In the first part of the puzzle, solvers must identify who won the races in the Style and Verve categories, based on the given (strict) rules about which votes are counted.
The content of all the ballots are as follows:
Let's walk through this race together, to see how the voting breaks down.
STYLE
| Votes for: | Everquest | Pretty | Squarepants | Toynbee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial votes | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Everquest eliminated (ballot G); vote goes to Toynbee | X | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Squarepants eliminated (ballots D and E); both votes go to Toynbee | X | 3 | X | 5 |
VERVE
| Votes for: | Everquest | Pretty | Squarepants | Toynbee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial votes | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Everquest eliminated | X | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Toynbee eliminated (ballot I); vote goes to Pretty | X | 3 | 2 | X |
So, in this race, Toynbee wins with 5 votes, and Pretty wins with 3.
However, after we submit these two winners, it turns out there's a recount! Each of the judges have a different idea of how to count the votes. In particular, there's disagreement about how to handle the chads; the chads present in this puzzle are hanging, swinging, and tri chads. There is also a voter who made a small hole in one of the ballots, which is denoted as red in the above chart.
Doing the STV process, counting the votes for each judge and skipping the ones they do not count, results in the following wins:
| Judge | Winner (STYLE) | Votes | Letter | Winner (VERVE) | Votes | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TOYNBEE | 5 | B | PRETTY | 3 | E |
| 2 | SQUAREPANTS | 4 | A | SQUAREPANTS | 3 | U |
| 3 | PRETTY | 5 | T | TOYNBEE | 3 | Y |
| 4 | EVERQUEST | 5 | Q | SQUAREPANTS | 3 | U |
| 5 | EVERQUEST | 3 | E | EVERQUEST | 3 | E |
| 6 | TOYNBEE | 4 | N | (n/a) | (n/a) |
Indexing the number of votes after the transfer process is finished into the winner and reading in order of judges produces the answer, BEAUTY QUEEN.