TCT Mock Election: And the Winner Is...

WASHINGTON, DC—In the final lead-up to the US election, Washington, DC, has come down with a severe case of election fever. To get in the spirit during TCT 2016, the TCTMD editorial team staged a mock presidential election over the first 4 days of the meeting.

Ballot boxes were distributed to various locations around the convention center, and attendees were provided with a ballot when they picked up their badge, with extra ballots at the impromptu polling stations. Convention-goers were urged to vote just once, but voting was open to everybody—whether they are US citizens or not.

Votes were counted at 4:30 PM on Tuesday, and Hillary Clinton was declared the (totally unofficial) president, with 64% of the votes, at the Jon Meacham event later that night. Donald Trump garnered 30% of the votes, Gary Johnson 2%, and Jill Stein 1%. More than one-quarter of voters declared themselves to be non-US citizens: 23% of Trump voters were non-US citizens as compared with 39% of the voters who chose Clinton.

A full 2% of voters spoiled their ballots—many added an additional check-box for their candidate of choice. Barack Obama, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and TCT Course Director Martin Leon, MD, each got 1 vote.

Voter turnout, however, was dismal. Just 3% of TCT 2016 attendees participated in the mock election.