Election Night Bingo Cards Approved; ‘Hanging Chad Mention’ Is the Free Space

MAPLE COUNTY — Election night will be a little more fun this year. The county’s Voter Engagement Committee has approved official Election Night Bingo cards, and the center free space — HANGING CHAD MENTION — has already been declared, by unanimous acclamation, the best free space in bingo history.

The cards, designed by committee volunteer and graphic design student Maya Osei, feature 24 squares of election-night staples: TOO EARLY TO CALL, POLL WORKER WAVES AT CAMERA, CANDIDATE THANKS VOLUNTEERS, MAP TURNS A NEW COLOR, PUNDIT SAYS GROUND GAME, and the notoriously elusive PRECINCT REPORTS 100% BEFORE 10 P.M.

The hanging chad free space honors the 2000 election’s most famous ballot irregularity, which Osei — born in 2004 — learned about in history class and found, in her words, objectively hilarious as a concept. Older committee members confirmed the hilarity was not shared at the time but agreed the free space earned its place. One member, misty-eyed, said the chad taught us all something about perforation.

Gameplay rules are strict: one card per viewer, marking only events observed on the county’s official results broadcast, no shouting BINGO during a candidate’s concession speech (a rule added after the 2022 incident, which the committee declined to detail), and all disputes settled by the committee’s parliamentarian, a retired debate coach who takes the role very seriously.

Prizes are modest but coveted: first bingo wins a commemorative I Voted sticker sheet (matte finish, per the adhesion lab’s dignity recommendation), second wins a precinct captain sash (winner’s choice of burgundy or teal pigeon), and the blackout grand prize — all 24 squares — wins dinner with the Town Crier, bell-ringing demonstration included, at the winner’s preferred hour, a clause Carla Jimenez insisted upon.

The committee printed 500 cards, available free at the elections office, the library, and the farmers market (humans only; the tomato incident remains fresh). Early demand has been strong — 200 cards were claimed in the first week, and the senior center has organized a bingo watch party with what its director called competitive energy and a strict no-kazoo policy.

Local businesses have embraced the game. The pizza place on Main Street offers a free breadstick with every bingo. The car wash offers 10 percent off wiper blades to bingo winners, which owner Tina Sparrow called cross-promotional civic synergy. The bakery will frost a bingo-themed cake for the watch party, squares and all.

The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. on election night. Cards will be marked, breadsticks earned, and somewhere around midnight — if tradition holds — someone will shout BINGO during the results crawl, the parliamentarian will rule, and democracy, dabber in hand, will play on.