2023 Site Selection Vote Validation Begins

Chengdu and Winnipeg are vying to host the 2023 Worldcon, and first, before DisCon III opens at-con voting, the large number of ballots already received in site selection voting will be verified.

Kevin Standlee says, “Glutton for punishment that I am, I’ve been detailed as one of Winnipeg’s two representatives to the pre-convention validation of ballots. As you know, this means we have to confirm the eligibility of each pre-con vote. We’ve been told to expect around 2,500 ballots. I have no information about the geographic distribution of voters within that 2,500.”

That’s the estimated pre-con vote. Additional ballots will be cast or hand-delivered on site. Voting continues at DisCon III until 6:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday, December 17, 2021.

Standlee explained the process to readers of his Fandom Is My Way of Life Livejournal, “The bids and the administering convention have to confirm that every ballot cast in advance is from a registered member before at-convention voting can open, because memberships can’t vote more than once. I have administered cases where one person voted, then transferred their membership, and the transferee innocently tried to vote the same membership because they didn’t know it had been used.”

He also recalls, “Back in 1991 in Chicago, there were 2,107 ballots total, all of which had to be validated before we could count them after the election closed. Counting only took about two hours. It took twelve hours to validate those ballots, though.”

 [Thanks to Kevin Standlee for the story.]

10 thoughts on “2023 Site Selection Vote Validation Begins

  1. Is that a lot? It feels like a lot, but there have been so few contested site selections in recent years, it’s hard to be sure.
    A thirty year old comparison strikes me as not something to rely on. Things have changed.
    Are equivalent figures available from 2015? I went to the bother (and dear Loki, it was a bother) of voting for Helsinki then, so I assume there must have been a fight. (Vs Washington?)

  2. @NickPheas:

    According to the minutes from the business meeting (available here), on page 64, it seems as if there were 2625 valid votes.

    The four-way contest for the 2017 WorldCon was Helsinki, Montreal, Japan, and DC. It never got to a run-off, as Helsinki dominated on first preferences.

    I don not quite have the time to sit down and dig out numbers for multiple years right now, alas.

  3. NickPheas on December 14, 2021 at 4:51 am said:

    Is that a lot?

    Yes, it is. I think we’re about to set a new record for the most number of votes cast in a site selection election. The largest I remembered before the 2015 election was 2,564 in 1992 (Glasgow vs. Atlanta for 1995; in those days, we selected Worldcons three years in advance, not two).

    It feels like a lot, but there have been so few contested sure selections in recent years, it’s hard to be sure.

    Besides this year, three of the past six years’ elections were contested, and as noted, 2015 set a new record for participation that I think is about to be broken.

    2020 (for 2022): Chicago, Jeddah
    2019 (for 2021): DC (uncontested)
    2018 (for 2020): New Zealand (uncontested)
    2017 (for 2019): Dublin (uncontested)
    2016 (for 2018): San Jose, New Orleans
    2015 (for 2017): Helsinki, DC, Montreal, Japan

  4. As of the close of advance voting, I am told that there were around 3000 advance ballots cast. I’m going to have a very long day today starting in 45 minutes when I show up to validate voter information for advance ballots.

  5. I do not quite have the time to sit down and dig out numbers for multiple years right now, alas.
    — Ingvar

    The history of total Site Selection ballots can be seen here.

  6. @Jo Van:

    Oooh, thank you. I am both always delighted and disappointed (more delighted than disappointed) when an excellent excuse for “calendar biting” (basically neepery of data-tabulating kinds) is preempted by someone else already having done it.

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