MarlonBrando's Presidential Primary 2018 ran on the forum for months
From May 2017 MarlonBrando [1337797] ran a self-declared Torn Presidential Primary in General Discussion. Candidates campaigned in the thread, vote-buying was alleged, and a rival thread followed in January 2018.
Involved: Duke [4] NPC , MarlonBrando [1337797] , Kata [1990396] , Kamster [574812] , DonWolfy [1087367] and 5 more
A presidential vote with no office behind it
MarlonBrando [1337797] opened "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" in General Discussion on 13 May 2017. The opening post said voting would continue until December 31st, 2017 12 Midnight TCT.[1][2]
The opening post said the Top 5 would move on to a general election on January 1, 2018, with a one-year term and inauguration on January 2,2018. Candidates would choose their own VP and a 12 member cabinet.[2]
By the archive's last fetch the thread had 612 replies and 5,942 views. Three hundred different players had posted in it.[1]
Candidates, platforms and a tally
The opening post listed candidates from MarlonBrando and Chedburn to write-ins such as Champion, Duke and Kata. Nominees had to be nominated and seconded, and self-nomination was allowed.[2]
MarlonBrando posted a platform headed "One Rule...No Rules!". It included no more lag, no more 500 errors, and taking out Duke permanently with all debts gone.[3]
On 14 May 2017 MarlonBrando posted a tally: Alguem (43), Chedburn and MarlonBrando (neck and neck 14), Z_Junior (10) and L4Suicide (8). They said Champion had qualified as a write-in. Participant claim[4]
Duke [4] nominated Duke on 30 May 2017 with the slogan "Make Torn Hate Again". On 02 Jun 2017 Duke promised to pull out of the human rights agreement.[5][6]
Champion [1927067] posted "Voted for the guy that gave me a gold ak". boo [1544641] wrote "I nominate Champion because he will make Torn great again." Joke[7][8]
Dislikes, vote-buying and campaign rows
The opening post drew 73 likes and 58 dislikes, and MarlonBrando's platform post drew 29 likes and 43 dislikes. Kamster [574812] speculated that JFA and JUX were deliberately downvoting MarlonBrando for no reason. Community speculation[2][3][9]
On 15 May 2017 MarlonBrando wrote elsewhere that JFA as a faction was downvoting them as a group. They named ringleaders. Allegation[10]
On 18 May 2017 MarlonBrando wrote that players were paying for, bribing, trading items, or doing favors for votes. They added "good for you, this is Torn, only one rule no rules". Allegation[11]
On 30 May 2017 Miss_Mystery [1624669] opened a thread, "Selling your votes for the Presidential Election". It said a lot of players were offering money or items for votes, and its disclaimer said they were not buying votes. Allegation[12]
On 01 Jun 2017 Kata [1990396] campaigned with a sexual slogan. DonWolfy [1087367] asked how low a candidate could go, and Kata replied that males could joke about sex and females could not, then repeated the slogan.[13][14][15]
On 07 Jun 2017 CapturerHulkmad [1904837] posted screenshots in a thread titled "duke threatened by hulk/duke begging people". They said Duke had begged players to change their votes. Allegation[16]
The end of voting and a second thread
The 8 Jun 2017 episode of a Torn newspaper show, TCN1 Ep. 9, listed "Torn Election" among its featured items. Kata linked the thread there.[17]
On 16 Jul 2017 MarlonBrando wrote elsewhere that Chedburn was leading in the 2018 results. Participant claim[18]
On 02 Jan 2018 Hcom3 [2003693] wrote "Thank god you didnt win", and AngelaMerkel [1470494] wrote that they voted Ched, one of the founding fathers of Torn. The archive shows no announced result in the documents.[19][20]
On 03 Jan 2018 Kata opened "The REAL Torn Presidential Election 2018". They said MarlonBrando never posted a poll including the write-in candidates and that most posted votes probably did not count. Participant claim[21]
Timeline
- 13 May 2017 MarlonBrando opens the Presidential Primary 2018 thread.[1][2]
- 14 May 2017 MarlonBrando posts a tally with Alguem at 43. Participant claim[4]
- 18 May 2017 MarlonBrando writes that players were paying or bribing for votes. Allegation[11]
- 30 May 2017 Duke nominates Duke; Miss_Mystery opens a vote-selling thread.[5][12]
- 1 Jun 2017 Kata's campaign slogan draws criticism from DonWolfy.[13][14]
- 7 Jun 2017 CapturerHulkmad posts allegations of Duke begging for votes. Allegation[16]
- 2 Jan 2018 Last posts in the primary thread.[19][20]
- 3 Jan 2018 Kata opens a rival election thread.[21]
Original sources 21
- Thread "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" (General Discussion) ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by Duke [4] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by Duke [4] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by Champion [1927067] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by boo [1544641] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by Kamster [574812] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "Just a warning to all of TC players" ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by Miss_Mystery [1624669] in "Selling your votes for the Presidential Election" ·
- Post by Kata [1990396] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by DonWolfy [1087367] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by Kata [1990396] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by CapturerHulkmad [1904837] in "duke threatened by hulk/duke begging people" ·
- Post by Kata [1990396] in "TCN[1] Ep. 9: Torn Pres, vulpes vs flux, dickening" ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "Torn's Presidential elections" ·
- Post by Hcom3 [2003693] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Post by AngelaMerkel [1470494] in "[Vote] Torn Presidential Primary 2018" ·
- Thread "The REAL Torn Presidential Election 2018" (General Discussion) ·
Forum sources link to TornLife's archive of the thread, shown as the players wrote it; each archived thread links on to the original on torn.com.
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Generated by TornLife from 21 sources · verified · model claude-sonnet-5
Drafted by a language model from the archived posts listed above, then checked three ways before publication: TornLife's validator (every number and citation must match the sources), deterministic statement rules (no unlabelled allegation, no real-world personal details, no claims about why anyone was federally jailed) and a separate critic and fact-checker that read each statement against its sources. It reports what players said; it is not Torn's own statement.