Author Topic: The Middle-earth General Election! (Main Thread)  (Read 13755 times)

Jubal

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The Middle-earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« on: March 21, 2015, 05:03:33 PM »
I've run this once with the CTS, and figured I may as well do it again with Exilian since I now have all the stuff prepared.

But this time it will be (theoretically) EVEN BIGGER! And it won't be done packed into one evening. :P

THE SCENARIO

The battle for Middle-Earth was over. The defeat of Sauron created a new world and new opportunities; the dawning of the fourth age looked like a new dawn for monarchical government. However, two years after Gandalf left for the West, Aragorn unexpectedly died of a disease contracted from a poorly sanitised sword-handle. There was nothing for it but DEMOCRACY.

Middle-Earth’s general election was about to begin…



THE RULES

So here's the planned timetable & how it works:
21-30 March: Sign-ups (After 30 March no more candidates may be entered)
You can start signing up from now! You initially either sign up as a candidate or a voter.

A candidate basically controls a fictional Middle-Earth political party. To sign up as a candidate you need to send in your party, a brief description of them, and who your party leader is. For your party leader, you may pick any known or unknown figure (you can make someone up) who is alive (or plausibly alive) in Middle-Earth in the early Fourth Age. You will be expected to be more or less in-character as this person; you can change their character significantly or entirely from the books and change their political position greatly, but you can't change canon facts about their life. You can ONLY enter candidates up to 30 March. Candidates who get ballot access in the final election (see below) won't get voting papers. You may appoint deputy leaders after the hustings has started; characters may not be duplicated.

A voter will be given a voting paper for one or more constituencies. You can sign up as one of these until the voting window starts on April 20. On the voting paper you will have a number of candidates and be asked to divide ten votes between them. When voting, you represent the whole constituency and how you think they would all vote; reflecting the constituency well when voting is the most important thing. When asking questions at the hustings and debates, however, you may adopt the persona of anyone in your constituency. You will be dealt your constituencies as soon as you sign up (probably three or four per voter). You may express a preference for "Wealthy", "Rural", "Industrial", "Urban", or "Poor" constituencies when signing up, and/or for having a constituency with more Hobbits, more Elves, more Dwarves, more Orcs, or more Men in it. (Yes, the Orcs are enfranchised!) I can't promise that I'll be able to deal with your requests, but I'll do our best. There will hopefully be multiple voters per constituency; you are politely requested not to co-ordinate voting with other voters who have the same constituency as you do.

30 Mar - 5 Apr: Initial hustings & hustings vote
This is an initial week in which all the candidates argue their cases. There will be an open forum poll in which people can vote (including the candidates) on who they'd like to be in the final ballot. A candidate with over 15% of the vote has full ballot access and can stand everywhere. A candidate with 5-15% can stand either in five chosen constituencies, or one of the super-regions (Eriador, Rhovanion, South & East, or Gondor & Rohan). Candidates don't have to stand everywhere they have access to (if you're the Arnorian Nationalist Party you may get full ballot access but only want to stand in Arnor, for example). Candidates with under 5% will be eliminated.

5-20 Apr: Campaign! (20 April is the last day on which voters may register)
This is fairly self explanatory - a couple of weeks in which candidates can produce posters, argue in a debate thread, etc etc. This is the patch in which people will make up their minds as to how their constituencies will vote!

One other important thing is that candidates can choose four seats in which to run a GOTV (Get Out The Vote) operation. This will boost their vote percentage significantly in that constituency; the aim is therefore to choose the four seats that will be most marginal for their party. Candidates with partial ballot access can only do this on one seat. These boosts MUST be submitted privately, and MUST be submitted before April 20 (not least because if I'm standing as a candidate, it's clearly vital that I don't have any submitted ballot papers available to influence my decision).

20-30 Apr: Continued Campaign & Voting Window
After 20 April, voters can no longer register, and they may start sending in their ballot papers at any time. Sending in a ballot paper is FINAL and they may not be amended, so we recommend sending in the latter part of the voting window unless you've already made up your mind!

1 May: Results Announcement
The results will be announced!

Each constituency elects three members, allocated using the D'Hondt method.

After the election, we'll have the make-up of the Middle Earth government - if we have a majority or workable coalition, that is...


HOW TO PLAY

You may sign up in this thread or by communicating with me; communications with me for any stage of the campaign may be via PM or E-Mail. Please use my megadux[at]exilian[dot]co[dot]uk account for email stuff for this. You can play entirely by email if you wish to, and send in questions for the hustings that way. Obviously it'd be nice if you turned up here and talked to everyone else too though! Candidates may find it difficult to play by email as they'll need to respond to hustings questions.

Please do sign up: obviously signing up a candidate is a little bit of a commitment (though it shouldn't take much of your time even then), but signing up as a voter is practically none at all, so go go go for it :)

Sign up sheet for a candidate:
Quote
Party Name:
Party Leader:
Party Description:

And for a voter:
Quote
Constituency type preferences:
Species preferences:

A final note on my own involvement: I may enter a candidate in the campaign depending on how many people want to run. The campaign works "mechanically" (aka I don't have to take any decisions whilst running it, and what I know about people's decisions won't help me make my own) so this shouldn't create any conflicts of interest. I am of course happy to provide any clarifications needed on that.


CANDIDATES/PARTIES
Shortlist
Green Arda Party
Minor Ancillary Character Hagiography Organisation (MACHO) Party
Middle Earth Alliance for Democracy (MEAD)
SSS - Shiny Shirt Society
White Tree Alliance

Full Descriptions
Green Arda Party
Party Leader: Eowyn (Faramir as deputy)
Advocate: Eowyn
Description:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Minor Ancillary Character Hagiography Organisation (MACHO) Party
Leaders: Elladan and Elrohir (because they come as a pair)
Advocate: Tar-Palantir
Description:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Middle Earth Alliance for Democracy (MEAD)
Leaders: Alatar & Pallando
Advocate: Jubal
Description:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

SSS - Shiny Shirt Society
Party Leader: Shagrat
Advocate: HanSolo
Description:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

White Tree Alliance
Party Leader: Prince Imrahil
Advocate: Tar-Meneldur
Description:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)



VOTERS

ERIADOR
Luin & Lindon - Comrade_General
Arthedain, Angmar & Forochel - Eadfrith
Evendim & Fornost - JR, Chewie
Rhudaur & Eregion - Son of the King
The Shire - Mother of Dragons
Bree & Buckland - Colossus
Cardolan - Glaurung

RHOVANION
Upper Anduin & Mirkwood North - Tiffmeister
Moria, Mirkwood & Lorien - Mother of Dragons
Dorwinion and Near Rhun - Glaurung
Erebor & Dale - JR
The Iron Hills - Othko97
The Riverlands - Comrade_General, Chewie
Central Rhovanion - Son of the King

THE SOUTH AND EAST
Ithilien and Gorgoroth - Eadfrith
Nurnen - Othko97, Tiffmeister
Harad & Harondor - Mother of Dragons
Umbar - Comrade_General

GONDOR & ROHAN
Dunland & The Isen - Glaurung
Rohan - Colossus
Emnet & Entwash - Othko97
West Gondor - Tiffmeister
Vales of Gondor - Colossus
Dol Amroth & The Coasts - Eadfrith
Minas Tirith - Son of the King, Chewie
Pelargir - JR
« Last Edit: April 11, 2015, 02:58:12 PM by Jubal »
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Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2015, 10:27:06 PM »
First update done: we now have two parties, which is a good starting point for an election.  :P
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Clockwork

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2015, 08:43:29 PM »
Ok I'll be a voter, I'm happy with whichever of the things you decide to give me :)
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2015, 08:50:46 PM »
Awesomes!

I will deal you your constituencies soon - I'm still umming and aaahing over one boundary line. I think you'll probably get 3 constituencies (but you may be given more if we totally fail to find voters :P ).  :)
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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2015, 09:50:30 PM »
Oh, uh, yesh. I'll vote.

Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2015, 09:54:04 PM »
Yay, an electorate! :)
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Tar-Palantir

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2015, 07:03:33 PM »
Two candidates, two voters. The words "rotten borough" are springing to mind at this stage....

In that spirit, Jubal and I should commit massive electoral fraud by registering a load of fake voters and bussing in lots more. ;) We can't leave Middle Earth rulerless!
Definitely not Ar-Pharazôn.

Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2015, 07:08:02 PM »
It'll be really embarrassing if one of us fails to get full ballot access. :P
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Tar-Palantir

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2015, 07:14:12 PM »
Just a bit. I think we'd have to conclude that Sauron was moving again if that happened. Or that the massive electoral fraud had already happened.
Definitely not Ar-Pharazôn.

Son of the King

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2015, 09:26:42 PM »
I'll vote too!

Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2015, 10:11:26 PM »
Yay :) Will deal your constituencies when I get home. :)
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Othko97

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2015, 10:49:10 AM »
I'll vote!
I am Othko, He who fell from the highest of places, Lord of That Bit Between High Places and Low Places Through Which One Falls In Transit Between them!


Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2015, 06:46:18 PM »
Yay!

You should all have received PMs telling you what your constituencies are, and also they're in both threads.  :)
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Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2015, 11:53:08 PM »
We have a whole three parties :O
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Jubal

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Re: The Middle Earth General Election! (Main Thread)
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2015, 12:05:46 AM »
Four parties! :o
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