help gather Rhode Island’s voting results.
This was basic American democracy, and what made it work in my corner of The Providence Journal was equally basic — three or four boxes of Allie’s Donuts and an oversize coffee maker.
That’s what fueled intrepid members of the South Kingstown-Narragansett League of Women Voters. As Journal election runners, they fanned out from our Wakefield news bureau into the South County night to collect results and phone them in so reporters could write their stories.
