Elections 2021

[HaveADream]

 

Hello everyone!

 

'Tis the season once again, election season is amongst us - six months ago we ran a city council election, which, while it had it's flaws, brought political roleplay to GTAW with a bang, and now the time has come again for we, the people, to have their say once again in the State Senate Election, which will elect ten State Senators! Could it be you?

 

What's the system?

 

This election is going to work a little differently to the last for multiple reasons, learning on mistakes and things that we realised we could do better after the last election, mainly, we are no longer going to elect via districts (although they will still exist!), but via a system commonly known as the Party List system. 

 

The party list system is a form of proportional representation which allocates seats proportionally to the amount of votes a political party gets, for example, if there are three seats, and the Democrats get 200 votes, and the Republicans 100, the seats are divided 2-1. Independents still exist under this system and are elected the same way. Parties choose prior to the election the ranking of their candidates, so that, using our example again, the top two people on the Democratic ticket, and the top person on the Republican ticket will be elected.

 

Why the change?

 

Proportional Representation is being brought in to replace district first-past-the-post to, well, make the system more proportional to the voting base of the server, meaning that no votes are wasted. An issue discovered during the last election was that some districts voted incredibly moreso than others, despite having equal populations, this meant that some candidates were winning with two hundred votes, and some with twenty. If you want to play around with how the party list system gives seats, there's an online tool (the same as we'll be using) here.

 

Voting will take place via the UCP rather than IG due to technical difficulties discovered during the last election, this will streamline the process for elections and ensure that candidates, and voters, can enjoy the roleplay surrounding the election more rather than worry about their ability to vote or get voters to the polls. Though don't fret, we'll still have plenty of IG activities on election day!

 

How do I run?

 

As we wish to replicate the two-party system of America, and the party-list systems favouring of political parties, we heavily recommend you join and run with a political party. Parties will register you with their candidate list when submitted for Faction Management approval. Whether you're a hard-line, gunslinging Republican or a moderate 'small-government' one, or the other side of a universal-healthcare dreaming Democrat or one who favours state regulation, our political parties are designed to be big-tent parties that will suit any range of the political spectrum and would love to have you on-board regardless of where your character stands politically. 

 

TO JOIN AND RUN FOR THE DEMOCRATS - CLICK HERE.

 

TO JOIN AND RUN FOR THE REPUBLICANS - CLICK HERE.

 

To consider running for an independent, contact @Doosty via forum PM with your interest, independent slots are limited. 

 

Election dates:

 

7 March - Candidate Registration Deadline

26 March - Voting Opens

28 March - Voting Closes, Results Announced.