The voters had spoken. The issues were decided and the local TV stations promptly went into network programming at 7 p.m., promising to feature the incoming results at the bottom of their screens. It’s November sweeps, after all.

The winners and losers were first featured on the station’s Web sites, graphics at the bottom of the screen, or in Facebook and Twitter messages. Colorado Springs ballot issue 2C goes down in defeat by a 2 to 1 margin. Issue 300 wins 55 percent to 45 percent. Those results were available right after the polls closed at 7 p.m.

7:08 p.m.: First results from the KOAA Web site, then the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Web site and subsequently the KXRM Fox 21 Web site, which linked to the county.

7:08 p.m.: El Paso County Web site shows 100 percent of precincts reporting but at 7:40 pm KKTV breaks in with Lauri Martin reporting that although the El Paso county election Web site reported that all the results were in, in fact 15,000 ballots were still being counted, the ones that had arrived after the polls had closed in Centennial Hall and from the branch offices.

First on the screen with graphics showing some of the election results was KOAA. Last was KKTV.

The station’s Web sites showed close to final figures but the number of precincts reported varied from 2 of 2 precincts on KRDO’s Web site to 76 percent at KOAA and 90 percent on KKTV’s Web sites.

7:16 p.m.- The Gazette was reporting that the property tax hike was crushed and that issue 300 was winning handily.

By 7:30 p.m. TV Web sites and on screen graphics showed the defeat of 2C and issue 300 winning by 10 percentage points.

First on Facebook and Twitter: KOAA and KKTV, with information shortly after 7 p.m. with KOAA announcing final Facebook election results for 2C and issue 300 by 8:05 p.m.

FOX 21 interviewed both sides in the 2C property tax hike issue at the top of their 9 p.m. newscast, but there were no comments from any side of issue 300. “Colorado Springs voters usually vote down tax increases,” said reporter Brittany Hopper as she interviewed councilwoman Jan Martin, sponsor of 2C. (except, of course,  the PRTA tax for transportation infrastructure, the public safety sales tax increase and the Tops-Trails and Open Space tax.) KXRM kept the crawl running during the hour-long newscast showing the winners and losers. They had a chance to be the first word on other election contests, with more live interviews and reactions to various races but chose to run through the hour-long format as they would on any other night.

The 10 p.m. newscasts featured interviews with Jan Martin, sponsor of 2C and Andy McElhany on the “no” side. The stations  interviewed issue 300 sponsor Douglas Bruce (who is usually nowhere to be found if his cause loses). Then they headed to Pueblo for coverage on the mayoral form of government vote and other issues. Jeannette Hynes reported from Canon City on the loss of the public safety tax vote there for KOAA.

Coverage of numerous school board races followed along with important issues around the state.

For someone who wanted instant results right after the polls closed, all local stations did a good job of posting the information on their Web sites and graphically showing the winners and losers at the bottom of their screens. The Internet is increasingly being used in severe weather situations, for listing numerous closings and delays, and other instances like elections, when a lot of information needs to get to viewers, according to Michael Sipes, KRDO news director.

Election coverage usually brings out the best and not-so-great efforts from reporters and anchors, who have to ad lib when graphics go awry or live shots go down. From the coverage I saw, there were surprisingly fewer glitches on a hectic election night than on some regular nightly newscasts.

If the volume on your TV seems to be getting louder, the anchors more animated, the stories more sensational, maybe that’s because we’re approaching November sweeps.

Beginning Thursday and continuing through the day before Thanksgiving, a few hundred people in southern Colorado will be filling out diaries that document the TV shows they watch. Each will list what programs they look at for one week and mail the completed diaries back to The Nielsen Company.

The results of those surveys or diaries will determine the TV ratings for the stations in Colorado Springs and Pueblo and set the advertising rates for several months.

Sweeps months, as they’re called in the industry, are November, February, May and July. The ones that are the most important are November, when the popularity of the new fall TV shows is determined and May, when the advertising rates are set for the next six months. The July ratings book is less critical because the networks air lots of reruns and people’s viewing habits change as they spend more time outdoors and on vacation.

The more viewers a station can attract, the more money they can charge for commercials, so it’s important for the station’s bottom line.

Over the next few weeks, you’ll no doubt see promos for investigative reports, special news coverage, commercials in other media such as their radio partners and probably more “breaking news” than you can shake a microphone at. The urgency of the medium increases during rating periods, to get as many people to watch as possible.

So what’s at stake for the local stations during the month of November?

At KKTV, they’re now broadcasting local news in high-definition, or HD and they’ve got an updated look with a new graphics package, titles and backgrounds.  It will be the first rating period for the new 9 a.m. newscast, started a few months ago, according to Tim Merritt, general manager.

KXRM Fox 21’s new 6:30 p.m. newscast will be measured for the first time. Plus, Kimberly Price has returned to the air to co-anchor the station’s morning show, after leaving KKTV in 2008 to spend more time with her family.

KOAA has dropped the 5/30 logo and now brands itself as News First 5. Recent hire meteorologist Brad Sowder is forecasting on some of the morning weekday and noon shows, plus the morning weekend news programs. The station introduced a new look and graphics package some months ago.

The big unknown for KOAA is how the ratings of the new Jay Leno show at 9 p.m. will affect the 10 p.m. newscast. Nationally, some NBC affiliates in major markets, where ratings are metered daily, have seen their late night newscast viewership drop due to Leno’s lower lead-in numbers.

At KRDO, the ratings will show how people feel about waking up to the brand new morning anchor team of Jon Karroll and Vida Urbonas. And former morning anchor, Zach Thaxton, is now anchoring Good Morning Colorado Weekend Edition and reporting during the week.

Imagine, just a few hundred people determining the advertising rates and the potential fate of local TV shows. The participants must feel pretty empowered, right?

Well, not exactly.

I was randomly selected to participate in the July, 2009 Nielsen sweeps for southern Colorado. I kept a diary of what I watched for a week and mailed it back. Actually, you keep a diary for each TV set that you watch in your home. I like to flip around and see what’s happening during the local news broadcasts, for instance. That made it challenging, listing what I was watching on this set, then on that set, then on this channel and then on that channel.

Not to worry, The Nielsen Company compensated me for my effort. You bet, I received two, crisp one-dollar bills.