The January 2024 MA Council Election is a general election in which the delegates of the organization will cast votes to elect the members of the January 2024 Council. The election has 11 candidates, making it the most contested council election to date.
The top five candidates with the most votes will be elected to serve on the council.
Council Election
| Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|
| ✓ Empire of Surdam* | 13 (61.9%) |
| ✓ Saspearian* | 12 (57.1%) |
| ✓ Kingdom of the Dales* | 11 (52.4%) |
| Bepistan | 10 (47.6%) |
| Great Lawl Reich | 10 (47.6%) |
| Free State of Wetherill | 10 (47.6%) |
| Grand Kingdom of Ameristan* | 9 (42.9%) |
| Empire of Levinia | 8 (38.1%) |
| Republic of Parklandia | 4 (19%) |
| Republic of Inocria | 4 (19%) |
| Kingdom of Gunaka | 2 (9.5%) |
44% of the expected vote reporting (21 votes) | Final Results
SBC News has projected Surdam, Saspearian, and the Kingdom of the Dales will be re-elected to the MA Council. The voting for the election has closed. Bepistan, Great Lawl Reich, and the Free State of Wetherill are all tied with ten votes.
Due to the three-way tie, there were discussions on whether there should be a runoff between these tied candidates or if it should also include Ameristan due to the close margins. An extension in the voting period was also suggested. After further deliberations, a runoff election was agreed to be held between the three candidates.
The runoff election has been held to determine the members of the council for the two remaining seats. Bepistan and Wetherill have won the runoff election for the MA Council.
Anthony I, the incumbent Chairman and representative of Saspearian, has announced his candidacy for the Chairman election. Jakob Vancapelle, representative of the Kingdom of the Dales, has also announced his candidacy for the election.
The Chairmanship election is expected to be very competitive.
Chairman Election
| Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|
| ✓ Jakob Vancapelle (Kingdom of the Dales) | 10 (58.8%) |
| Anthony I (Saspearian)* | 7 (41.2%) |
31.9% of the expected vote reporting (15 votes) | Final Results
As confirmed by the Court of the MA, following the debate surrounding the confirmation of the results, Jakob Vancapelle won the election with 10 votes against incumbent Chairman Anthony I, who received 7 votes.
Voting for the election closed on February 4 at 9:00 PM (UTC+00:00) but was reopened because the election was reportedly tied with 11 votes for both candidates.
As initially reported by SBC News shortly before the closure of voting, Anthony I initially received 11 votes, and Jakob Vancapelle had 10 votes. Later on, before the closure of the form, it became tied with both candidates having 11 votes, and it was then decided to have the form remain open because of the tie, and another vote was cast for Anthony I following the period it was set to close. However, due to the confirmation process that was proctored by Chief Justice Asher Young in counting the ballots with confirmation from their behalf, 6 ballots were discarded in confirming the votes due to no confirmation on their behalf. Most of these votes went to Anthony I, and a joint petition for a trial was declared on February 6 on behalf of 5 of the nations who submitted the ballots in a request for verification. The petition was rejected on what was declared as grounds for election integrity.
The Chief Justice, Asher Young, reasoned for the rejection of the petition with the risk of conflict of interest due to Anthony I having access to the voting codes and the form but does not suspect him to have done so out of harmful intent. The Chief Justice remarked on the debate, understanding the issues from both sides and urging for action to be taken in preventing a similar situation from happening again.
“I am posting here my rationale for the denial of Councilman Anthony I’s petition for the certification of several votes cast during the February 2024 Chairman Election. Firstly, due to the experimental nature of this past election cycle (the introduction of the voting identification system), the voting process was inherently less secure. The voting IDs, while undoubtedly useful for certifying ballots and ensuring integrity, can not serve as the only form of vote certification or confirmation. For example, if someone were to acquire the voting IDs, they could easily submit fraudulent ballots, thus compromising electoral integrity and illegally swaying the outcome of the election, thereby having a tremendous impact on the structure and direction that the MA takes. In order to avoid this scenario, I made the decision as Chief Justice to require that voters verify that they had cast a ballot in the voting-confirmation. Though before, this practice was merely a ceremonial tradition, I decided to enforce it as a requirement for certification. This way, while certifying votes, I would be able to corroborate the use of a voting ID with the individual’s confirmation in that channel, eliminating the risk of voter fraud. Several votes that were cast were not verified by those who had cast them, and they were consequently tossed (sans Koeskoesia, who written proof of approval of a ballot cast in their favor was provided). I acknowledge that the tossing of these votes significantly influenced the outcome of the election, but I felt justified in doing so in the name of electoral integrity, an issue that I, of course, take very seriously.”
“There is also the issue of conflicts of interest. While I have no doubt that Anthony is simply trying to navigate a hectic electoral cycle, many delegates have voiced their concerns over whether the petition presents a conflict of interest, since the votes that Anthony petitioned for are those that were in his favor. The issue of Anthony both creating and having access to the ballots and election codes has been cited as another point of contention. While I do not doubt that Anthony has striven to uphold the MA in its integrity and legality, it is true in principle that there is indeed a conflict of interest at play here. In the future, it is imperative that the control over the electoral process be granted to a neutral party in order to avoid this issue rising again.
While I sympathize with and understand Anthony’s argument for petitioning the certification of these votes, I feel it is my duty to uphold the results of the election as they are due to the experimental nature of this election cycle (thus calling for extra measures to be enacted and enforced) as well as to avoid a political scandal in regards to conflicts of interest. I understand that this may be disappointing to many of you, but I hope you understand that this is the most rational decision. I encourage the council to urgently pass legislation establishing electoral guidelines so that this process may be more streamlined and less confusing in the future.”
Chief Justice Asher Young
February 11, 2024
Anthony I has also issued a statement with remarks on the situation. In the statement, Anthony, I announced certainty for improvement, wishing for the best for all parties, resolution, and a request for jokes to end during the process with professionalism and respect.
“I would like to share a few remarks about the situation from myself. It has been a challenging situation, but I am certain that we will improve things from here. To my supporters, thank you for the support, and I hear you out. The process has been difficult to manage, and there have been legal challenges from that, but I concur with the assessment from the Chief Justice due to the risks that have been involved with conflict of interest. I see it not as a loss but rather as a win. I have learned much about what has occurred in this election, and we are near to something more significant from here. To Chairman Jakob Vancapelle, I wish you the best regards in your chairmanship. I hope to work with you on achieving reforms. To everyone, you may not have voted for me, but I will work with you to address this situation and other issues that may come up. One thing I noticed during the roles transfer process, which I feel must be addressed, is that there were jokes about me with my job at the movie theater and for my speech. I would like for these jokes to end to bring more professionalism and respectfulness. I was unable to resolve things at that time due to work, and I have been experiencing a lot of pressure, and they have been unwelcoming to me. I wish to see more courtesy and respect in this organization.”
Anthony I
February 11, 2024