Season 5 Presidential Election

The Season 5 Presidential Election of Discord Election Simulator is set to be held on Friday April 23, 2021. It will be the fifth presidential election in DES history and it is

expected, Pres. Lucas Underwood will be the incumbent president at the time of the election.

In the United States, general elections follow caucuses and primary elections held by the major parties to determine their nominees. The winner of the Season 5 Presidential Election is scheduled to be inaugurated on April 30, 2021.

## **Background**

### **Procedure**

Article Two of the United States Constitution states that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old, and have been a United States resident for at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties of the United States. Each party develops a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. The primary elections are usually indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The presidential nominee typically chooses a vice presidential running mate to form that party's ticket, which is then ratified by the delegates at the party's convention. The general election in November is also an indirect election, in which voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors then directly elect the president and vice president. If no candidate receives the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the election, the United States House of Representatives will select the president from the three candidates who received the most electoral votes, and the United States Senate will select the vice president from the candidates who received the two highest totals. The presidential election occurred simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

## **Campaign Issues**

#### **Fitzpatrick-Jones Scandal**

On April 11, 2021, Vice President and Presidential candidate, Harry Bennett posted in presidential campaigning about an accusation that he said the Jones' campaign or one of it's advisors were sharing for political gain.

> **"**You know, I did not want to play this campaign dirty, however, I have found out that the Jones campaign is trying to use my former role as Admin as a political tool. Let it be known: I left the admin team this morning. I did not want to make a big deal of it, and I did not think the job would effect anything. The campaign should be ashamed of themselves for spreading such misinformation. Let it be known: I have confirmation of this. As admin, I can only skip songs and moderate chats. If that disqualifies me from being President, Mr. Jones has a lot more of a problem on his hands.**"**
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As soon as this dropped, many people began to dismiss it, calling it another "partisan attack." In the same channel as Bennett posted, Jones quickly refuted the claim saying the following:

> "Just a few minutes ago, I've heard my team is being accused of attacking another Presidential Candidate because of their past and I'll be the first one to say, nor have my team had any plans of attacking anyone because of their pasts as mod... I've been hearing my advisors have been blackmailed in the past, no matter if it is true or not, my campaign will always make this a movement of peace, prosperity, and love..."
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Many people jumped to the defense of Jones, including Representative Sebastian Morales-Talero aswell as Health and Human Services Secretary, Rick Fitzpatrick. They claimed the attacks had no foundation and were baseless political claims. However, DES owner, Everett Terry called a press conference and accepted a variety of questions.

Jones asked Terry a question regarding of a person of interest, Terry responded, "We have a particular person in our minds."

The following day, a report was released that had confirmed Jones had lied to the moderator team and had indeed broken the rules. Jones apparently attempted to cover up his trail by purging chats and removing people from his groups. Fitzpatrick had also lied about his involvement, and practically through himself infront of the bus. An excerpt form the document is below:

> As you can see, Mr. Jones eventually admits to using the information as a counter-attack and admits to conspiring with Rick for information. You may be wondering why this is a big deal and why would these people deserve to be punished? Well, let me lay it out, since this happened, these people have caused a rift within our community, leaving it vulnerable to attacks and straining the relation between admins and members. Also, if the information was true that Harry could/has abused his admin in the past, they failed to notify the owner of anything and if it was in fact true, they put the community in danger at its own suspense for strictly political gain. Adding to their punishment is the initial cover-up following the notification of investigation. If we were allowed this type of behavior to continue, it would set a dangerous precedent in our community and give room for more potential blackmail. Therefore, for the time being, Rick Fitzpatrick will be banned from the community for one week. Jamaal Jones will be banned from making any public appearances and participating in elections two weeks after the drop of this document. However, he can still type in the general chat and participate in calls, unrelated to role play. Once again, these people deserve respect and appreciation when they are to return to our community full-time and we will certainly be willing to give them another chance following. However, we must set precedent and prevent this from ever happening again. So, this is with deep regret we announce these actions against these particular members, once again in hopes to curb a potential repeat.
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**You can read the full report here: File:April 12, 2021 - DES Report (1).pdf**

In the aftermath of this report, the Jones campaign deleted all communications channels and suspended their campaign. This was 6 days until the primary, so a lot was left to happen.

## Candidates

#### **Democratic Party Primary**

. Edwin J. House (Lost Primary)

. Rick Fitzpatrick (Withdrew)

. Jamaal Jones (Suspended)

. Charlie Williams (Exploratory Committee)

. Mason H. Windsor (Withdrew)

.Elliot Ellsworth (Withdrew)

#### **Independent/Other**

. Harry Bennett

. Fred "Freddy" Fazbear (Withdrew)

## Campaigning

The campaign kicked-off with Charlie Williams, Senator of Cambridge announcing an exploratory committee for President on April 04, 2021.

Following this, political out-sider, Mason Windsor announced that he was seeking the Democratic nomination for President on April 06, 2021. The proceeding day, Rick Fitzpatrick announced his exploratory committee.

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