1995 NASFiC Site Selection
Site Selection for the 1995 NASFiC was conducted by MagiCon, the 1992 Worldcon eighteen hours after the need for a 1995 NASFiC was created by the victory of UK in '95 for the 1995 Worldcon (Intersection.)
The process was exceptionally badly handled due to an unfortunate hole in the Site Selection rules combined with an error by the Site Selection Administrator. At the time, the Site Selection Rules called for a NASFiC Site Selection election to be held at the same Worldcon as the overseas Worldcon which necessitated holding a NASFiC was selected. The assumption had been that since overseas Worldcons had usually run unopposed, bidders for an overseas Worldcon and bidders for the NASFiC its victory would entail would bid simultaneously so that by the time a NASFiC election was required, the bidders would be well known.
The 1995 Worldcon Site Selection race was between UK in '95 and Atlanta in '95. Atlanta in '95 had announced that if it lost, it would not bid for a NASFiC, but many voters assumed that this was a purely tactical statement, since there was a general feeling that announcing that you would accept a NASFiC if you lost the Worldcon would encourage voters to give both bidders a victory by sending Worldcon overseas, but giving the North American bidder the NASFiC.
Around 8pm Saturday it became known that UK in '95 had won. In that contingency, it was already decided that a NASFiC Site Selection would be scheduled to be held the next day. To be on the official ballot, bids must file and the filing deadline was set for 12:30 pm (about two hours after the ratification that UK in '95 had won) with balloting starting at 2pm and closing at 10pm.
There were three NASFiC bids which announced and filed, New York NASFiC in '95, I95 in 95 and Atlanta NASFiC in '95. What many voters did not discover until too late was that the Atlanta NASFiC in '95 bid was not the defeated Atlanta in '95 group. Atlanta in '95 was a fannish group from Atlanta, while Atlanta NASFiC in '95 was primarily a Dragoncon-based group which planned to run its NASFiC as part of Dragoncon.
Consequently, Atlanta NASFiC in '95 won many votes from people who mistakenly thought they were voting for the well-regarded Atlanta in '95 group.
The second issue is that the Site Selection Administrator allowed a hoax bid with no real facilities to file and appear on the ballot. The I95 in 95 bid was a hoax bid which had been running parties for a bid purported to be planned to be held along Interstate 95, which runs north and south along the East Coast. The WSFS Constitution requires that to file bidders must, among other things, supply "adequate evidence of an agreement with its proposed site's facilities, such as a conditional contract or a letter of agreement" and the Site Selection Administrator chose to allow a fax saying that the hoax bid had some hotel rooms at the Columbia, MD, Hilton.
The votes were:
| Bidder | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta NASFiC in '95 | 152 | 172 | 184 |
| I95 in 95 | 92 | 100 | 135 |
| None of the Above | 80 | 93 | |
| New York NASFiC in '95 (Gotham) | 51 | ||
| Write-ins | 2 | ||
| Total Expressing Preference | 377 | 365 | 319 |
| Needed to Elect (Majority) | 189 | 183 | 160 |
| No Preference | 4 | 16 | 62 |
| Total Ballots Cast 381 | |||
| 1990 | Site Selection | 1999 | 1995 |
| This is page about convention bidding, the competition and its outcome. Please extend it by adding information about who was bidding, and how the race went. |
