CSM X Election – Recommended Voting Slates

This is the third in a series of articles on the CSM X Election. Those posts will be:

• Full Endorsements – Candidates I strongly recommend for all voters. Under 12% of the candidates earned a Full Endorsement.
• Provisional Endorsements – Candidates I recommend for specific constituencies, but not for everyone. They generally are solid, interesting experts or good candidates that are made a bit redundant by either each other or other Full Endorsement candidates. Under 16% of the candidates earned a Provisional Endorsement. So less than a third (27%) of the field earned any sort of endorsement.
• Recommended Voting Slates (this post)
• Election Predictions – My bets on who will actually be elected to CSM X
• Election Outcomes Analysis

If you haven’t already, start by checking out the Full Endorsement and Provisional Endorsement posts above. That will tell you the pool of candidates who will appear on the ballots below. Unlike many people, I am a strong believer in a 14-vote ballot. If you fill out less, you are potentially throwing away your vote. Statistically speaking, it is critical that you have at least five, and ideally seven or eight, to ensure that your vote goes to a winning candidate. Fourteen ensures it. If scripted voting is allowed I will try to come back and add links for those some time after voting opens.

I build these slates and endorse candidates the way I do so that I can present what I believe are solid, viable choices for multiple kinds of voters. I am a believer in a balanced CSM – one that includes various backgrounds and player types as well as both generalist and specialist, both newbie and bittervet. So these slates will reflect that. You will also note that the ballots tend to go in chunks – first: key wins for that playstyle, second: key wins for the CSM as a whole, third: strong mid-tier candidates that connect with the playstyle, and lastly tiebreaker plays for influential groups.

For those looking to jump straight to your own slate, here you go:

• Wormhole Voter Slate
• Highsec & Newbie Voter Slate
• Lowsec Voter Slate
• Nullsec Voter Slate (Non-Bloc)
• Nullsec Voter Slate (Bloc)

I am a wormhole voter myself, so let’s start there.

Wormhole Voter Slate

Wormhole voters have had an interesting run the last five years. Two Step got in handily as the only candidate for a while. Then for CSM 8 we successfully “stack voted” – there were five candidates that everyone was disciplined enough to vote 1-5, and we got two in (James Arget and Chitsa Jason) and almost a third. Last year, the field was diffuse, there was not unity, and we only got one (Corbexx) and almost two (Asayanami Dei, later elevated when another CSMer was kicked). So the lesson is this: Order Matters. If you live in a wormhole it is absolutely crucial to vote the top two as the top two (reverse the order at your leisure) if you want any chance to see two wormholers on the CSM. My ballot will be:

1. Corbexx – Incumbent workhorse, Wormholes
2. Ariete – Wormholes
3. Sugar Kyle – Incumbent workhorse, Low Sec
4. Steve Ronuken – Incumbent workhorse, Third-Party Dev
5. Chance Ravinne – Newbie wormhole bomber CEO, marketing breath of fresh air
6. Ashterothi – Podcaster, new wormhole CEO, lore champion
7. Bam Stroker – Coordinator of EVE Down Under, PL pilot
8. Gorski Car – Solo and small gang fitting and tactics expert
9. Mike Azariah – Incumbent disruptor of groupthink, highsec and Incursions
10. Psianh Auyvander – Noir Academy leader, Merc candidate
11. TIE – Pick your favorite
    • Jayne Fillon – Spectre Fleet founder, NPSI candidate
    • Khador Vess – RvB FC and candidate
12. Cagali Cagali – BRAVE Director, wormholers love shooting BRAVE
13. Manfred Sideous – PL Uber FC, promoter of sov balkanization
14. Endie – The Best Goon™, slayer of sacred cows

Next we’ll look at highsec, and the new player vote.

Highsec & Newbie Voter Slate

The highsec showing was generally weak this year, but the good news is that two of the top four incumbents are highsec players. There are also enough incumbent workhorses and newbie-friendly candidates this year to round out a solid ticket.

1. Steve Ronuken – Incumbent workhorse, highsec industrialist, Third-Party Dev
2. Sugar Kyle – Incumbent workhorse, famed newbie helper, Low Sec
3. Corbexx – Incumbent workhorse, Wormholes
4. Chance Ravinne – Newbie wormhole bomber CEO, marketing breath of fresh air
5. Bam Stroker – Coordinator of EVE Down Under, community champion
6. Mike Azariah – Incumbent disruptor of groupthink, highsec and Incursions
7. Cagali Cagali – Brave Newbies Director
8. Khador Vess – Red vs Blue FC
9. Ashterothi – Podcaster, new wormhole CEO, lore champion
10. Psianh Auyvander – Noir Academy leader, Mercenary trainer
11. Jayne Fillon – Spectre Fleet founder, NPSI candidate
12. June Ting – CEO of Of Sound Mind
13. Manfred Sideous – PL Uber FC, promoter of sov balkanization
14. Endie – The Best Goon™

On to Lowsec, with the strongest incumbent in the race.

Lowsec Voter Slate

If you live in lowsec, your #1 is a no-brainer. The rest of the slate is rounded out with strong incumbents, community candidates and lots of pew-pew.

1. Sugar Kyle – Incumbent workhorse, Low Sec
2. Corbexx – Incumbent workhorse, Wormholes
3. Steve Ronuken – Incumbent workhorse, Third-Party Dev
4. Ashterothi – Podcaster, former Faction War Director (Aideron), lore champion
5. Bam Stroker – Coordinator of EVE Down Under, PL pilot
6. Gorski Car – Solo and small gang fitting and tactics expert
7. Jayne Fillon – Spectre Fleet founder, NPSI candidate
8. Chance Ravinne – Newbie bomber CEO, marketing breath of fresh air
9. Psianh Auyvander – Noir Academy leader, Merc candidate
10. Mike Azariah – Incumbent disruptor of groupthink, highsec and Incursions
11. Khador Vess – RvB FC and candidate
12. Cagali Cagali – BRAVE Director
13. Manfred Sideous – PL Uber FC, promoter of sov balkanization
14. Endie – The Best Goon™, slayer of sacred cows

Next: a nullsec slate for distinguished independent voters.

Nullsec Voter Slate (NPC and Independent)

Maybe we’ll call this first one the NPC Null vote – a vote for those with no bloc overlords to kowtow to, strong independent entities. Also the N3 slate since their bloc candidates were either poor or very late to the table. You will note a whiff of politics in this slate – specifically I have intentionally raised lower-ranked bloc picks like Bam Stroker higher in order to give them some potential chance to rise higher than their top-of-bloc counterparts. That is also why, despite giving them a Provisional Endorsement, you don’t see ballot-toppers like Sion Kumitomo or Corebloodbrothers anywhere in this list – they will handily win election without anyone outside their bloc.

1. Bam Stroker – Coordinator of EVE Down Under, PL pilot
2. Manfred Sideous – PL Uber FC, promoter of sov balkanization
3. Cagali Cagali – BRAVE Director
4. Endie – The Best Goon™, slayer of sacred cows
5. Sugar Kyle – Incumbent workhorse, Low Sec
6. Corbexx – Incumbent workhorse, Wormholes
7. Steve Ronuken – Incumbent workhorse, Third-Party Dev
8. Gorski Car – Solo and small gang fitting and tactics expert
9. June Ting – CEO of Of Sound Mind
10. DomanarK – Black Legion candidate
11. Jayne Fillon – Spectre Fleet founder, NPSI candidate
12. Chance Ravinne – Newbie bomber CEO, marketing breath of fresh air
13. Ashterothi – Podcaster, former Faction War Director, WH CEO, lore champion
14. Mike Azariah – Incumbent disruptor of groupthink, anarchist

And finally, yes, I am actually going to try to (partially) contradict the pre-built bloc slates with some good advice.

Nullsec Voter Slates (Bloc)

So this section will be a bit different than those above. Of course my recommendation is that you vote the slate above even if you are in a bloc. But let’s say you want to at least do your bloc duty for the frontrunners. Then give your overlords their top three, and make your own decisions after that. The top three are the primary indicators anyhow and no bloc I’m aware of has ever seated more than three.

Note #1: For N3 the candidates were weak enough, and for Provibloc singular enough that I’m just going to suggest that you insert their top candidate (Gorga for N3, Corebloodbrothers for Provi) at #1 in the above ballot and drop out DomanarK or Jayne from the end and have done.

Note #2: For the Bloc Candidate section anyone with an asterisk (*) is NOT a recommended candidate by me but I expect the bloc leader to declare them one. You are encouraged to buck your leadership in these cases.

For the other blocs…

1. Bloc Candidate #1
   • CFC: Sion Kumitomo – Transparency and metagame
   • HERO: Cagali Cagali – BRAVE
   • PL: Manfred Sidious – PL FC
2. Bloc Candidate #2
   • CFC: Endie – Goon Intel and
   • HERO: June Ting
   • PL: Bam Stroker
3. Bloc Candidate #3
   • CFC: Thoric Frosthammer* – LAWN – I recommend other null candidates instead
   • HERO: Migui X’hyrrn – TEST
   • PL: Xander Phoena – PL / Crossing Zebras
4. Sugar Kyle – Incumbent workhorse, Low Sec
5. Corbexx – Incumbent workhorse, Wormholes
6. Steve Ronuken – Incumbent workhorse, Third-Party Dev
7. Nullsec Cross-Ballot Choice #1 – Pick one you didn’t pick for 1-3:
   • Bam Stroker (Pandemic Legion)
   • Manfred Sidious (Pandemic Legion)
   • Cagali Cagali (BRAVE)
   • Endie (Goonswarm)
   • Corebloodbrothers (Providence)
   • Sion Kumitomo (Goonswarm)
   • June Ting (SOUND)
   • Xander Phoena (Pandemic Legion)
   • DomanarK (Black Legion)
   • Migui X’hyrrn (TEST)
8. Nullsec Cross-Ballot Choice #2 – Pick another from that list
9. Nullsec Cross-Ballot Choice #3 – Pick another from that list
10. Gorski Car – Solo and small gang fitting and tactics expert
11. Chance Ravinne – Newbie bomber CEO, marketing breath of fresh air
12. Psianh Auyvander – Noir Academy leader, Merc candidate
13. Ashterothi – Podcaster, former Faction War Director, WH CEO, lore champion
14. Mike Azariah – Incumbent disruptor of groupthink, anarchist

Go Vote!

So that’s all of them. Remember to order is important. But most of all remember that voting is important. Otherwise you get the CSM you deserve. I’ll be back after the polls close with predictions.