USG will be undergoing some major structural changes when we return from the break.

It has not escaped our notice that we have experienced a drop in activity levels recently. Although this is not a critical shortage, and the game could still function unchanged at its current size, we have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interests of the game and the players to contract the number of elected offices. At the start of this reset, we contracted from the size of the previous reset because it was unsustainable. That is not the issue here; again, we believe that USGS is sustainable at its current size. The issue here is the growing lack of competition, and the "brain drain" the size of the Senate has placed on the House. Therefore, this contraction will be significant. It is designed not merely to bring the size of the Senate and Governorships back in line with the size of the player base, but to significantly increase competition between the most skilled players for the now much fewer elected offices and to increase the quality of play in the House by ensuring that some of the best players will be in the House.

Further, we believe that having fewer regions allows for the staff to provide more coverage, more activity, and more focus for the regions that remain, resulting in a better game.

We will be answering questions in the Help Desk about all the matters discussed in this announcement. Please look for related threads there if you need clarification.

Contraction

After the Christmas break, there will be a brief period to tie up any loose ends that may remain. We will then run four simultaneous conventions to merge our eight superregions into four megaregions.

Northwest and Southwest will become the West.
Midwest and Heartlands will become the Midwest.
Gulf Coast and Appalachia will become the South.
Mid-Atlantic and Northeast will become the North.

Each former superregion will now become a senate constituency, with two Senators elected at-large. The former regions no longer have any significance in the game. Essentially, the former superregion will function as a region does now, and the new megaregions will function as the current superregions do now.

Of course, by merging regions, we're going to have several issues crop up with succession, current office holders, and Constitutions. That's why we're holding merger conventions for each megaregion during the month of January. One admin will manage each convention, in a sort of chair-like role. These managers will coincide with the post-merger admins of each region. The admins are:

West - Hayes
South - Liberio
North - Ballentine
Midwest - Parker

You may take part in whatever region's convention you currently have your primary character in. As a group, the characters of each megaregion must decide upon a variety of issues, including: Who will be the new governor? How are your four Senators allotted? Which, if any, of the current officeholders stay? Which Constitution will your new megaregion use? Will it be from one region or the other, or a piecemeal combination of both? Whose laws will the megaregion use?

This means the Senate will now only have 16 members, and there will only be 4 Governors. The new Senate classes have been designed so that, among sitting Senators, no matter who is chosen, no one will have an extended term in office (e.g. if your character was up in the 2020 election, you will remain up in that election, regardless of what Senate class you are placed in by the conventions). Two of the Governor will be chosen by the conventions, two others will be up in 2020 and will not be chosen by the convention. The specifics of which seats are up when, who is eligible for them, and so forth, will be released with the convention's kick off.

Once the conventions end and the game we will immediately begin the 2020 elections. Presidential primaries will start while the conventions are on-going.

Other Changes

USG will also be undergoing some other changes. As you have recently seen, the international scenarios, elections and minigames have been shut down. This is part of an effort to concentrate on the "core" game. Other nuances that distract from the "core" game will be eliminated for the time being. These are aspects of the game that have not worked out quite as well as we would have hoped, or have been more work than reward in terms of what they have provided to the game. Some of them may re-appear in some form in the future.

-PACs are closed down. There will be no PACs in the 2020 election.
-Gestalt and tech sliders have been removed.

To compensate for the lack of PACs, personal fundraising has been boosted significantly from the current multipliers. If your fundraisers for 2020 have already been graded at existing levels, ask your admin to re-grade them (this will not apply to advance fundraisers posted before 2018 elections, however). How much money you raise will, for the time being, depend primarily on your ability to write good fundraisers. However, party funds remain. Look to the 2020 election announcements later for how much money we will be distributing to each party.

Admin Responsibilities

The realignment has led to a change in staff assignments. The following is the current list:

Head Admin: Steele

Presidential Elections: Steele
Media: Summy, but everyone else as necessary
Cabinet: Summy, Porthos

Regions:
West - Hayes
South - Liberio
North - Ballentine
Midwest - Parker

Senate: Hayes
House: Red
Judiciary: Summy

Discipline: Steele, Liberio, others at their discretion.

Extended LOA: Magruder, Lane
Advisory Admins: Campbell, Stephenson, Cargill

Schedule

The following is the most recent schedule for once the game returns, accounting for the restructuring discussed above.

12/21-1/2 - Break
1/3 - USG resumes
1/3-1/8 - Finish all remaining business
1/8 - Last day to file to run for President in FEC; close of Congressional session
1/9-1/23 - Megaregional conventions
1/9 - Platforms and budgets due for Presidential race; megaregional conventions begin
1/11 - Final day for Presidential fundraisers
1/12 - Break for Presidential candidates
1/13 - Pre-campaigning day 1;
1/14 - Pre-campaigning day 2
1/15 - Pre-campaigning day 3
1/16 - Break for Presidential campaigning
1/17 - Iowa caucuses
1/18 - New Hampshire primary
1/19 - South Carolina primary
1/20-1/21 - Super Tuesday
1/22 - Break
1/23 - Late Southern Primaries (if necessary); Megaregion conventions end
1/24 - Late Northern Primaries (if necessary)
1/25 - Late Western Primaries (if necessary)
1/26 - Conventions, Day 1
1/27 - Conventions, Day 2
1/28 - Conventions, Day 3
1/29 - Presidential platforms and budgets due, final FEC deadline for local elections
1/30 - Presidential pre-polls; Platforms and budgets due for primaries
1/31 - Presidential, Day 1; Primaries for local races held
2/1 - Presidential, Day 2; Primary results released
2/2 - Presidential, Day 3; Platforms and budgets for local races due
2/3 - Break for all candidates; Presidential polls and local election pre-polls released.
2/4 - Presidential Day 4; Local Day 1
2/5 - Presidential Day 5; Local Day 2
2/6 - Break for all candidates; Presidential and local halfpolls released
2/7 - Presidential Day 6; Local Day 3
2/8 - Presidential Day 7; Local Day 4; Final DROP DEAD DEADLINE AT 23:59
2/9-2/10 - Election results finalized, transition
2/11 - Game returns to normal

The Senate classes list, so you can start to position yourselves. The stipulations below outline the currently siting Senators, and which among them will force special elections in 2020 or 2022 to prevent undue extentions of current terms. However, as noted, non-siting Senators may be selected by the conventions. This will put the seat into a special election in 2020. I hope you all realize which Senators you chose are tactical decisions, and prompting a 2020 special election is not a bad thing as it can circumvent the convention's decision and put the question to the voters.


Key
Class II - 2020, 2026 elections
Class I - 2022, 2028 elections
Class III - 2024, 2030 elections

North:
Northeast Senate Class II - Election in 2020. No Senator may be chosen for this seat.
Northeast Senate Class III - Eligible Senators: Santos-Carter, Payne, Kesler, Bradshaw. If Bradshaw or Kesler (original terms expired in 2020) are chosen, the seat will be in a special election in 2020.

Mid-Atlantic Senate Class I - Eligible Senators: Rockefeller, Khula, Maximiliano, Wells. If Maximiliano or Wells (appointees) are chosen for either seat, the seat will be up in a special election in 2020.
Mid-Atlantic Senate Class III - Eligible Senators: Rockefeller, Khula, Maximiliano, Wells. If Khula is chosen for the Class III seat, the seat must be in a special election in 2022 to prevent an eight year term. If Maximiliano or Wells (appointees) are chosen for either seat, the seat will be up in a special election in 2020.



South:
Gulf Coast Senate Class III - Eligible Senators: Sorenson, Sarmento, Morrison, Mabe. If Mabe or Morrison (terms expired 2020) are chosen, the seat will be up in a special election in 2020. If Sarmento is chosen, the seat will be up in a special election in 2022 to prevent a term extention.
Gulf Coast Senate Class II - Election in 2020. No Senator may be chosen for this seat.

Appalachia Senate Class I - Eligible Senators: Hood, Auriol, Everhardt, Valerian. If Auriol, Everhardt (appointees), or Valerian (term expires 2020) are chosen, the seat will be up in a special election in 2020.
Appalachia Senate Class II - Election in 2020. No Senator may be chosen for this seat.


Midwest
Great Lakes Senate Class II - Election in 2020. No Senator may be chosen for this seat.
Great Lakes Senate Class I - Eligible Senators: Winters, Porter, Lincoln, Richardson. If Lincoln or Richardson (appointees) are chosen, the seat will be up in a special election in 2020.
(Note that "Great Lakes" is the retroactive term for the OLD Midwest super-region, and comprises of the states of the old Great Lakes and Wabash regions)

Heartlands Senate Class I - Eligible Senators: Casey, Justice, Taylor, Fitzgeral. If Taylor (term expires 2020) or Fitzgerald (appointee) is chosen for either seat, that seat will be up in a special election in 2020.
Heartlands Senate Class III - Eligible Senators: Casey, Justice, Taylor, Fitzgerald. If Taylor (term expires 2020) or FItzgerald (appointee) is chosen for either seat, that seat will be up in a special election in 2020.



West:
Southwest Senate Class III - Eligible Senators: Rose, Foster, Hennessy, Jackson. If Jackson (an appointee) is chosen for either seat, the seat must be up in a special election in 2020. If Rose or Hennessy is chosen for the Class III seat, the seat will be up in a special in 2022 to prevent an eight year term.
Southwest Senate Class I - Eligible Senators: Rose, Foster, Hennessy, Jackson. If Jackson (an appointee) is chosen for either seat, the seat must be up in a special election in 2020.

Northwest Senate Class III - Eligible Senators: MacLeod, Adcock, Deveraux, Johnston. If Deveraux, Adock (term expires 2020) or Johnston (appointee) is chosen, the seat must be up in a special election in 2020.
Cascades Senate Class II - Election in 2020. No Senator may be chosen for this seat.

On incumbency:

-The 45 day rule still applies, as do all the other old incumbency rules.
-If you would have qualified under the 45-day rule, but are then booted out of your seat by the convention, you keep the incumbency bonus until the time your term would have expired.
-If you do not qualify for the incumbency bonus, you will not qualify because of anything the convention does.

How fundraising will work in the 2020 election cycle:

Firstly, Presidential Fundraising for 2020 is open for business. There is no change to Presidential fundraising from how it has previously worked.

In regards to other fundraising; I have posted 4 new FEC threads for West, Midwest, South, and North. A complete election list for 2020 will be made available immediately following the conclusion of the megaregional conventions as soon as we are able to acertain which seats the conventions have forced into special elections by their selections. These threads will be unlocked closer to that date, we may open them sooner to provide people who know they are running to file in, but they will remain closed for right now. So, if you intend to run for regional positions in 2020 -

-If you have not yet filed with the FEC: You must file in the appropriate 2020 thread and proceed as you would under normal conditions. Please see fundraising rules.

-If you filed with the FEC already: You must file again, with the new information, in the appropriate 2020 thread. Your old FEC file is invalid as the seat you filed for will no longer exist. If you have posted Fundraisers already, they remain valid. So, if you have posted, ungraded fundraisers in the old 2020 fundraising thread, post links to them in your new FEC file so your regional admin can grade them. If your fundraisers have already been graded, obviously you do not need to post links to them. However, as fundraising totals have increased, alert your admin to re-grade them at the proper levels (this increase only applies to fundraisers posted after 2018).

-If you filed with the FEC to run in 2022 or 2024, and still intend to run in those years: The old FEC threads still remain valid (link to 2022 and 2024), but you will need to update your FEC file with the correct seat information for it to count. Off-cycle fundraising rules still apply.


A fundraising schedule/deadline will be released later (likely sometime in January when we open the FEC threads). You can rest comfortably that the schedule will give everyone (including those running in special elections in 2020) time to post all 6 six fundraisers before elections begin.

Dear GovSim Players-

We hope you had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and generally good holidays.

The admin team has discussed the way our latest policy initiative has been managed, and we've come to one conclusion- we handled this badly, and we owe you an apology on that count. I'm going to break things down a little and hope we can come to a better understanding between us all.

- As a team, the admins do not feel a reset based on the merits of a reset alone, is a good thing for the game in terms of mechanics right now. We have given reasons and can continue to explain as necessary or recap the reasons. If we have not explained it well, we apologize and will try to do better.

- As a group, the player base disagrees. We understand that. Admins at times disagree among themselves sometimes, and admitting that does not break the wall of silence; it just states the obvious. Just as players disagree often disagree with each other. We strongly believe that disagreements should be good faith disagreements. Two people or groups of people can come to different conclusions and still arrive there with good intentions.

- On that count, we screwed up, but it was largely because:
-- We felt the timing was critical to move quickly on this because the previous session had gone on so long and because the break was upon us.
-- We felt there were serious problems with the game mechanics in terms of long term viability, and once we resolved that we wanted to get the fix out to you quickly.
-- We didn't want you guys to work on 2020 elections any more than you had to, thereby wasting your efforts if you weren't going to run.
-- We firmly believe that resetting at this stage and returning to 2010 would be bad for the game.
-- We, as a team, actually believe that we have the game's best intentions at heart when we say this reset should continue, and for a good long time. This is why when it is brought up we feel we have to be authoritative in our response, to avoid unintentionally distorting a reset we don't intend to end. We're sorry if this creates the impression that we're dismissive of your suggestions. This is not our intent and is simply not true.

On that last note, here's where we went wrong; we created an atmosphere in which you felt like you could not disagree with us and feel like we cared what you thought. This is not how we feel. We are well aware the game needs players to trust us, and we want you to respect and trust us. The polite, reasonable disagreement did matter. We're sorry if any of our actions created the impression that it didn't.

Now, let me sum up.

- This announcement will be in the announcements and in the Help Desk so that the communication on this can go both ways. It will not be a solely top-down announcement.

- We still do not believe that a reset is good for the game at this point. We've explained our reasons, and if they still are not satisfactory to you, we're sorry and we'll attempt to explain them again. However, we find these reasons compelling. We understand that many of you believe that the mechanics are unfair, and we're sorry about that. However, we respectfully ask you to give us a chance to make this work. We'd like to work with you on these issues.

- If, after a good faith effort on the part of everyone involved to play through the changes and continue in this reset, it becomes clear that the current reset is not working, we will reconsider whether or not to reset in good faith. Threats (both veiled and not-so-much), demands, and flat-out complaining will not be helpful and will not be considered a good faith effort. However, on our side we are always willing to hear continued feedback and we want your input.

- Because the existing framework for player-admin relations failed so spectacularly and because admins are concerned players have gotten a bad impression of how we think and how we view the players, I (Porthos/Aramis) am offering on behalf of the admin team to take point in improving player-admin relations. I have a couple of ideas. I'll be looking for your input- we need to start working together somewhere, why not here!- and will work with you to construct a better player-admin conversation. We have important limitations that are based on making the game work (again, retired admins can vouch for us here), so whatever we do must take that into account.

Thank you, and thank you for continuing to be such a crucial part of GovSim.

- The Admin Team

Please read this post thoroughly.

I have opened the FEC threads for West, Midwest, South, and North.

Seats which you may file for at this moment, and begin fundraising for now, are:

North:
Northeast Senate Class II

South:
Gulf Coast Senate Class II
Appalachia Senate Class II

Middle America:
Great Lakes Senate Class II

West:
Cascades Senate Class II


Different seats will likely be forced into special elections due to the conventions.

See above!

Just a note, not even sure why I have to say this, but anything that happened in the news happened over such an abbreviated period of time that you weren't expected to respond during that time. Anything that happens after then is fair game. If I don't start seeing reactions soon, I would personally consider that a "bad" response from the players. But you weren't expected to issue press releases over the break.

Full Election List:


West - Governor
West - Lt. Governor
Jefferson - Governor
Jefferson - Lt. Governor
Dixie - Lt. Governor - special election
North Atlantic - Lt. Governor - special election


Northeast Senate Class II
Mid-Atlantic Senate Class I - special election
Gulf Coast Senate Class II
Appalachia Senate Class I - special election
Appalachia Senate Class II
Midwest Senate Class II
Heartlands Senate Class I - special election
Southwest Senate Class I - special election
Cascades Senate Class II


2022 stipulation:
Mid-Atlantic Senate Class III - special election to prevent Khula from having an 8 year term.

Obviously, we had a few delays in the election schedule. The updated schedule is below:

12/21-1/2 - Break
1/3 - USG resumes
1/3-1/8 - Finish all remaining business
1/8 - Last day to file to run for President in FEC; close of Congressional session
1/9-1/23 - Megaregional conventions
1/9 - Platforms and budgets due for Presidential race; megaregional conventions begin
1/11 - Final day for Presidential fundraisers
1/12 - Break for Presidential candidates
1/13 - Pre-campaigning day 1;
1/14 - Pre-campaigning day 2
1/15 - Pre-campaigning day 3
1/16 - Break for Presidential campaigning
1/17 - Iowa caucuses
1/18 - New Hampshire primary
1/19 - South Carolina primary
1/20-1/21 - Super Tuesday
1/22 - Break
1/23 - Late Southern Primaries (if necessary); Megaregion conventions end
1/24 - Late Northern Primaries (if necessary)
1/25 - Late Western Primaries (if necessary)

1/30 - Conventions, Day 1
1/31 - Conventions, Day 2
2/1 - Conventions, Day 3
2/2 - Presidential platforms and budgets due, final FEC deadline for local elections
2/3 - Presidential pre-polls; Platforms and budgets due for primaries
2/4 - Presidential, Day 1; Primaries for local races held
2/5 - Presidential, Day 2; Primary results released
2/6 - Presidential, Day 3; Platforms and budgets for local races due
2/7 - Break for all candidates; Presidential polls and local election pre-polls released.
2/8 - Presidential Day 4; Local Day 1
2/9 - Presidential Day 5; Local Day 2
2/10 - Break for all candidates; Presidential and local halfpolls released
2/11 - Presidential Day 6; Local Day 3
2/12 - Presidential Day 7; Local Day 4; Final DROP DEAD DEADLINE AT 23:59
2/13-2/14 - Election results finalized, transition
2/15 - Game returns to normal

As an add-on to the above schedule, House elections will follow the same timeline as the local races.