EURO513IA SENATE ELECTION LIVEBLOG

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EURO538IA September 2023 Senate Liveblog
A Slow Start Gives Way to an Exciting Race!​

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Good Morning Everyone!
I will be your host for this election's official EBC Liveblog, standing in as correspondent for Pland Adanna. With a slow start initially, this Senate race seemed doomed for a slow and uncompetitive election. But a surge of life in the 4th quarter from some regional veterans was just what this race needed to get the ideas flowing and the blood pumping! Candidates have already been reaching out to get ahead on the GoTV efforts and some of it seems to have paid off in the initial hour.

The poll run by @Maowi with the EBC projects Speaker Lloenflys, Senator Elio, and PhDre will sail to an easy victory. The results so far seem to support this projection, with Elio and Lloen at 15 and 16 votes respectively from the possible 18. PhDre comes in an easy 3rd with 13 votes and Calvin Coolidge - a late entry to the field - sits comfortably at 4th with 11 votes. Of course, as anyone would know, the first hour is a terrible predictor for an election. As votes trickle in, we should start to see the field shape out into what will eventually become the 91st Senate of Europeia.

To help with our analysis, we bring in @SkyGreen for this first segment.

SkyGreen thank you for joining us!

Senator Elio has declared his intention to seek the Speakership if elected; with Lloenflys declaring he does not intend to seek the position, who else do you think will be looking to challenge for the top spot?

This race sees a mix of the old and new. Who's in the green and who do you think is on the chopping block?

 

[SkyGreen]

Hey JayDee, as you might know I am a big supporter of first time Speakers, or as I sometimes like to say, nonLloen speakers.
Nonetheless, I think it would be fair to consider Ellenburg, Calvin, Monkey and PhDre for potential speakers. However, I have not seen any of them expressly state that they would be seeking the role of Speaker.
Of those 4, I believe only Ellenburg would be a first time Speaker, although due to his foreign obligations he might hesitate throwing his hat in the ring.
Either way, Elio has quite the lead, so I would not be surprised to see him as Speaker this term. Plus, he has shown that he wants to be Speaker, which can, from my experience, be the defining factor.

EDIT: Oopsie woopsie I missed the second question.
Well a 7 seat senate seems to be leading by a slight margin, so at the moment it seems that Monkey and Josi will have to see whether they will be getting a seat. Monkey is not that far away from Ellenburg, so he could secure himself the 5th seat and leave Ellenburg and Josi hanging.
It's hard to make any definitive statements, but we will likely see things stabilize once our East Coast Europeians cast their votes.
Interestingly enough all our voters so far voted both in the candidate and seat poll. Usually we'd see a discrepancy by this point.

 

[JayDee]

Thank you SkyGreen! Right now the results stand as follows

Elio Votes: 23 71.9% - Second
Lloenflys Votes: 27 84.4% - First
Josi Votes: 13 40.6% - Seventh
Provian Bee Votes: 8 25.0% - Eighth
Fillet minion Votes: 5 15.6% - Ninth
Monkey Votes: 14 43.8% - Sixth
PhDre Votes: 22 68.8% - Third
Ellenburg Votes: 16 50.0% - Fifth
Calvin Coolidge Votes: 21 65.6% - Fourth

with Seats sitting at

5 Votes: 15 46.9%
6 Votes: 10 31.3%
7 Votes: 16 50.0%

Let's bring in @Maowi to talk about these results so far!

Maowi, what do you think is the big issue of this election cycle?

What sort of issues do you expect this next senate to contend with?

PS - Stay tuned for statements from the candidates!

 

[Maowi]

Thank you very much for having me on the liveblog!

Maowi, what do you think is the big issue of this election cycle?

From my perception of it, we don't really seem to have had any hugely contentious issues come up to define this campaign period. The main area of disagreement seems to be PhDre's weighted voting proposal, and despite it lacking support from his fellow candidates, there does appear to be appetite for some discussion about the general idea of tweaking the Senate's structure in some way (e.g. having a junior Senate seat). A few big issues like the war with Lone Wolves United and Executive Order recalibration have just been dealt with by the outgoing Senate, leaving little room for our hopefuls to spark controversy with them. So I don't think there's a major ideological divide between candidates, and I'd guess the majority of voters will be making their decision based on track record and platform quality.

What sort of issues do you expect this next senate to contend with?

I'll be interested to see where the term lengths discussion goes next term, whether we get something new from it or the matter ends up fizzling out. Gem also recently posted a first draft of a bill about dealing with classified information that gets posted in public areas, so it will be super interesting to see whether the new Senate pick up where the old one left off or decide they prefer a different course of action! A few candidates have also pledged to keep the executive accountable throughout the war with LWU and make sure there is transparency about our objectives in this conflict – I think this is also likely to be a major point of public scrutiny for them.

As a side note, it is very exciting to see this tense competition not only between the candidates but between the five- and seven-seat options!! I'd imagine that as well as trying to gain ground on Ellenburg, Monkey and Josi are probably holding out hope for that seven-seat Senate to maintain that slim lead over the five. I'm looking forward to watching this race unfold!

 

[JayDee]

Eight hours in and we are now a little over half the projected voter count! The previous presidential election got 66 voters so it’s safe to say things are starting to settle in. The top vote getters are sitting pretty and with the number of seats still contentious the candidates on the chopping block are likely GOTVing intensely.

Elio
Votes: 27 71.1% - Second
Lloenflys
Votes: 32 84.2% - First
Josi
Votes: 16 42.1% - T Sixth
Provian Bee
Votes: 9 23.7% - Eighth 
Fillet minion
Votes: 6 15.8% - Ninth
Monkey
Votes: 16 42.1% - T Sixth
PhDre
Votes: 26 68.4% - Third
Ellenburg
Votes: 18 47.4% - Fifth
Calvin Coolidge
Votes: 25 65.8% - Fourth

5
Votes: 18 48.6%
6
Votes: 12 32.4%
7
Votes: 17 45.9%

Let’s now bring in Senator @Gem for their commentary.

Gem, when was the last time you saw a competitive seat election? What are the candidates in 6th and 7th focusing on right now? Getting a 7 seat senate or trying to get that 5th seat?

As an outgoing Senator, what do you hope to see this Senate address this term?

 

[JayDee]

While we wait for Senator Gem, here are the statements from the current candidates (minus PhDre, Josi, Ellenburg, and Monkey who are still drafting theirs)

I'm feeling great about the race so far. I was really pleased to have been rated so highly by the citizenry for my performance last term, and highly again in their voting intentions this race. So far in the voting, it looks like I'm doing pretty well, and I'd like to thank all Citizens who've taken the time to vote for me so far. I'm feeling positive at the moment, and I hope that at the end of the day I'm elected to serve a second term in the Senate, hopefully this time also as Speaker.

Thank you to the people who have voted already, and if you haven't, there are great candidates out there. Go Big Senate!

This election race so far despite not being open has definitely had many people voting and with the current big 5 being Elio,Lloen,Ellenburg,PhDre and Calvin having the most votes, they have already solidified that they’ll be elected but I would say that anyone can get many votes very quickly!

I’m honestly happy if i get two to three votes out of this, at least my ideas were heard and got a public platform. Also, i will have beat Kazaman. Sog on, cats

Very excited to be running in this race, it's been too long since I've joined in on the legislative fun. There are huge changes about to take place in the region, and continuing to take place, and it would be an honor to have a seat at the table during the discussions. The response to my platform has been very encouraging, and, I feel, given me a good mandate to start taking action as soon as the term begins. Watch out!

 

[Gem]

Gem, when was the last time you saw a competitive seat election? What are the candidates in 6th and 7th focusing on right now? Getting a 7 seat senate or trying to get that 5th seat?

As an outgoing Senator, what do you hope to see this Senate address this term?

Bit late on this, but I don't think there's ever been a seat vote so competitive as to tie. At least not as long as I've been around. Every time we have an election, it tends to be fairly clear ahead of time through regional discourse whether we're getting five or seven seats, and you have to wonder what it was this time around that was so different. With the benefit of hindsight, those 6th and 7th place senators should probably have been campaigning more aggressively for a big senate, as they would only have needed to sway one additional vote to get it.

Anyway, I'm interested in seeing where the discussion heads regarding post redaction. Prim, Elio and I released a bill late in the term addressing the matter, and of us, only Elio is returning. Additionally, I'll be watching 'Dre's weighted Senate Seat proposal closely. I think that a fleshed out proposal along those lines might have a chance at getting some support.