Even after more than a week of what has been described as an “exhausting” and “harrowing” election cycle, LoreCraft voters still won’t get any relief from the political process for at least a few more days. Friday morning, the hotly contested Attorney General election ended in an EXACT TIE between candidates Toria and LucyWolfie. They are now expected to both serve as Attorneys General at the same time, contingent on Resolution 21 passing in SWAG.
The final tally was 23 votes for Toria (48.9%), 23 votes for LucyWolfie (48.9%), and 2 votes for “none of these candidates” (2.2%). Notably, 89% of eligible voters turned out to cast their votes, leaving few undecided voters left for either campaign to persuade.
“There were so many things happening with people dropping out, having to get the video edited, posting news articles, admins leaving. It was tough,” admin trailhopper27 explained. “And all of it to end in a tie? While I’m happy and love the democratic process, this election period has by far been the roughest time period for myself as an administrator that I’ve had to weather.”
Many have noted that this particular election has been a uniquely exhausting one, unlike the relatively peaceful Server Leader election in April. Four players– ratat0ing, Toria, LucyWolfie, and Unknown_ErrorXD– declared their candidacy for Attorney General, squaring off in a live debate on Sunday which lasted two hours. Unknown_ErrorXD, a self-described unserious candidate, dropped out of the race live at the debate.
The debate was followed by escalating attacks between the campaigns, mostly from the ratat0ing camp. But ratat0ing’s seemingly unstoppable rise in the polls was dealt a death blow when Unknown_ErrorXD claimed that ratat0ing had leveraged his admin powers to pressure her to drop out of the race. Further adding to the chaos, in response to the allegations, admin trailhopper27 and Server Leader YourLuckyStars7 decided to start the election without ratat0ing on the ballot, leading to cries of corruption and election tampering from ratat0ing and his supporters. The election workers eventually relented and canceled the tainted ballot, but the damage was done. ratat0ing dropped out in disgrace and later stepped down from his long-held position as server administrator.
“I realized that the only way to free myself from this dishonor– abuse of power or perception thereof– was to give up power entirely,” ratat0ing lamented in his letter of resignation.
So that left the field with two candidates: Toria and LucyWolfie. While Toria had spent hours arguing her policies at the debate, LucyWolfie had been unable to make it that night– which may have ultimately been the reason for her meteoric rise. Lucy soon shot up in the polls, with many voters citing her friendliness and helpfulness as reason for their support. While LucyWolfie rallied her friends and supporters in Cubiza, Kintenko, and elsewhere, Toria worked to maintain her fragile coalition of Commune members and ex-ratat0ing voters.
With the server holding its breath Friday afternoon, the vote ended in a deadlock. A perfectly tied election was unprecedented, leaving server leadership scratching their heads for an answer. Admin trailhopper27 punted the question to the ServerWide Association of Gamers (SWAG). Soon, Resolution 21 proposed that, in the event of any tied election, both candidates would win and serve in the position simultaneously. Resolution 21 is expected to pass on Monday. This time next week, Toria and LucyWolfie will both be Attorneys General.
trailhopper27 commented, “While it was exhausting, I can’t negate the fact that I have loved the player engagement so far, and I hope it continues on in the future.”