Jul 21, 17 / Vir 06, 01 10:26 UTC

ATTENTION ALL CANDIDATES  

Candidates,

Please be aware that votes received for a specific position (debutant,strategist or trendsetter) will ONLY COUNT TOWARDS THAT SPECIFIC ROLE AND NOT TOWARDS OTHER ROLES.

Example 1: Candidate A campaigning for debutant and receives 11 votes. Becomes a debutant.
Example 2: Candidate B campaigning for strategist and receives 30 votes. DOES NOT BECOME STRATEGIST OR DEBUTANT even though has 3 times the number of votes needed to become debutant.
Example 3: Candidate C campaigning for Trendsetter and receives 998 votes. DOES NOT BECOME TRENDSETTER OR STRATEGIST OR DEBUTANT

I can not believe this is the logic for the voting process!!
Every single vote received for candidate B and C will be wasted!!
This is why positions need to be awarded to candidates AFTER the voting closes NOT BEFORE.

So if you don't receive the full number of votes for you chosen level, all these votes will be wasted!
I can't believe this is the logic being used.

I received an official email from Anastasia from elections@asgardia.space.

My faith in Asgardia administration is fading :( Sadly

Hi Brendan,

No, the votes received on your Strategist account will not count towards your Debutant position. 

Kind Regards,
Anastasia

HOW IS THIS EVEN LOGICAL?
Brendan Taylor

Jul 21, 17 / Vir 06, 01 14:42 UTC

Hi Brendan,

I can understand your disappointment with this but let me see if I can explain it so it makes a bit more sense.

You have a country that has an elected mayor position, a state representative position, and a governmental congress position.

A person decides to sign up and become mayor of their town, they get enough votes. They are the mayor of their town.

A person decides to run for state representative while still being mayor of their town. They didn't get enough votes to be their state representative but are still the mayor of their town.

A person is the mayor of their town but decides to run for state representative. They get enough votes and are the state representative.

A person decides to sign up and be their state representative but isn't the mayor of their town. They run but didn't get enough votes to win their position. They still aren't the mayor of their town.

A person decides to sign up and be their state representative but isn't the mayor of their town. They get enough votes and are the state representative and still hasn't been the mayor of their town.

A person decides to sign up and try to be elected to congress but they're neither the mayor or state representative. They run, but don't get enough votes to win. So they are still not the mayor or state representative.

A person decides to sign up and try to be elected to congress, but they're neither the mayor or state representative. They run and they get enough votes to win. However, they still haven't been the mayor or state representative.

I hope this clears it up for everyone a bit more why this is set up this way. If it does, I'll make sure this example is including in the upcoming elections FAQ.

Cheers!

Rebekah Berg
Head of Community Affairs
NGO Asgardia

Jul 26, 17 / Vir 11, 01 22:28 UTC

Dear Rebekah,

There is logic in that what you say, however there plenty of technical flaws in the election, which basically negate a lot of things.  I am a person who is involved in the European Youth Politics and sadly I must say that the preparation of this elections is very chaotic. If they would be observed by any human rights watch dog, they would be classified as unfair. I understand that launching initiative as ambitious as Asgardia isn't easy and I appreciate your work as the community manager. However, errors that have been made in the process of these elections are very basic and a person who isn't tech savvy or politically skilled could have avoided them. ( especially when Asgardian Community isn't short on people with technical, legal or political skills)

First and the most simple one is the build of the website. When I was preparing my candidate statement a few weeks ago, I had a completely different view in the WordPress editor, that is built into the website than I had as a final result. Despite my multiple attempts to edit it, I was always ending up with some random ass clutter of the letters and images that looked, like made by a 5-year-old child, with no concept of aesthetics. When I reported that bug to Asgardia on FB, in reply I was told that website is being updated and the bug is caused by that. Well its 4 weeks later and nothing has changed. 

Second the GUI of the candidate list. Same person, who runs for 3 different roles will have the positions they are running for stuck one of the top of another in a small font. It's easy for people voting in the process to click on the other one they wanted and give a vote.  The graphic desgin of the list should be changed in the way that a person who is voting is presented with three separate lists on the left side of the screen( it's more intuitive in that way).  Ergo:

  1. Debutants
                                Cnadidate X
                                Candidate B
                                Candiate C

  2. Startegists
                                Cnadidate X
                                Candidate B
                                Candiate C
  3. Tredesetters

                            Candidate X
                            Candidate B
                            Candidate C

The third error is that there are no debates between, candidates. How as a voter I am able to assess the merit and skill of potential candidates? How can I know which of them are serious and who are running for the joke?  

Fourth, the most crucial error, concerning this vote, is a constitution. As the highest law of the nation, the constitution, written in 21st century should be precise. Yet this one contains a lot of errors, loopholes and in some parts is too vague. As a lawyer trained in 5 legal systems I know, what I am talking about.  However, I don't want to get into details on this thread. Then there is an issue of not being able to reject the constitution in the referendum. Legally binding referendum of any democratic nation has at least two options: Yes or No.  If you will happen to talk with Dr Ashurbeyli, please mention this to him. People like making their own decisions and they don't like being forced to do something. Leaving one option, makes them feel that they are forced to do something. If there would be two options it would speed up the acceptance process. Finally leaving one option and tieing that with ''further verification'' isn't  really democratic.