After a very close vote on Thomas Merton vs. Charles Wesley, the Supreme Executive Committee carefully reviewed all the votes. We are sorry to say that we found two instances of voter cheating, both attempting to support Merton. A voter in Springfield, Missouri, voted 21 times for Merton, while a voter in Colorado Springs, Colorado, voted 34 times for Merton. Those two users have been banned, and we have removed 55 votes from Merton. This means Charles Wesley received more legitimate votes than Thomas Merton, so Wesley is hereby declared the winner. People who cheat are hereby declared losers.
Please note, in Lent Madness, we encourage you to do whatever you can to get out the vote. Send mass emails to everyone in your diocese, rent a blimp, buy television ads, canvass your neighbors, or do something more conventional like tell your Facebook friends to vote for your candidate. But we frown on persons who vote more than once. Don't do it.
Also, please note, we are carefully watching some voters from Seattle, WA; Stow, OH; and Oregon, OH. You've been warned. Don't risk being cast into the outer darkness of Lent Madness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So, rest assured that Big Fathers are watching. Lent Madness will be decided in free and fair elections.
For now, we encourage you to vote (once only) in today's match-up between Lydia and Basil the Great.
88 comments on “Of Winners and Losers”
Ķentucky is so sad today... 🙁
I flipped a coin on this one, I like them both. The toss gave me Basil, but I won't be heartbroken if Lydia wins. (My original choice for the Golden Halo lost in the first round.)
Oops, commented on the wrong post.
I'll be curious to know if those you're "watching" in Seattle, WA, turn out to be members of my parish. Please report, if so, to the locum tenens who will consider the possibility of enacting a simulation of the fate that befell their parish's patron. BTW: Has John/Baptist/Beheaded ever made it to LM? Might be good to consider to reign in wayward Lenten parishioners!
John the Baptist was in Lent Madness 2013, where he was defeated in the first round by Lucy. He'll be in again, I assure you.
Sad that cheating took place in this race. I have enjoyed this so much as a first timer! Comments have been such fun both here and on Twitter. I wondered about that surge I saw but thought a lot of people had gotten their friends out of their caves! So glad the SEC has been on top of this! I still have faith!!
I really struggled with this one...Musical Spirituality versus Transcendent Spirituality. A very tough choice for me. Both men are to be honored!
Once or twice the system went into a loop when I voted. I wasn't sure my vote was counted and I didn't vote again. Any suggestions?
Passions have occasionally run high here, but not to the extent of voter fraud. How sad -- Merton would be so embarassed and appalled. So would Wesley.
One can't help but wonder if the people who would commit voter fraud assume others do too, and are therefore in favor of laws which only serve to suppress voting by honest people . . .
I believe there was some other voter fraud in earlier years that surrounded a contest that included a Hawaiian saint. I could be wrong about which saint. No offense intended Hawaii.
I do recall Hawaii's amazing mobilization of support for Queen Emma, not at all hurt by the fact that the way the world turns meant Hawaiians were the last ones at the polls every night so could vote 'as needed' for victory. Very strategic but not fraudulent. In fact I mostly remember how gracious Queen Emma's juggernaut of supporters were, and how many interesting and wonderful things I learned about QE and Hawaii as we on Team Magdalene struggled to mount a defense against the good-natured onslaught...
LOL Phil
Boo! Hiss!
Nothing but another conspiracy to silence Merton!
And here, I thought his silence was voluntary.
Don't think we need point fingers if we are not supreme justices! Glad to hear the issue is out there, so REPENT! Do good and all that peace and love for the Madness!
How do you determine multiple votes, by IP address? If that is the case, this could be problematic for our office which has multiple people, but only one IP address.
Or, separately registered family members sharing a computer, who incidentally, cancel eschew other's votes.
With this type of multi-voting, perhaps software that would not allow this to happen is needed.
Well, I am shocked, just shocked, that surveillance is required for two (?) voters residing in my own beloved Diocese of Ohio! Repent, while there is yet time. Jennifer (the rector of St. Paul's Church, Oregon), if you are out there, redouble your intercessions for a fair and honest tally! Drat it, I had to cross out "Thomas Merton" and write in "Charles Wesley" this afternoon; gone is our pristine Lent Madness poster.
Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater! Dishonesty among the ranks of our fun, Lenten game. Go, and sin no more.
Re: members of a family: we have one family of four in our parish that hast taken Madness to heart. They sit down as a family and read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the two contenders' credentials. Their rules are that they must be in agreement before they cast one (and only one!) vote. We love Lent Madness in northern New Jersey!
Bummer that the cheaters were on Merton's side. Doesn't say much for his fan base.
As Queen of the Luddites, we have no idea how the Big Fathers ferretted out the ballot-box stuffers, but we salute you for your ingenuity. While voting played no part in our ascension to the throne, we remain vigorously supportive of the practice in other realms, including and especially that of Lent Madness.
Well said, O my Queen!
Cheating? During Lent? Or ever? It makes me sad.
Not fair - crossed arms, stomped foot, harrumph!
Blazing Saddles - We Must Do Something! Harrumph!: http://youtu.be/JN99jshaQbY
(As fair sport as I can be under the circumstances.)
All this talk of voter fraud has reminded me of a beloved former mayor of Boston, my hometown. James Michael Curley's campaign slogan was "Vote often and early for Curley." The poor Catholics of this city adored him. I was told by my father that Curley introduced mops for the washer women at City Hall. Curley declared, "The only time that any woman should ever be on her knees is when she is praying to her God." Oh my! How times have changed!
Voting irregularities in the Episcopal Church, what a surprise!
Contact their Rector, if they truly are Episcopalians so they might enter into that little used Sacrament called Reconciliation of a Penitent. Thanks to the SEC for their continued vigilance.
Cheaters never prosper. Oh the shame!
But I LOVE Merton! Bah to dashed dreams!
I was wondering.....I had never heard of Merton.
Oh dear, and the cheating is now associated with Merton's name! I hope that this will not shadow or prevent Merton from making another appearance on LM in a few years.
Ok. Checking the Lent Madness for my work schedule. This is serious! I am convinced you have to play to understand.
Thank you for the washer women example. It's too easy to think of the washer women only being on the screen or in paintings.
I think it has something to do w Massachusetts. First there's an over-vote in their episcopal election on Saturday, and now in LM on Monday? All chads point to Fr Tim.
Well done, gentlemen, on the vote count. Lent Madness is informative and great fun. Vote rigging seems counter to your raison d'être.
Julia got my vote today. The phrase " modest self-effacing Victorian lady" did it for me. I knew some of those ladies and they were the power behind the throne. Many parishes would never have survived much less thrived without these strong willed women of ECW.