After what can only be described as the most dramatic series of runoffs in recent Europeian history, I believe it is time to step back and take a look at the process of how these elections come to be. As perhaps the Europeian most familiar with incredibly close elections, having run in five different Presidential or First Minister elections that have either gone to a runoff, been decided by one vote, or gone to the Senate, I think you can trust me when I say that these sort of elections put an incredible strain on the candidates.
To win an election of this sort, a lot of effort needs to be put into reaching out directly to voters on Election Day (or Runoff Day), to ensure that not only they have voted, but they are on your side. These conversations are often time-consuming, stressful, and potentially irksome if the citizens aren't usually conversational with each other. Of course, candidates should reach out to citizens they don't often talk to during the process to gauge which ideas have support and which do not, so they are tuned into what the region is thinking, but Election Day cajoling is an entirely different matter.
Additionally, the stress that comes from not knowing how many voters are out there, and where they could be coming from means that you spend a lot of time looking at the forum seeing who is online, what they are doing, and what they've done to try and figure out if this a potential voter that you need to engage with. It can be hard to take a break, even for a meal or errand run in this state, because you feel that any time away may have meant you missed a vote, which could be the end of your run that you've already sunk many hours into to reach this stage.
Obviously, most elections are not like this one, with multiple stages of voting, and a tied ballot, but the potential is always there, and the well-being of our citizens is something that should always be prioritized. To me, there is a clear solution in the form of making the voting results private until the end of the election.
While this does not remove all problems, it drastically improves the quality of life for the candidate. Candidates will be under much less pressure to talk to every person online on Election Day if they don't feel the pressure that comes from knowing they are X votes behind and need to make up ground. Additionally, there will not be any benefit in “holding votes” until the last few minutes, as there is no need to hide your vote total from your opponent, so the stress that comes from that is also gone.
Furthermore, the benefits of a live vote tally are rather minimal, providing only a partial picture of the race, and serving only to demoralize the candidates involved. Voting “strategically” will also be a thing of the past, as voters will have to base their vote on the candidates themselves, rather than who they think is ahead based on the time they check the ballot box, and voting accordingly.
Of course, candidates will still benefit from getting out the vote, and contacting people to make sure they have cast a ballot, but that's a common practice in real life elections that we would do well to mirror in our game. Where things become unreasonable is in asking the candidates to be subjected to live results for 24, 48, or even 72 hours straight.
In conclusion, I urge the Chancellery to make this change before the next election, and continue this practice going forward. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, trapped in an eternal runoff.
To win an election of this sort, a lot of effort needs to be put into reaching out directly to voters on Election Day (or Runoff Day), to ensure that not only they have voted, but they are on your side. These conversations are often time-consuming, stressful, and potentially irksome if the citizens aren't usually conversational with each other. Of course, candidates should reach out to citizens they don't often talk to during the process to gauge which ideas have support and which do not, so they are tuned into what the region is thinking, but Election Day cajoling is an entirely different matter.
Additionally, the stress that comes from not knowing how many voters are out there, and where they could be coming from means that you spend a lot of time looking at the forum seeing who is online, what they are doing, and what they've done to try and figure out if this a potential voter that you need to engage with. It can be hard to take a break, even for a meal or errand run in this state, because you feel that any time away may have meant you missed a vote, which could be the end of your run that you've already sunk many hours into to reach this stage.
Obviously, most elections are not like this one, with multiple stages of voting, and a tied ballot, but the potential is always there, and the well-being of our citizens is something that should always be prioritized. To me, there is a clear solution in the form of making the voting results private until the end of the election.
While this does not remove all problems, it drastically improves the quality of life for the candidate. Candidates will be under much less pressure to talk to every person online on Election Day if they don't feel the pressure that comes from knowing they are X votes behind and need to make up ground. Additionally, there will not be any benefit in “holding votes” until the last few minutes, as there is no need to hide your vote total from your opponent, so the stress that comes from that is also gone.
Furthermore, the benefits of a live vote tally are rather minimal, providing only a partial picture of the race, and serving only to demoralize the candidates involved. Voting “strategically” will also be a thing of the past, as voters will have to base their vote on the candidates themselves, rather than who they think is ahead based on the time they check the ballot box, and voting accordingly.
Of course, candidates will still benefit from getting out the vote, and contacting people to make sure they have cast a ballot, but that's a common practice in real life elections that we would do well to mirror in our game. Where things become unreasonable is in asking the candidates to be subjected to live results for 24, 48, or even 72 hours straight.
In conclusion, I urge the Chancellery to make this change before the next election, and continue this practice going forward. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, trapped in an eternal runoff.
