Mideast Election Irregularities

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

There seems to be some question in regards to when the polls actually closed/ will close in the Mideast. 

According to the Mideast Constitution,

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In other words, the election administrator (in this case, Governor Motley) can open the voting booth at any time between 12:01 AM on the third Thursday of the month and 12:01 AM the following Friday, with the period during which votes may be lawfully cast extending from that time until exactly 72 hours later. Thus, if the voting booth was opened at noon on the third Thursday of the month, voting would continue until noon the following Sunday.

In the late hours of Wednesday, May 20, Governor Motley posted the voting booth for the May Mideast Elections. The text on the official ballot included this statement:

Voting shall begin at 12:01am EST and continue for exactly seventy-two hours.

Since Governor Motley made this post at approximately 10:41 PM EST on Wednesday evening, it can be assumed he intended for the voting period to begin at 12:01 AM Thursday, the earliest time the election could commence. According to the Constitution and the text of the official ballot, voting would then continue until 72 hours, or exactly three days, after 12:01 AM on Thursday morning. This would indicate 12:01 AM Sunday morning as the time at which the polls would officially close.

If my calculations are correct - and I believe they are - the voting period ended several hours ago, exactly one minute into Sunday. This would render the following votes invalid:

• Anton Kreitzer
• JCL
• morgieb
• Bmotley
• Lumine

[windjammer]

Indeed, the voting booth should have been closed since at least yesterday. And these votes are indeed invalid. But fortunately, it doesn't change anything in the end.