Classic Car Show Power Voting

Classic Car Show Power Voting

by: Ray Taylor

I received a call from a very nice lady after our last event. She was concerned and confused. She was concerned with the number of trophies won by Clubs. She was also confused as to how club members seemed to win a majority of the trophies. I then explained Power Voting to her. Here's what I said.

Power Voting is when all the group/club members vote for all the other club members in the show. This almost guarantees the club will have lots of winners. The reason that this small group of 10 to 30 club members can sway the results is the same reason we end up with lousy politicians Apathy!

Not voting puts the results in the hands of a few rather than the many. Power Voting would be ineffective at Car Shows if a majority of the attendees would take the time to check out the cars and vote for their favorites. If the General Public would just do that, then Power Voting would be of little consequence. But if the General Public doesn't want to be bothered with voting, then Power Voting can absolutely affect the outcome of the trophies awarded.

I know some of you are thinking, "Why not have trophy classes? Won't that help?" We tried having trophy classes for years. It just didn't work and was really unfair to some. One time we would have dozens of cars in the Street Rod Class, then the next time only a few. This was true for almost every show where we had classes. One class would be overloaded and another under represented. Then when we changed things, the problem still existed only in different classes. We felt like a dog chasing its tail trying to keep the classes balanced. It just didn't work. So now we do a People's Choice Award system: if the people like your ride AND they vote for it, you win! The best ideas are always the simplest: get the most votes, and you get Best of Show. This has resulted in the usual outcome, like the Low Rider Bike winning Best of Show in January. The people loved his bike, and he got the most votes so he Won! It's that simple.

For our part, we will continue to ask people to take a ballot and vote for their top 10 favorite vehicles. If they don't, then groups/clubs will control the outcome of the People's Choice Awards at any Car Show. Please do your part, come out on Monday, Memorial Day, May 28 to the next San Diego Car & Cycle Show & Swap at the Q and VOTE!.

See Ya There!

Ray Taylor

Owner of the San Diego Classic Car & Cycle-Show & Swap

and Classic Cars Net Free Classifieds