MRT Election Center
 | New Hampshire Primary: Election Center Updates Resume at 11pm Central Due to the AP calling the winners, the Election Center will resume major updates at 11pm Central (mostly due to Chief's econ midterm). |
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The MRT Election Center is a status board in east Central City used to track elections. It is run by chiefbozx, MinecraftYoshi26, and Soleurs, with occasional help from others.
U.S. Presidential Election, 2016
Timeline
- February 1, 2016: The first primary election occurs in Iowa, with both parties holding caucuses.
- June 14, 2016: The final primary election occurs in the District of Columbia, with the Democratic Party holding a primary.
- July 18-21, 2016: The Republican National Convention will officially nominate a candidate for President and a candidate for Vice President to run on behalf of the Republican Party.
- July 25-28, 2016: The Democratic National Convention will officially nominate a candidate for President and a candidate for Vice President to run on behalf of the Democratic Party.
- November 8, 2016: General election in all states, plus the District of Columbia and Americans living abroad.
Primary Elections Explained
Primary elections are mini-elections used to determine who will be running for each of the two major political parties in the U.S., the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. (Pedant notice: Other parties may hold primary elections, however since they are significantly smaller than the Democratic and Republican parties, these smaller parties will not be tracked by the Election Center.)
Each of the 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia (DC), the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands), and Americans living abroad each have their own primary election for the two big parties. These elections may take the form of a primary or a caucus. These two operate in slightly different ways but the goal is the same: to whittle down the field of candidates from each party to a single person, who will be nominated to represent the party come the general election in November.
Each state has a certain number of delegates assigned to it by its respective party. These delegates are assigned (roughly) proportionately to the number of congressional districts the state has, which is related to the population of the state. For example, Iowa has 52 Democratic delegates and a population of about 3.1 million people. Minnesota has a population of about 5.3 million people (roughly 71% more than Iowa), and 93 Democratic delegates (about 79% more than Iowa). These numbers are calculated for each state by both parties independently.
After a primary, some of the state's delegates are then "pledged" to a candidate, either as winner-take-all or proportionally; these are the numbers listed under "DELEGATES" at the Election Center. These delegates must vote for the candidate in question at the convention. Some states have unpledged delegates who do not have to follow the votes of the citizens, and instead vote in the best interest of the party they represent. These are sometimes called "soft" delegates or "Superdelegates" and they are especially prevalent in the Democratic Party.
Historically, all but one candidate for President has dropped out of the race before the conventions. However if more than one candidate remains at the convention, the delegates vote on who to nominate until someone gets a majority.
Upcoming primaries
The list of upcoming primaries and how many delegates are awarded at each, can be found at the New York Times' website here.
Current information
The board is being updated for upcoming primaries. Dates will be listed here when they are available. The board will be set up for general election viewing in August and the MRT will host an election night party beginning at 4 PM Central Time on November 8, 2016. All MRT members who are US citizens and legal voting age are strongly encouraged to go vote before coming to the viewing party.
Data sources
To ensure fair syndication of election results as they are reported, the Election Center requires that all data must come from reputable sources. The reputable source rules include:
- Online: All online sources MUST link back to the Associated Press, an international, nonpartisan group of journalists collectively reporting and cross-checking election results before publication. AP results are posted all over the Internet on all major sites and data refreshes between every 30 seconds and every 3 minutes. Data from sources not backed by the AP must be verified by another source before publication at the Election Center.
- TV and Radio: Major networks have their own election centers which run independent of each other, and so data from major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX) can be published immediately. Smaller stations can be used if data is verified from another source (national network or online with AP backing). NOTE: This rule will be edited for the general election to require two networks to agree before publication.
- Voice forecasts: Any results announced by voice in Discord will be ignored. Election Center staff will be watching AP and national sources to confirm all reports. However, if we've missed something while away, please do ask for a board update.
U.S. Presidential Election, 2012
The first Election Center was built to track the Electoral College and seats in Congress during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. It was built in Spawn City on the site of what is now Trusted Tower. The board featured lights to indicate electoral votes, as well as seats in Congress held by each party.