A Strange Election Grand Tour

The Local GT Option

The Nuts and Bolts Explanation:

The local option allows you to complete this grand tour in any one or more of the 48 contiguous states. Unlike the Long Distance version the A Strange Election GT, Alaska and Hawaii are not part of the local option.

You will be provided with a red and blue GT flag. You will take these GT Flags to as many counties (or county equivalents) within a state as you like. When you arrive in a county (or county equivalent), you will take a photo of your red and/or blue flag, along with your motorcycle at the county line sign, county welcome sign or county courthouse.

You will display the red flag in a photo if you think a Republican candidate will win the county (or county equivalent) in the 2016 Presidential Election. You will display the blue flag if you think a Democratic candidate will win the county (or county equivalent) in the 2016 Presidential Election. If you think an independent candidate or a candidate from a third party will win the county (or county equivalent) you will display both the red and blue flag in a single photo. Got it? Use the red flag for a Republican win, the blue flag for a Democratic win and use both flags for an independent or third party candidate to win the County (or County Equivalent).

Point scoring is based upon the percentage of counties (or county equivalents) correctly predicted in the presidential election for any given state.

For example, if you correctly predict 100 of Georgia’s 159 counties your score will be 63%. The rider with the highest percentage of counties (or county equivalents) correctly predicted wins the state but there are several finishing levels.

 

Governor The rider with the highest percentage of correctly predicted counties in any chosen state.
Lieutenant Governor The rider with the second highest percentage of correctly guessed counties in any chosen state.
State Senator Any rider who correctly predicts at least 75% of the counties (or county equivalents) within any chosen state.
State Representative Any rider who correctly predicts at least 50% but less than 75% of the counties (or county equivalents) in any chosen state.
Professional Staffer Any rider who has documented stops in at least 50% of the counties (or county equivalents) within a state regardless of the accuracy of their predictions.

 

Photo Rule Rundown:

  1. Motorcycle (check)

  2. County line sign, county welcome sign or county courthouse. (check)

  3. Red and/or Blue flag based upon the party that you think will receive the most votes in the county (or county equivalent) in the Presidential Election (check)

  4. If you cannot get your flag, motorcycle and county limit/welcome sign/county courthouse, in a single photo, you may add up two additional photos for clarity and validation. Oftentimes this means including close up photos of signage and distance photos of the motorcycle and flag.

  5. You can submit up to three photos for each stop if needed. If one photo will work, then just send one photo. Please do not send extra photos. You will confuse the judges and slow scoring.

  6. County Courthouses are easily identified. Don’t worry about having an identifying signage in the photo. Just tell us which county it is from and we will verify the photo.

  7. Be safe. If a stop puts you at risk, move on. For example, you do not need to stop on a busy freeway to get a county line/welcome sign. You can move on to a county courthouse or make the stop when there is less traffic. Safety first. There will always be another GT. There will never be another you.

  8. Our judges are simple folks who only score what they see. Grainy, hazy, and incomplete photo documentation can harm your score. Check your photos for awesomeness on location whenever you can.

Completing the Local GT:

  1. To finish the local version of this GT you must meet or exceed the requirements to be a Professional Staffer in one or more states.

  2. Your submission must include a list of your stops and corresponding photos. The list can be in an e-mail, Excel, Word, PDF, it does not matter. Just provide us a simple list of the names of the counties or county equivalents for which you are submitting photos.

  3. If you complete more than one state, please provide a separate stop list for each state and its associated counties as well as a separate photo submission for each state.

  4. We prefer all photos be submitted electronically/digitally. However, print photos, pen drives and camera cards are accepted. Please contact teamstrange@live.com for details if you want to submit photos manually.

  5. All photos (or links to digital photo albums) must be submitted to teamstrange@live.com or postmarked on or before September 30, 2016.

  6. The top finisher in each state will be declared governor of that state and will be entered into a special prize pool for governors. The rider who correctly predicts the most counties nationwide will receive a plaque to commemorate their dedication to localness.

  7. All finishers will receive a finisher’s pin or something similar, as a memento. There is a limit of one memento per rider regardless of how many states are completed in the local option. Finishers will also receive a single entry into a prize pool for each county they correctly predict, without limitation, in the Local GT. There are separate prize pools for the local and long distance versions of this GT. Prizewinners will be drawn at random.

Riffs, Notes, and Clarification:

  1. This local version of the GT is a lot harder than it sounds. Plan carefully.

  2. DC is not a county for this Local Grand Tour and Alaska and Hawaii are excluded in total.

  3. Remember to stay organized if you are completing more than one state. We will not be able to sort through disorganized photos from several states for you.

  4. Be mindful of counties and county equivalents. Parishes in Louisiana count as counties. In addition, you must also be aware that Virginia, Maryland, Missouri and Nevada have independent cities that count as counties. Maryland has Baltimore, Missouri has St. Louis, Nevada has Carson City and Virginia has about 38 independent cities that count as counties for this grand tour.
    We say “about 38” for Virginia because this number can change. It is up to you to figure out the counties and county equivalents.

  5. Let us dwell for a moment on this idea of county equivalents with an example.
    Maryland has Baltimore County and Baltimore City as counties or county equivalents in the 2016 Presidential Election. Baltimore County and Baltimore City are therefore separate recordable stops for this GT.
    You cannot claim both with a single stop or a single set of photos. You need to get photos from Baltimore County an Baltimore City.

  6. For a list of county and county equivalents, you can Google, “2012 Presidential Election by County” and you will find some helpful maps and websites. We liked this one:
    http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/results/president

    1. You can also consult a state’s board of elections or check the census. We used this link for our research:
      https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/codes/cou.html

  7. What if there is a tie between two or more riders in a single state? No worries, we have a plan for that and will be asking each finishing rider to make a final prediction after the submission deadline as a tiebreaker.

  8. Decisions by our judges are final.

  9. We know that in some states County Courthouses are called the Hall of Records, or County Administrative Building or something similar. We also know that some Courthouses such as the Massachusetts Clinton District Court is actually called Clinton Court by the locals. It is all the same thing and they all count.

 

Questions? Ask teamstrange@live.com

No Questions? Sign Up on Ridemaster.

Back to TeamStrange