Election Integrity
Last updated: 12 July 2026
DPS Politics is a fictional political simulation game. This page explains the fairness rules and technical safeguards built into its elections and campaigns — distinct from our Terms of Service (the legal contract governing your use of the service) and our Privacy Policy (how we handle your data). Nothing here concerns real-world elections.
1. Account Verification
All accounts must complete two-step email verification before participating in any votes or party activities. This is required specifically to prevent bot registration and sockpuppet accounts from influencing results.
2. One Vote, One Seat, Per Cycle
Each player may cast exactly one vote per constituency per election cycle. This is enforced at the database level, not just in the user interface, so it cannot be bypassed by resubmitting a form or by any timing coincidence — the database itself rejects a second vote from the same account for the same seat in the same cycle.
3. One Candidacy Per Cycle
A player may stand for only one seat per election cycle, also enforced at the database level. Parties are further limited to a single candidate per seat, so one party cannot crowd out competition in a single constituency, and standing for a seat requires meeting a minimum account tier.
4. Campaign Spending Caps
Campaign momentum — the advantage gained from spending on campaign actions — is capped at a fixed ceiling in both directions (currently ±25), so no single candidacy can buy a guaranteed win. Momentum and reputational damage from scandals both decay over time, so an early lead or an early setback doesn't determine the whole cycle. Momentum contributed by supporter endorsements is capped separately from self-funded momentum, so crowd support can't be used to route around the main cap.
5. Attack Ad Limits
A candidacy may launch at most 4 attack ads per election cycle, and may not receive more than 6 attack ads in total from all opponents combined in a cycle — a cap intended to prevent a single candidate being piled on by every rival at once. A cooldown period also applies between repeated attack ads from the same source against the same target.
6. Party War Chest Fairness
A party's cumulative live swing in national polling from treasury-funded campaign spends is capped (currently 2500basis points), and only a party's leader or treasurer may authorize a treasury spend.
7. Audit & Transparency
Every campaign action, attack ad, and party war chest operation is recorded in an append-only log attributed to the player who initiated it. Administrative actions taken by moderators are recorded separately in their own audit trail.
No election cycle is currently active.
8. Reporting a Concern
If you believe any of these rules have been circumvented, please get in touch via our Contact Us page or directly at support@dpsapps.co.uk.