Speech

[12th Doctor]

Well, it appears that the results are tied.  However, Peter recieved more first prefs, so I think it is only fitting that I concede to him.

Thank you to all who supported me.  Good luck, Peter.

[Keystone Phil]

Aww     I have to say that while I am disappointed, this was a very noble move on your part, Super. You continue to be one of the best leaders in Atlasia.

[TomC]

Boy, it was short, but that was a good election. Supersoulty, you are  a gentleman and a great asset to Atlasia.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Aww     I have to say that while I am disappointed, this was a very noble move on your part, Super. You continue to be one of the best leaders in Atlasia.

^^^^^^^

Boy, it was short, but that was a good election. Supersoulty, you are  a gentleman and a great asset to Atlasia.

^^^^^^^^^

[The Dowager Mod]

The senate will be a lesser place without you.

[Q]

Hmm...

[12th Doctor]

Hmm...

Hmmm... what?  I am not going to carry this on.  Peter clearly recieved more first prefs than I did.  I personally feel as though I have no real grounds to keep this going.  Not to mention that it is a special election for a seat that needs to be filled ASAP, so we don't have time to drag this through court, revotes, Senate votes, and there is no point in spliting the term.  Peter won fair a square.

[TomC]

Here's what I don't quite get. If you invoke clause 4 subclause i, you have to get past what I have in bold:

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And what Soult's saying about more high preferences is true, but the language is a "majority" of highest preference votes, not "more."

[12th Doctor]

I'm really not concerned.  I think Peter won.  And I think we need a Senator in there ASAP.

[TomC]

Da#$%mn preferential voting!

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Da#$%mn preferential voting!

OMG!FFTP sOlVES Allll PrUblemZ!  LUK @ FLORda 2000 OMGLOL!!!

[Peter]

The result of the election is in fact a draw, and procedes to runoff. Section 2, Clause 4 and who has the "total number of preferences" is totally irrelevant. And the number of first preferences is even more irrelevant, having been removed from our electoral system as a winning criteria quite a while ago.

See Section 2, Clause 3:

If, after the implementation of Clause 2 of this Section, any candidate shall have a majority of the highest preference votes, then that candidate shall be declared the winner of the election. If no such candidate shall exist, then Clause 2 of this Section shall be implemented again until such a candidate does exist, or until all candidates have the same number of highest preference votes.

In this event, Section 3 kicks in:

If all remaining candidates shall have the same number of highest preference votes, then the following procedure shall be used to break the tie: [...]

I promised myself that I would only vote to break a tie, unfortunately I did not figure on enough people voting after me to actually tie the result up again, and I had to sleep.

With this given, I have little interest in a runoff and the district deserves representation. In this situation I would almost certainly have done what has already been done if it had not been done by Supersoulty. Given that he has conceded, the need for a runoff is avoided, and I thank him for his gentlemanly act of concession.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

So it was a tie in the end? Hmm... yeah, I can live with that. Anyone want a map?

[Q]

Supersoulty, is your concession official?  I know you said it would be "fitting" to concede, but is it your intention to actually do so?

[minionofmidas]

We recently had an official runoff election held (DanielX vs CheeseWhiz) even though one of the candidates (CheeseWhiz) had conceded. The ballot looked like this - "vote for one of the following candidates: [ ] DanielX".  But in that case there was no vacancy to be filled...
The rules do not seem to permit one candidate to withdraw in this situation and cancel the runoff. I so think they should be amended - either to reintroduce a tiebreaker here or to allow withdrawing - but certainly the technically correct way to proceed is to keep the seat vacant until a runoff has been held.

[minionofmidas]

And after reading the official rules, I would conclude that even that was illegal; the rules expressly say that all tied candidates *automatically* proceed to the runoff.

Ah but nevermind. I certainly won't officially complain if Pete's declared the winner. (Nor if Soult's declared the winner. If the highest no. of pref.s rule were used in last round ties, that would be the result, btw.)

[Democratic Hawk]

I'm really not concerned.  I think Peter won.  And I think we need a Senator in there ASAP.

I think in light of the results, Super you made the right call. You are still very much an asset to Atlasia and I hope you seek elective office again in the near future. You can always count on my support

I said at the beginning when you and Peter declared your candidacies that whoever won, District 2 would be well represented in the Senate. Both have you have held office with distinction

Dave

[Peter]

(Nor if Soult's declared the winner. If the highest no. of pref.s rule were used in last round ties, that would be the result, btw.)

If that had been the case, you have to realise that I would never have hampered myself by preferencing him, so in fact we would have had a tie on total preferences as well.

[Colin]

Supersoulty you truely are a class act. While I did not support you in your run for the Senate I still feel that you would have been an excellent Senator just as you were when you were a Senator before. I have to say that this race had the two best candidates that could ever be hoped for and its a shame that both of them will not have the oppotunity to be a Senator.

I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavours, Soulty. You truely are one of Atlasia's elder statesmen.

[Q]

We recently had an official runoff election held (DanielX vs CheeseWhiz) even though one of the candidates (CheeseWhiz) had conceded. The ballot looked like this - "vote for one of the following candidates: [ ] DanielX".  But in that case there was no vacancy to be filled...
The rules do not seem to permit one candidate to withdraw in this situation and cancel the runoff. I so think they should be amended - either to reintroduce a tiebreaker here or to allow withdrawing - but certainly the technically correct way to proceed is to keep the seat vacant until a runoff has been held.

And after reading the official rules, I would conclude that even that was illegal; the rules expressly say that all tied candidates *automatically* proceed to the runoff.

I have been considering this and will issue an opinion very soon.  This is a valid concern.

It seems that Peter has already gone ahead and sworn himself in, however.

[TomC]

Yeah, murky stuff. I'd like to understand something here:

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For this to apply to Supersoulty's concession, would he have had to clearly be the victor in the election?

[12th Doctor]

Supersoulty, is your concession official?  I know you said it would be "fitting" to concede, but is it your intention to actually do so?

It is official.  D2 and Atlasia need a Senator.

[12th Doctor]

A run-off election, I will not accept.  If elected, I shall not serve.

[TomC]

D2 absolutely needs a senator, Supersoulty, but Atlasia also needs a set of election laws and practices it can be confident in. A formal or informal agreement of the candidates is not an adequate substitute for following law that citizens depend upon to create and continue representative government.

No offense, but if laws can be overturned based on the whim of what a candidate will or will not accept, then what confidence can we have in our laws?

Maybe the law has been followed here. I'd like to know, hence the question.