Election day. Finally.

The Star-Bulletin’s Richard Borreca reports that the Advertiser failed to make an endorsement in the presidential race this year. The Gannett newspaper cited “staffing constraints” in explaining why it didn’t stake out a position in this historic election. Pretty lame.

The New York Times had two good stories yesterday with important perspectives on the election process. One examines the future of the public financing of presidential campaigns in light of the Democrats newly emerging dominance in grassroots fundraising.

The second examines the convergence of web and traditional media in this campaign.

When viewers settle in Tuesday night to watch the election returns, they will also check text messages for alerts, browse the Web for exit poll results and watch videos distributed by the campaigns. And many folks will let go of the mouse only to pick up the remote and sample an array of cable channels with election coverage — from Comedy Central to BBC America.

But as NBC’s decision to release the Powell clip early shows, the networks and their newspaper counterparts have not simply waited to be overtaken. Instead, they have made specific efforts to engage audiences with interactive features, allowing their content to be used in unanticipated ways, and in many efforts, breaking out of the boundaries of the morning paper and the evening newscast.

I saw this bit of election poetry yesterday which sums up that past two years.

Oh, you might also enjoy this little video about Barack’s Hawaii roots.

And Our Vote Live is blogging voting issues and problems as they arise today. It’s worth periodic checks.

Let’s see.

With curbside recycling expanding to large parts of Oahu this week, there’s a bit of confusion over the pickup schedule.

For example, a newsletter from the Kahala Community Association reported the recycling pickup will be on Wednesdays, with the regular trash pickup scheduled for Saturdays.

But the city’s web site, Opala.org, says the opposite. Click through to the schedule, and you get to this map showing Saturday recycling from Kahala to Kuliouou.

It seemed like a no-brainer that the city’s official published schedule was to be believed, but my sister, currently staying with my parents in Kahala, called the city for clarification. Just in case.

Step one was voicemail. No one here to take your call, please leave your name and telephone number.

But a city staffer called back a while later and…Surprise! The city’s official web site is wrong and the community association newsletter is correct. But the incorrect information is still posted online. With the first recycling pickup scheduled for tomorrow, at least according to the telephone call back from the city, it looks like there will be a lot of confusion when the trucks roll on Wednesday.

What ever happened to Night Time with Andy Bumatai, the local comedian’s daily show on KFVE? We had gotten in the habit of watching the early news at 9 on K-5, then coasting through parts of Bumatai’s daily offering. Then it disappeared. Although the show is still promoted on the station’s web site, it has been dropped from the schedule. What’s the story?