Elections - Rules & schedule

In my Region 12 there is an election taking place on 1st day of Spring every 5th year. The election decides who the 5 councilors will be for the coming 5 years.

This is where the 5 Councilors work minimum 2 days every week.

Feel free to copy some of this if you want to try something similar. Also find several articles on the
Year 220 election on this blog and on my Youtube channel - tagged "How I Play".


The election runs like this:


Step 1: Hood Contacts - Candidates (signing up)

Deadline for signing up is 1st day of Spring 1 year before the actual election takes place. In a row of 5 Election Days, Nomination Day is the 4th, and the election is the 5th.  On the 3 remaining Election Days the Council will arrange various events like speeches, debates and meet & greet.

To run for Hood Contact a sim must be Young adult or Adult on Nomination Day, and must reside in the hood.

No specific skill or quality is required on Nomination Day, but come Election Day only those with a score of minimum 10 will run.

Each hood has 1 Hood Contact, who is the spokes sim towards both the district's (world) Councilor and to the regional Council. If all residents in the hood are happy, there's not really much a Hood Contact needs to do. It's not even like a part time job, and it is poorly paid, too. If the Council asks assistance from the Hood Contacts, it's quite small tasks. It's not required to run an election for this, although most hoods does, especially if more than 1 sim want's the position.

My Hood Contacts earn §500 per year.

List of Hood Contact candidates is normally made public 6 months after Nomination Day (1st day of Fall).


Step 2: Hood Contacts - the score

Score is set on Election Day at noon. The following factors count:

* Previously experience as a Hood Contact? If yes: 1 points
* Previously experience as a Councilor? If yes: 2 points

* Politician career currently? If yes: Per year (max 3) 1 point
* Business career currently? If yes: Per year (max 3) 1 point

* Sum top-3 skills. Can give anything from 3 to 30 points.
* Logic skills: Number of skill points gives 0 to 10 points.
* Charisma skills: Number of skill points gives 0 to 10 points.

Note that score in later steps will build on the previous score.

Winning candidate becomes the Hood Contact for the coming 5 years.
The runner up will step in if needed (if stepping in they will share the pay).

The new Hood Contacts are announced on Election Day at 1 PM.


Step 3: Councilor - Nominees

The goal of the election is that each district finds their Councilor to the regional Council for the coming 5 years period. Basically any Hood Contact  can become the district's Councilor, but to become a Councilor it normally takes both skills, financial status and popularity.

The top 2 Hood Contacts from each district now proceed as Nominees for the Councilor position.

While the Hood Contact score is based on experience and skills, the Councilor score will be more based on community and popularity. A secret committee will double check that all Nominees qualifies before the announcement is made (a sim who has a criminal past, or has a bad reputation might still function as a Hood Contact, but not as the district's Councilor).

The 10 Nominees are announced on Election Day at 4 PM.


Step 4: The Councilor

Each of my 5 districts now has two candidates for their Councilor, which gives a total of 10 possible sims.

Being a Councilor is paid and requires that the sim works at the Council House at Magnolia Promenade minimum 2 days every week. It can be combined with a regular job, especially as a self-employed or freelancer.

Council score builds on the Hood Contact score.

Social status: Lower class = 1 point. Middle class = 2 points. Upper class = 3 points.

(This is based on a system I use manually, is not in the game. Social status indicates financial muscles and community network, and will benefit those in higher segments.)

Success factor: Unsuccessful: 1 point. Medium success: 2 points. Very successful: 3 points.

(This is based on a system I use manually, is not in the game. Idea is simply that an unsuccessful person is less likely to do well with voters.)

Fame: 1 point for every star (max 3 points). This gives from 0 to 3 points.

Reputation: Neutral reputation = 0 points. Then it's possible to get up to 4 negative, and up to 4 positive. This gives from -4 to 4 points.

Number of times felt Confident (max 100)/10. Simology statistics. This gives from 0 to 10 points.

All points are awarded with 1 rounded decimal.

The sum gives the final score, and Nominee with highest score becomes the district's Councilor.
The runner up will step in if needed (if stepping in they will share the pay).

My Councilors earn §1000 per year (in addition to §500 for being Hood Contact).

Councilors are announced on Election Day at 7 PM.


Step 5: The Mayor

My Region 12 currently counts 5 districts (residential worlds), so there should now be 5 Councilors to form, the new Council.

The Councilors rank by Council score, and to get the final score, one more factor is added:

Followers on social media on Election Day (noon): number followers (max 1000)/100. This gives from 0 to 10 points.

The Councilor with top score is offered the Mayor position first. If offer is turned down (not all want the top position), the next is given the offer. If no Councilor accepts, the highest scoring must take on the Mayor post.

The Mayor selects 1 of the 5 departments (normally the Major goes with Law & Justice, which has higher prestige) and will then pick Departments (Trades & Taxes, Culture & Entertainment, Health & Welfare, Science & Education) for each of the other 4 Councilors. The others can of course be asked what they prefer to work with, but in the end the Mayor has the last word.

My Mayor earns §2.000 per year (in addition to §1000 for being Councilor, and §500 for being Hood Contact).

The Mayor is announced on Election Day at 10 PM. What departments each Councilor got, is not announced until a few days later.