HCI Votes: A Brief Introduction to the Electoral Ground

(3/25/2008 08:23:00 PM)

Today, this political analyst will start a series of posts aimed at analysing the current electoral campaign and whom is likely to fare well. The aim of this post is to:
  • Give a short introduction on voting.
  • Class Profiling
  • Several strategies that will gain votes

Voting Procedure

Basically, people vote for GROUPS not individuals. Also, there are an estimated 50 seats judging from the previous council. Therefore, there will be at least 50 winners, and a good guideline is to be within the top 10 groups that get the most votes. (Though there arent 10 groups with 5 members, but better safe than sorry).

Following from this, getting more than 5% of the vote, translating to about at least 80 votes (Small right?), should ensure victory. (Unless the race is tight) .

Now to the more important bit. How do people vote?

Without campaigning, people will tend to vote in the following order:

Best friends > Friends/Classmates > Faculty members > Former classmates > Former schoolmates > Strangers

Thus, following this general observation, there is a need to maximise your contacts with your friends/classmates/former classmates so as to take advantage of this preference.

Which is where class profiling comes in.

Class Profiles

How is this useful?

In MANY classes, more than 1 classmate is campaigning in separate groups (A13 has 6 different groups for illustration ). This will lead to vote splitting and reduces your voter base. In these classes, campaigning will yield less than desirable results due to drowning out of voices.

However, in some classes, no candidates are running at all. In these cases, you should pay special attention to these classes so as to maximise chances.

In the next few tables that follow, the first column indicates number of people running and the second column indicates number of groups running in that class.

ARTEMIS

S6B - 4 PPL - 3 GRP
S6D - 7 - 3
S61 - 2 - 2
S63 - 5 - 3
S69 - 1 - 1
S6P - 8 - 3
S67 - 3 - 2
S6K - 2 - 1
S6F - 1 - 1
S6H - 1 - 1 (SAFE SEAT)
s65 - 0 - 0 (ON PLAY)

TOTAL CANDIDATES: 34
TOTAL GRPS: 20

ATHENA

S66 - 4 PPL - 3 GRP
S64 - 7 - 4
S6J - 3 - 2
S60 - 3 - 3
S6N - 7 - 3
S6E - 3 - 3
S6A - 2 - 2
S6C - 9 - 3
S62 - 2 - 2
S6G - 3 - 3
S68 - 2 - 1

TOTAL CANDIDATES: 45
TOTAL GRPS:29

ARES

A10 - 4 PPL - 3 GRP
A13 - 10 - 6
S74 - 6 - 4
S7A - 5 - 4
S7C - 3 - 2
A11 - 3 - 3
S70 - 5 - 3
S72 - 3 - 2
S76 - 2 - 2
S78 - 4 - 2
A12 - 2 - 1

TOTAL CANDIDATES: 47
TOTAL GRPS:32

APOLLO

S77 - 6 PPL - 4 GRP
S6V - 1 - 1
S73 - 4 - 1
S79 - 1 - 1
S6Q - 1 - 1
s79 - 4 - 3
s71 - 3 - 3
A14 - 6 - 3
A15 - 1 - 1
S7B - 4 - 2
S75 - 2 - 1
S6Q - 1 - 1
S6T - 0 - 0 (ON PLAY)
S7D - 0 - 0 (ON PLAY)

TOTAL CANDIDATES: 34
TOTAL GRPS: 22

GRAND TOTAL: 160 CANDIDATES / 103 GRPS (Barring counting errors)

You can see that the race is rather tight. Only less than 1/3 of the candidates will make it.

Strategies

Below is a short list of strategies to use. Note that this list is not exhaustive. Use your own creativity!
  • Bribe. Last I checked, there were no penalties for force- feeding voters or using food as a threatening measure against the waistlines of voters. So please do invest time and effort to pamper your dear voters.
  • Understand your voter needs and make good on them. Please dont make empty pompous promises, they sound sickening. Please make realistic goals. (Then again, no one can vote you out after you take office........)
  • Increase voter enthusiasm. This is important. If you become a sensation, expect to see great support coming from all over the school. But how? This is when you have to..
  • ADVERTISE! Use various tactics to draw attention to yourself. Remember to engage all the senses.
  • For audio impact, Loudhailers/Electronic Guitars/ Microphones/ 08S6H members are advised.
  • For visual impact, eye catching bright colours are useful. BIG POSTERS and leaflets are also useful. Make yourself visible EVERYWHERE and make sure you STAND out. Note that first impressions COUNT.
  • For taste, remember to offer free food at campaign rallies and the Singaporean mindset will do the rest of the work.
  • Involve the class! Your class may be safe, but that is no excuse for you to neglect it. Get your whole class to go on campaigning on your behalf, and watch the power of many do the work for you. It also shows solidarity and leaves a good impression. (Also with Guo Kai, intimidation will lead to a landslide win.)

In short, remember to leave good impressions and be active! Politics isnt easy, but with the right strategy and tactics, it can be MUCH MUCH easier.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be misconstrued to be sure-win tactics. Following the tactics described in this post will not guarantee ANYTHING.

PS:Ming Yang, while that entry was surely interesting (Other than the video cutting off abruptly), I'm not sure if you reading something means that we should read it. In fact it might be a turn off as people might think it is incomprehensible when it isnt really so.

(No insult intended, just a personal insight)

by Indeterminate