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Voting for “Pokémon of the Year” opens on Google, to be decided this Pokémon Day

Master Blaster Feb 6, 2020
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Vote or black out.

The temperature isn’t changing all that much recently, and the leaves are about the same as before, and that can mean only one thing: Pokémon Day is just around the corner!

Every 27 February marks the anniversary of the release of the original Pokémon Red and Blue games in Japan. And every year since that day in 1996, families have gathered together around the Pokémon tree and sung Pokémon carols.

However, some feel the true spirit of Pokémon Day – to be the very best, like no one ever was – is getting lost in all the commercialism. So, the makers of Pokémon have decided to inject a healthy dose of competition into this year’s festivities with a good old-fashioned popularity contest!

The Pokémon of the Year award is granted to the most popular pocket monster of each region as chosen by popular vote. The voting process is quite simple. First, log into your Google account and search “pokemon vote” (it should work in whatever your native language is).

Then, you’ll be presented with each game’s region, in which you may vote for one Pokémon endemic to that area.

Simply look them up and click to vote.

Everyone is allowed to vote once per region per day, which means die-hard fans can help to swing the results through sheer determination.

▼ Hang in there, Shuckle! We’ll get there in the end.

You can do this until general voting closes on 14 February at midnight. From there, a series of caucuses are held in each region to determine the prime candidates. It’s important to note that the Hoenn and Unova regions alone have superdelegates which may change allegiances at any time. Then, the general election shifts to the Pokélectoral College in which proportional representation is ensured by…

Naw, I’m just kidding. They’ll probably just count it all up and will announce the winners on the official Pokémon YouTube channel at 11:00 pm (JST) on 27 February.

▼ I haven’t played Sword and Shield yet, but a wrestling octopus is always something I can get behind.

The buzz online in Japan might give hints as to the frontrunners out here so far.

“Hopefully they included Simisear.”
“Did Porygon get blacklisted again?”
“Sylveon”
“Muk is a shoe-in, right?”
“I’m torn between Rhydon, Nidoqueen, and Miltank.”
“I love Magnezone way more than Magnemite. Whenever I got one I would go to the special area to evolve it. Magnezone is so cute.”

It looks like it’s up in the air at the moment, so for the next week expect to see all the Pokémon out there promoting themselves by shouting their own names ad nauseam, while campaigners canvas the streets with their Poké-print dress shirts. It’s all the price of democracy I’m afraid.

Source: Pokemon, Hachima Kiko
Top image: YouTube/Pokemon Official YouTube Channel
Images: SoraNews24
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