The Election of 1923 | One-Shots Open 17+

MINISTRY OF MAGIC GENERAL ELECTION

THE POLLS ARE OPEN

JANUARY 1923

Across magical Britain, witches and wizards now cast their votes for the future of the Ministry.

Every ballot marks a choice between competing visions of progress, protection, reform, and power.

Let history remember where each voice stood.

JAMES A. LAURENCE

LAURENCE & CAMPBELL

✦ VERSUS ✦

Gerald Q. Nunn

Nunn & Maroney

ONE VOTE. ONE FUTURE. ONE MAGICAL BRITAIN.

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OOC: Welcome to the Election of 1923! This thread is open to all characters age 17+ (or any younger characters that have sneaky ways of getting around this loophole).

Please vote for your character's selection using the poll, and feel free to submit a one-shot post (if you'd like, not required to vote!) below with your character's thoughts/feelings/anticipations, etc.

You may vote once for each eligible character you have! Remember to vote only as your character would, as this is all considered IC.

Adulthood, Gideon had learned, was a collection of decisions made daily that would shape the course of your life. Some insignificant, some irritating, many inconsequential.

Aligning himself with James Laurence had been both the easiest and most difficult choice Gideon had ever made.

Difficult because Gideon was not naïve. Loyalty, political or personal, always came at a price. Signing himself to James Laurence had never been a temporary arrangement. It meant obligation. Favors called in. Expectations. Lending support to a man he did not always agree with and honestly, would likely prefer to argue with.

Still, when the offer had come, Gideon accepted. The alternative had been unimaginable.

Protecting his family, preserving his name, making sure his innocence remained unquestioned, staying out of Azkaban long enough to build the life he wanted with Roisin, Fiona, and the children they wanted in the future.

Had he regretted it? Not particularly.

Thankfully, everything required of him thus far, hadn’t tested his morals. Merrow had deserved prison. Gideon had believed that before the verdict and continued believing it now. The former Minister had been ineffective at best and dangerous at worst.

Which left today. Voting for a new minister.

Truthfully, Gideon wasn’t interested in politics. Ministers were not faultless. Most were disappointments waiting for enough authority to become expensive problems. Still, choices had to be made, and James Laurence remained the most sensible one.

Or at least the lesser of two evils.

Arriving with Roisin to cast their votes proved uneventful. No dramatic revelations. No moral crisis. Gideon collected his ballot, wrote Laurence/Campbell in his neat handwriting, and slid it into the box without issue.

Done.

Reaching for the hand of his pregnant wife, Gideon kissed her temple and smiled at the way she rubbed her growing bump.

He had a life to get back to. One that without James Laurence, may have never happened.

It stood without question who she was expected to vote for. Who all of them were expected to vote for.

Nunn had nothing to offer for families like hers, nothing that stirred even an ounce of interest. In fact, he was the opposite of what they wanted, what the Zdravkovas had been hoping for and banking on when they'd returned to Britain. This was the gamble they'd taken, the change to normalcy and common sense they had waited for and that many voices had whispered of, even before their move.

It was what they needed.

And Laurence? He had the right ideas.

He was one of them.

The Campbell woman on the other hand, well, that was a different story. One that had sparked more discussions and irritated outbursts than she could count, always ending with the same clueless headshakes and mutterings. A halfblood, a woman — reasons enough. In the end, it remained the better choice and thus the matter was settled.

To Liliya, it was almost a little bit funny. The fact she would have voted differently, had she never been reunited with her lost family, had she remained alone, bloodstatus unknown. Just an orphan with no background and no money.

Nunn would have sounded much more appealing then.

But that wasn’t how it was. Fair wages and improving healthcare access weren’t of interest to her. Weren’t supposed to be. Maybe she cared, somewhere deep down. But what did it matter? Everything about her life was different and had been for years. There were expectations now and regardless of how anonymous this vote might be for everyone else, it wouldn’t be for her.

Everything she did was observable, right in her own head, by her own aunt.

Liliya knew this well enough. Nadežda might not check on her every move every day of her life but should she ever have a reason to look for flaws, this wouldn’t be one she’d find.

Making her choice without hesitance, Liliya marked the names Laurence/Campbell, and cast her vote.