On the Subject of Presidential Elections

This module becomes a lot easier when you play in Russia...

• The six characters of the serial number have cast their votes for the four presidential candidates on the module, represented by the color and symbol of their political party.
  • You can hover over the buttons to see the candidates’ names.
• To solve the module, press the buttons in the order of the election results, from first to last place.
  • If there are any ties, press the tied candidates in any order.

Finding the Proper Voting System

The voting system for this election varies from bomb to bomb. Each system has a value associated with it; use the chart below to find the winning value.

Arrange an eight-person tournament bracket. Use the italicized values to determine which voting system moves on. In the first round, the greatest number moves on. In the second round, the lowest number moves on. In the third round, modulo the two numbers by 20 and convert them to word form. The first number in alphabetical order moves on. In the case of a tie, the highest position on the chart moves on.

The voting system that wins the tournament is the voting system you use. These voting systems are explained in Appendix V073. In order to calculate which candidate got what result, you need to figure out what each serial number character voted for.

Finding the Votes

A vote consists of an ordered list of the four candidates. Each character has a different way of ordering the candidates in their vote.

If a character uses a row that was already used, move down the table until you reach a row that has not been used and use that rule instead (if you go past the bottom of the table, loop back to the top). Use reading order on the module to resolve any ties.

Char.		For this character’s vote, sort the candidates...
0	I	... in alphabetical order by their color names.
1	J	... by the number of letters of their color names (descending).
2	K	... in reading order based on the color name table.
3	L	... clockwise, starting with the top-right.
4	M	... by the Scrabble score of the last three letters of their names (descending).
5	N	... clockwise, starting from the bottom-left.
6	O	... by the number next to their party names (descending).
7	P	... in reading order based on the party name table.
8	Q	... in alphabetical order by their names.
9	R	... by the number next to their color names (descending).
A	S	... by the number of letters in their party names (descending).
B	T	... clockwise, starting from the bottom-right.
C	U	... in alphabetical order by their party names.
D	V	... by the Scrabble score of the first three letters of their names (descending).
E	W	... by the Scrabble score of the first and last letters of their names (descending).
F	X	... by the number of letters in their names (descending).
G	Y	... clockwise, starting from the top-left.
H	Z	... the same way the previous character voted.*

* If this is the first character, sort in reading order based on the module.

Color Names** Red (12) Green (5) Blue (13) Yellow (3) Magenta (7) Cyan (4) Orange (8) Purple (10) Brown (14) Crimson (15) Forest (2) Navy (6) Black (1) Gray (9) White (11)

Scrabble Scores 1 AEILNORSTU 2 DG 3 BCMP 4 FHVWY 5 K 8 JX 10 QZ ** To help you identify colors, the color of the symbol on the module will match the color of the text on this table.

Party Names
Slowpoke Party (7)	Mischief Party (15)	Conspiracy Party (4)	Trivia Murder Party (2)
Rent Is Too Damn Low Party (9)	Experimental Party (8)	Quack Quack Quack (12)	Birthday Party (13)
Carcinization Party (6)	Vine Boom Party (11)	Android Party (3)	Toxicity Party (16)
Little Guy Party (1)	Vote For This Party (5)	Aaaaaaaah Party (14)	Catpeople Party (10)

Appendix V073: Voting Systems

An overview of the eight different voting systems used in this module.

First-Past-The-Post:

For each vote, look at the first listed candidate. Add 1 to that candidate’s score. Sort candidates from highest to lowest for their placing.

Last-Past-The-Post:

For each vote, look at the last listed candidate. Add 1 to that candidate’s score. Sort candidates from lowest to highest for their placing.

Instant Runoff:

For each vote, look at the first listed candidate. Add 1 to that candidate’s score.

1. The candidate with the lowest score is “eliminated” and gets last place. If there are multiple such candidates, use the last one in reading order.
2. Their score is redistributed to the other candidates. For each vote that contributed to their score, find the first non-eliminated candidate listed on that vote and transfer the point to them.
3. Now repeat steps 1 and 2 twice to find second-last and third-last place. The non-eliminated candidate places 1st.

Coomb’s Method:

For each vote, look at the last listed candidate. Add 1 to that candidate’s score.

1. The candidate with the highest score is “eliminated” and gets last place. If there are multiple such candidates, use the last one in reading order.
2. Their score is redistributed to the other candidates. For each vote that contributed to their score, find the last non-eliminated candidate listed on that vote and transfer the point to them.
3. Now repeat steps 1 and 2 twice to find second-last and third-last place. The non-eliminated candidate places 1st.

Borda Count:

For each vote, add 4 to the score of the first listed candidate, add 3 to the score of the second listed candidate, add 2 to the score of the third listed candidate, and add 1 to the score of the last listed candidate. Sort candidates from highest to lowest for their placing.

Approval Voting:

For the Nth character of the serial number, look at the first N listed candidates. (If N is not 1, 2 or 3, subtract 3 from N.) Add 1 to the score(s) of those listed candidate(s). Sort candidates from highest to lowest for their placing.

STV (Single Transferrable Vote)

For each vote, look at the first listed candidate. Add 1 to that candidate’s score.

1. The candidate with the highest score is “eliminated” and gets first place. If there are multiple such candidates, use the first one in reading order.
2. Their score is redistributed to the other candidates. For each vote that contributed to their score, find the first non-eliminated candidate listed on that vote and transfer the point to them.
3. Now repeat steps 1 and 2 twice to find second and third place. The non-eliminated candidate places last.

Condorcet Method:

Make a table like so, where the rows represent the winner of a match-up and the columns represent the loser of a match-up:

	A	B	C	D
A		0	0	0
B	0		0	0
C	0	0		0
D	0	0	0

For each vote, add 1 to the cells corresponding to the results of each match-up. For example, in the vote ABCD (using the [row, column] coordinate format):

• A beats B, C and D, so you would add 1 to (A, B), (A, C) and (A, D).
• B beats C and D, so you would add 1 to (B, C) and (B, D).
• C beats D, so you would add 1 to (C, D).

The candidate who beat every candidate more than they were beaten by them (in other words, all cells in their row are greater than 3) wins. Sort the remaining candidates in descending order by the sum of the numbers in their rows. If there is no such candidate, sort all of the candidates in descending order by the sum of the numbers in their rows immediately.