A proposal: Electoral Handicapping (for more competitive elections)

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I agree there is a problem, but I don't really see this system as workable.

I think the most important thing is to institute some reform of voting eligibility policy. Voters and their votes are thrown out as "zombies" because they didn't meet some arbitrary post requirement, yet we have lots of people voting who clearly aren't at all involved in Atlasia. It's a double standard designed to benefit the JCP, since they have lots of old red avatars who are active on the rest of the forum, but don't give two sh**ts about Atlasia.

Hence why the polls indicated an AndrewCT landslide, but he lost narrowly.

Perhaps a requirement that all voters make at least one post per week in a stickied thread here to be eligible? Just to show some cursory interest.

I don't think that would address the issue. These people show up when they are asked to show up to help the JCP.

Personally I would rather simply level the playing field and make it easier for newer, less established posters to quickly become active Atlasian citizens.

[tpfkaw]

Whatever the case, something must be done, or we should otherwise just leave and let the JCP have their own fiefdom.

[Associate Justice PiT]

While I don't see "being more democratic" as the highest good the voting system can achieve, it seems to me that this doesn't really tackle the problem in a desirable manner (parties should recruit across all regions & contest all races as a matter of course), & is also just extremely counter-intuitive.

Well, what do you propose?  If nominating even a left-of-center unity ticket and having popular senators in our "strongholds" doesn't cut it, then what does?

(You could have IDS independence, which I would strongly support . . .)

     Get forum regulars involved in Atlasia & develop strong relationships with swing voters?

There are no swing voters at all, and nearly every right-wing forum regular is either already involved in Atlasia or quit out of frustration.

     There are plenty of swing voters. The fact that most right-wing candidates have made no effort to reach out to them is not really relevant.

[Dr. Cynic]

I don't like this crap. One person. One vote. The end.

Nobody can call me a pro-JCPer either. I may support their candidates, but their party structure, I hate.

[tpfkaw]

While I don't see "being more democratic" as the highest good the voting system can achieve, it seems to me that this doesn't really tackle the problem in a desirable manner (parties should recruit across all regions & contest all races as a matter of course), & is also just extremely counter-intuitive.

Well, what do you propose?  If nominating even a left-of-center unity ticket and having popular senators in our "strongholds" doesn't cut it, then what does?

(You could have IDS independence, which I would strongly support . . .)

     Get forum regulars involved in Atlasia & develop strong relationships with swing voters?

There are no swing voters at all, and nearly every right-wing forum regular is either already involved in Atlasia or quit out of frustration.

     There are plenty of swing voters. The fact that most right-wing candidates have made no effort to reach out to them is not really relevant.

Our ticket, supposedly intended to have crossover appeal, attracted a grand total of one (1) vote from the JCP.  There are no swing voters.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

While I don't see "being more democratic" as the highest good the voting system can achieve, it seems to me that this doesn't really tackle the problem in a desirable manner (parties should recruit across all regions & contest all races as a matter of course), & is also just extremely counter-intuitive.

Well, what do you propose?  If nominating even a left-of-center unity ticket and having popular senators in our "strongholds" doesn't cut it, then what does?

(You could have IDS independence, which I would strongly support . . .)

     Get forum regulars involved in Atlasia & develop strong relationships with swing voters?

There are no swing voters at all, and nearly every right-wing forum regular is either already involved in Atlasia or quit out of frustration.

     There are plenty of swing voters. The fact that most right-wing candidates have made no effort to reach out to them is not really relevant.

What swing voters are there really? People tend to vote almost always based on partisan affiliation; some base their votes on the fact that they like keeping in power fellow members of the good ol' boys club who've been on the forum for years. But very few people make a decision based on issues, ideas, campaigns, candidates, etc.

[Associate Justice PiT]

While I don't see "being more democratic" as the highest good the voting system can achieve, it seems to me that this doesn't really tackle the problem in a desirable manner (parties should recruit across all regions & contest all races as a matter of course), & is also just extremely counter-intuitive.

Well, what do you propose?  If nominating even a left-of-center unity ticket and having popular senators in our "strongholds" doesn't cut it, then what does?

(You could have IDS independence, which I would strongly support . . .)

     Get forum regulars involved in Atlasia & develop strong relationships with swing voters?

There are no swing voters at all, and nearly every right-wing forum regular is either already involved in Atlasia or quit out of frustration.

     There are plenty of swing voters. The fact that most right-wing candidates have made no effort to reach out to them is not really relevant.

Our ticket, supposedly intended to have crossover appeal, attracted a grand total of one (1) vote from the JCP.  There are no swing voters.

     Obviously if you don't PM everyone, they won't vote for you. When I ran, I PM'd a huge number of people, & got votes out of some pretty surprising people (Andy Jackson, Dibble, Lunar, even Holmes). Obviously if you make no effort you're not going to get anywhere.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Guys, the ticket didn't exactly run a steamrolling campaign toward the end. And there are plenty of people who voted for Fritz who we were actually surprised with. (And if you people accuse me of trying to spin that here too, I have chat records with Bgwah to prove we were both surprised by our getting certain votes.)

[tpfkaw]

The fact remains that if a campaign which consisted solely of convention trolling and not producing a platform can defeat a serious, "moderate" opponent, something is very wrong.

[Franzl]

The fact remains that if a campaign which consisted solely of convention trolling and not producing a platform can defeat a serious, "moderate" opponent, something is very wrong.

That's democracy. I happen to be a big fan of democracy.

[tpfkaw]

The fact remains that if a campaign which consisted solely of convention trolling and not producing a platform can defeat a serious, "moderate" opponent, something is very wrong.

That's democracy. I happen to be a big fan of democracy.

Yay democracy!

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

The fact remains that if a campaign which consisted solely of convention trolling and not producing a platform can defeat a serious, "moderate" opponent, something is very wrong.

That's democracy. I happen to be a big fan of democracy.

Yay democracy!

See, I'd much rather have gone down like Al Smith '28, Goldwater '64, or McGovern '72, and at least have principles and dignity intact.

[tpfkaw]

See, I'd much rather have gone down like Al Smith '28, Goldwater '64, or McGovern '72, and at least have principles and dignity intact.

I tried to choose ones that we all (mostly) could agree on.

[Fritz]

This is possibly the silliest proposal in Atlasia I have ever seen.

[Vepres]

After every electoral loss, it is not uncommon for their to be calls from the loser to change the process. Abolish the electoral college in 2000 and restricting voting from the dumbs in 2008. I oppose this idea.

I'm happy to say that, even though we were incredibly disappointed when Afleitch won in February, we didn't whine and try to change the system. We came back, redoubled our efforts, campaigned fiercely, and won.

Losing can better you, gentlemen. If you let it.

It's easy to say that when you lose literally one national race in over a year.

I'll quickly tally up the winner of every national, single-winner election since I joined (just so there is a starting point)...

JCP - 6
DA - 2
RPP - 0
POP - 0

Still, this proposal is definitely not the right way to go.

[Antonio the Sixth]

That's idiotic. You guys really don't like democracy, eh ?

[Badger]

Why are we even entertaining such an un-democratic idea?

"We" aren't. While I only scanned the 5 pages of this thread, it appears this is Wormy's brainchild and his alone.

Just one note no one seems to have mentioned about this proposal to increase "competitive" elections: The presidential election was quite close. Outside Lief's one vote landslide over PiT, when's the last time the vote was this close? Also, 2 of the 5 Senate races (only 4 contested) were decided by only one vote!

Beyond that, I'll simply agree with Fritz's assessment:

This is possibly the silliest proposal in Atlasia I have ever seen.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Wormguy does not speak for the right. Please do not try to equate him with the rest of us.

Plus, the Presidential election was competitive, and wormguy voted for the JCP ticket.

[tpfkaw]

Wormguy does not speak for the right. Please do not try to equate him with the rest of us.

Plus, the Presidential election was competitive, and wormguy voted for the JCP ticket.

No, I didn't.

[HappyWarrior]

See partcularly in the Mideast this proposal would create more of a one party fiefdom in  Senate elections considering I won by a single vote consider there were so many RPPers in the region.  This just makes right wing parties strong and weakens any independent candidates while doing very little to the JCP beyond weaken democracy for no reason at all beyond the fact that certain people don't actually want to work and would rather just legislate weaknesses into the other side. 

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Wormguy does not speak for the right. Please do not try to equate him with the rest of us.

Plus, the Presidential election was competitive, and wormguy voted for the JCP ticket.

No, I didn't.

Yes, he didn't.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=126487.0

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Wormguy does not speak for the right. Please do not try to equate him with the rest of us.

Plus, the Presidential election was competitive, and wormguy voted for the JCP ticket.

No, I didn't.

Yes, he didn't.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=126487.0

Yeah, I was thinking of someone else. My apologies.