THE CAVALRY MARSHAL ELECTIONS ARE CLOSED
Congratulations to @Gwai, @Shivased and @Taethowen who were successfully elected as our new Marshal Team.
Thank you to @Rowena Ellenweorc and @Elarith for their willingness to stand as Marshal candidates and the efforts they made with their blurbs.
Thank you also to everyone who engaged in the election process, from its first tenuous sprouting of a half-formed idea through to the last minute votes. We had almost a 100% turnout among all those cavalry people who could vote, so Bema's blessings on you all!
And especially massive thanks for the wonderful @Winddancer, my support-admin throughout this hectic and wordy endeavour; much obliged!
I hereby remove all posting restriction on this thread, so you can all go wild with welcoming in the Marshals and offering your gratitude and commiserations to the runners-up
Especially Rowena who will now step down as Second Marshal. Love you honey
Especially Rowena who will now step down as Second Marshal. Love you honey
I will also leave the bulk of the contents of this Opening Post here, for posterity's sake and to use as a reference guide for when another election is required.
But for now, that's all folks!!!
Welcome to more NuPlaza democracy in action!
After a mature and inclusive discussion in the Command Tent thread, the decision has been made to open the positions of all three cavalry Marshals up for election.
So how will this work?
@Winddancer and I will co-ordinate the elections and ensure that these are fair and proper. The process for the Marshal elections will be very similar to the admin elections and will undergo a 6 stage process detailed below.
1. Nominations - COMPLETE
Nominations must be sent to the admin email address [email protected]. Please ensure your email has “CAVALRY ELECTION” in the subject line. Ideally we would ask that you include the current plaza name(s) of your nomination(s), along with any other recognisable plaza name you know they have in the past (just in case they have changed their name to something silly like “Allacan’s ghost horse” for fun!). You can make a nomination anonymously if you wish, and you can also nominate more than one person. You can also nominate yourself, and if you do then you can submit your blurb (see stage 2 below) alongside your self-nomination to achieve two tasks in one email.
Feel free to include your reasons why you have nominated someone, but this is not essential. We are unlikely to publish any of your reasons publicly, and if we do it will be re-phrased and will be 100% anonymous. Your reasons will also be taken into account if I am asked to step in as HCMA to decide a tie.
You may also want to post in this thread when you have sent your nomination email in so we can be sure it has not disappeared into a junk folder by mistake.
2. Candidates write their blurb - COMPLETE
Windy and I will approach all the nominated candidates to see if they are willing to have their name considered for the role. If so, we will ask each candidate to put together a short blurb to be posted on their behalf explaining why they want to be Marshal, what they think they would bring to the role, their experience, etc.
3. Presenting the candidates - COMPLETE
We will then post a list of the nominated candidates and their respective blurb here for people to consider, and will possibly include any comments made by the person who nominated them (anonymised, of course) if Windy and I think it is relevant.
4. Voting and Concerns - COMPLETE
Eligible voters will be asked to decide which of the candidates they would like to be a Marshal of the cavalry. We are not asking for people to decide which Marshal rank they want individuals to hold or to vote between First Marshal, Second Marshal and Third Marshal (i.e. who is the leader, who is second in command, and who is third in command) for any of the candidates. Votes are designed so you can have a say in which three cavalry members will be on the Marshal team of three, and then those three people between them will decide who is the leader, who is second in command, and who is third in command. You are allowed to vote more than once so that you can specify who your first choice for the Marshal team would be, and who your second choice (and possibly third choice) would be.
Votes must be sent to the admin email address [email protected]. Please ensure your email has the “CAVALRY ELECTION” in the subject line and it includes the names of all the people you are voting for. Please ensure your voting email includes your current plaza log-in name and your current rank in the cavalry (trainees can just put trainee). We will NOT be publishing any information on who voted for whom, nor will Allacan be made aware of this; this is purely to ensure only votes from valid voters are counted.
(Please see the Question and Answer section below regarding ‘Who can vote' and 'How many votes do I get?' for more information on those topics).
Additionally, if people have concerns about particular people or reasons they think they should NOT be a Marshal, or indeed any other considerations you want to put forward anonymously, then you will have a chance to include include these confidentially alongside your vote. Windy will anonymise these before sharing with me; we are unlikely to publish any criticisms or concerns publicly, and if we do it will be re-phrased democratically, respectfully and will be 100% anonymous, so you do not have to worry about anyone knowing who said what. These concerns will also be taken into account if I am asked to step in as HCMA to decide a tie.
Once again, you may also want to post in this thread when you have sent your voting email in so we can be sure it has not disappeared into a junk folder by mistake, but please do NOT say who you have voted for.
5. Counting the votes - COMPLETE
Windy will check the list of people who have voted against the list of valid voters detailed below, to determine if there are any invalid votes to disregard. Windy alone will then count up the valid votes (possibly with one other admin double-checking her maths) so that even I will not know who voted for whom.
Scores will be tallied in line with the scoring guidelines detailed below under the question 'How will Votes be Scored?'
(Please also see the below Question and Answer section regarding ‘What happens in the event of a tie?’)
6. Declaring the winners and handing over the reins - COMPLETE
Windy and I will approach the successful candidates with the good news and thereafter post a public announcement declaring the successful Marshals and thanking all you lovely people for taking part.
At that stage, the new Marshals may wish to open a new Dragon Room along with a new Command Tent (the latter opening post can summarise any topics still in discussion from the old one, but effectively tidying away all the discussions around the election so that focus can be turned instead to other topics).
In the interests of being diplomatic I would recommend any new Marshal team allow @Shivased and @Rowena Ellenweorc to complete any training exercises or RPGs that they have already started, however this is of course up to the new Marshal team.
Link to the current Command Tent (Cavalry OOC thread)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Here are some answers to questions you may have:-
Who can nominate?
In the interests of being inclusive, anyone on the plaza can nominate a candidate, but this does not mean anyone can vote (see below). Given the limited number of potential candidates this may also speed the process along.
Who can be nominated?
Only currently active ranked members of the cavalry can be nominated to be Marshal. You can nominate yourself, and if you do then you can submit your blurb alongside your self-nomination to achieve two tasks in one email.
As HCMA and facilitator of the election process, I will not be standing for election, nor will I be taking any active part in submitting nominations or making comments regarding the suitability of candidates, which leaves 6 valid candidates who can be nominated for the election.
Please Note; NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
How long are nominations open for?
NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED; these closed early because every valid candidate was either nominated or stated they do not wish to be a candidate.
Who can vote?
Following discussions taking place in the Command Tent thread the general consensus was that the criteria for valid voters would be:-
1. Any trainee who has begun training by the time the ballot goes live is eligible to vote. By 'begun training' we mean someone who has requested to enlist in the Dragon Room AND are either participating in the current Cav training RPG or have begun their assigned task from the current Marshals in the Cavalry Courtyard.
2. All currently enlisted Cavalry members are eligible.
On this basis, the following people are eligible to vote:-
@Aethelu (Dicun)
@Allafyrefleorhtlig
@Amadhrill
@Elarith
@Eldrith
@Éolath
@Dimcairien Luiniel (Éomund)
@Fairy Nuff (Aelflad)
@Frostbite (Walpurga)
@Gwai
@Rowena Ellenweorc
@Shivased
@Taethowen
@Thalionwen Hunigfolm
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED UNTIL THE NEXT ELECTION
How many votes do I get?
Every Cavalry member is allowed to cast one ballot, per their primary character. Votes by secondary characters are ineligible (no matter how lovely your NPCs may be).
Each ballot allows a voter to case up to three votes, which should clearly state which is the voter's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice for Marshals, to be weighted as such:- 1st choice gets 3 points, 2nd choice gets 2 points, 3rd choice gets 1 point. (Remember, as detailed above this has no bearing on which Marshal nominees will end up as First Marshal, Second Marshal, or Third Marshal. That will be decided among the final elected Marshals themselves.)
You cannot vote for the same person twice; you should include three different candidates in your ballot as 1st choice, 2nd choice and 3rd choice.
Marshal nominees are allowed to vote for themselves, provided they follow all other voting rules.
You do not have to vote three times; if you only want to vote once or twice then that is acceptable. The only exception to this rule is if a marshal candidate votes for themselves, they must then also vote for their second choice and third choice, otherwise their vote will not be deemed valid and will be discounted.
What if I change my mind after sending my votes?
In the event that you have a change of heart after emailing the admins, you can change your votes only if the voting period has not already ended. To do so, you must email the admin email address following the above criteria and clearly state THIS IS A REPLACEMENT BALLOT. In the event the admins received two sets of votes from the same email address/plaza member, only the later (most recent) email will be taken into consideration.
How long is voting open for?
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED UNTIL THE NEXT ELECTION
How will votes be scored?
The three votes cast by a valid voter as their ballot should clearly state which is the 1st choice, which is the 2nd choice and which is the 3rd choice for Marshal. These votes will be weighted as follows:- 1st pick gets 3 points, 2nd pick gets 2 points, 3rd pick gets 1 point. The three candidates with the highest total points after counting will be offered the position of Marshal, and then all three Marshals will decide between them who will be First Marshal, Second Marshal and Third Marshal.
What happens in the event of a tie?
@Allafyrefleorhtlig, unlike everyone else, will only make two votes as a cavalry member for her first and second choice. In the unlikely event of a tie, she will then use her third vote as HCMA to decide the tie based on what she believes is best for the cavalry and taking into consideration any anonymised reasons or concerns sent in alongside nominations and votes.
What else can I post here?
We would like to try and keep this thread tidy and easy to read for people who don’t necessarily have time to read through all the posts in the Command Tent . To enable this, please avoid debating topics or asking questions here and instead take such queries or discussion to the Command Tent thread.
As much as I love all you mischief-makers and chaots, role players and debaters, poets and out-of-character cheerleaders, please try and refrain yourselves.
What if I still have Questions and Queries?
If you have any questions, concerns or queries you can post them in the Command Tent with an @Allafyrefleorhtlig, and I will respond as soon as I can. Alternatively, Windy and I are both approachable off plaza on discord as Tanae#9119 (Windy) and Beorhtlig#1176 (Allacan), or by email on [email protected] (Windy) and [email protected] (Allacan).
As usual, the admin email address [email protected] can also be used to contact our lovely admin team.
I know you ladies are going to kick some serious ass and I can't wait to see what you all do! Let's start horsin' around! 
