Originally Posted by nsx
The 3rd place for elite could have been a protest vote against devaluation of legacy elite programs (fewer upgrades, for one thing). I can't think of another good explanation for the result.
That someone was trying to "fix" the vote, or (charitably) at least encourage individuals to vote mindlessly on WN's behalf?
I obviously don't know, but it seems more likely than "protest voting" -- especially when folks had more reason to "protest" against WN than anyone else this year!