1;2cElections are held frequently in the cities and guilds of Avalon's many cities and villages. Elections for guildmasters come up when the current master's authority is disputed by one of the major subordinates, while for Barons an election takes place when four leading non-Baronial question an existing Baron's authority. To gain a list of elections which affect you currently running type ELECTIONS. To view any questioning of your current city Barony type POLITICS. You can view historical politics log entries by typing POLITICS <entries past> where you specify the number of entries back from whence to begin, e..g. POLITICS 100 to view the log from 100 entries into the past. NOTE: citizens can also use POLITICS ALL to peruse a paged depiction of the entire politics history from the first public recorded entry.
Back to elections! To gain a list of candidates in a specific election, type CANDIDATES followed by the election number, while voting is achieved by VOTE followed by the election number followed by the candidate name. In the event of an incumbent getting the same number of votes as the challenger(s), the incumbent is allowed to retain the position.
You are not eligible to vote in city elections if your time in the land has been too short over the previous Avalon year and you are not one of the city's leading nobility. Providing you have access to your city or guild bulletin board forum you will find you can only cast your VOTE when you are fully up-to-date with the latest postings from your city/guild BB forums (see HELP BB). This is to ensure any last minute information, any candidate advocacy or revelation, any facts pertinent to the election: all will at least get a chance to be aired before you make your informed selection.
To start an election in a guild, a guild member must type CHALLENGE followed by the name of the current guildmaster. This will begin an election with the challenger, and current guild master as the two candidates. To start a Baron election, four non-Barons must QUESTION the authority of a particular Baron. Once four have done so, the election will begin with those four, and the questioned Baron as candidates. High rank individuals (Priests, Guildmasters, Barons, Princes) are able to view local electorates to assess voter-public by typing ELECTORATE followed by their home city or home guild.
Guild elections last for three days, while Baron elections last for five. Candidates themselves can type STANDDOWN followed by the election number which removes them from the running but wastes the votes of those who voted for them. As Guild elections only have two candidates, a STANDDOWN effectively declares that the other candidate is the winner. There is a minimum quota for number of Barons in any of the cities, and if you type HELP BARONS on its own you will not only see a list of the Barons representing your city, but will also be told if there are any free spaces in the Barony. To put your name forward for an election for one of these free spaces, type QUESTION VACANCY.
