In the Courthouse Glow, Civility Still Lives: Oskaloosa’s Election Night Tradition Endures Amid a Fast-Paced World

The results of the 2016 General Election are written out on Mahaska County’s iconic chalk board.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa — The marble-floored lobby of the Mahaska County Courthouse has long been the heart of local democracy — a place where candidates, neighbors, and families gather to experience elections together.

For decades, it’s been home to one of Iowa’s most endearing civic relics: a 20-foot-long chalkboard once used to record vote totals by hand. Though it no longer gets lowered and filled with names and numbers — replaced by the speed of online reporting — it still hangs above the courthouse benches, a quiet witness to the community’s enduring respect for democracy.

“As long as there’s been a Mahaska County, there have been politicians who can’t wait for results,” a longtime county staffer once said to Oskaloosa News back in 2012 of the board’s role in election nights past. “People come and gather here in the lobby to get returns.”

For more than half a century, the courthouse chalkboard was the county’s scoreboard — the place where democracy went up in chalk lines, precinct by precinct. After each election, the heavy slab was cranked back up by a pulley system, ready to be lowered again for the next contest. The old mechanism even blocks the Supervisors office door when it came down, forcing them to duck beneath it.

“It’s pretty neat,” a former courthouse employee told Oskaloosa News back in 2010. “No, it’s not really necessary now because people can get results online, but it always adds a lot of excitement.”

A Living Tradition

That excitement was alive again Tuesday night, even without the chalk. The courthouse lobby once again accepted candidates, supporters, and curious residents, many of them drawn by the same instinct that’s filled these halls for generations: to see democracy unfold together, in person.

Among them were newcomers to local politics — Oskaloosa School Board candidate James Feudner and Oskaloosa City Council candidate Javin Sword — both experiencing the election night tradition for the first time.

“I kind of wish they still did the chalkboard,” Feudner said as he talked with Oskaloosa News. “But I do like this — you get into the rut of competing, and you don’t get to talk to people that much. It’s really nice to talk to candidates when everything’s over and you can take a deep breath.”

Sword nodded, smiling. “If I were home, my wife would already be in bed. It’s much better being around people here.”

Their laughter carried the warmth of relief — the kind that comes only when a campaign has ended and the community reclaims its sense of togetherness. Both men spoke about the exhaustion of campaigning and the need for mutual respect once it’s all over.

“This campaign was pretty tough and pretty contentious,” Feudner said. “But I think all of us are ready for it to be over — and ready to move in a positive direction.”

Eric Palmer awaits results back in 2010 as they were being written on the chalkboard in the lobby of the Mahaska County Courthouse.

The Meaning of the Chalkboard

The chalkboard remains in its place, no longer used but far from forgotten. It’s more than a museum piece; it’s a moral reminder. In a digital era of instant results and endless commentary, the old board teaches something that’s easy to lose — patience, engagement, and respect for one another.

The board forced people to wait, to talk, to linger. As the clock ticked on past the time results are typically made public, it gave neighbors a chance to meet face-to-face, share a cup of coffee, and remember that democracy isn’t a performance — it’s a shared experience.

That same sense of connection lingers in the courthouse today. The technology has changed, but the spirit has not. Each conversation, each handshake, each shared laugh keeps the essence of community politics alive — respectful, local, and human.

Rediscovering Civility

National politics may seem fractured, but here in Mahaska County, the courthouse on election night tells a different story. People from all walks of life — Republicans, Democrats, Independents, newcomers, and lifelong residents — came together not to argue, but to share in something bigger than themselves.

Kyle Munson of the Des Moines Register once called the courthouse chalkboard “a stoic testament to grassroots politics.” He was right. The old slate may not be used anymore, but it still looms over the crowd as a symbol of what democracy once was — and can still be.

It’s a reminder that politics doesn’t have to divide neighbors. It can unite them, one conversation at a time.

The Lesson That Remains

As the final results were read aloud and the crowd began to thin, the board stayed right where it’s always been — silent, suspended above the marble floor, its surface ready to once again accept chalk in the name of democracy and civility.

It’s easy to miss in the glow of smartphone screens and election trackers, but that chalkboard still matters. It represents a time when people slowed down, listened to one another, and treated democracy with patience and grace.

Maybe that’s what we need again — not more technology, but more time together. The chalkboard may be still, but its lesson endures: respect one another, celebrate the process, and remember that democracy works best when we do it side by side.