Results are in: Winners of Madison snowplow naming contest announced

MADISON., Wis. (WMTV) – After shoveling through the many nominations and qualification rounds, the Madison Streets and Engineering Division announced the names of the winners of the Wisconsin Salt Wise snowplow naming contest Thursday.

The people have spoken, and they have chosen wisely, with the names Saltimus Prime, Snowbi Wan Kenobi, Seymour Pavement, and Dolly Plowton floating to the top.

According to the City of Madison, each of the pieces of equipment received over 3,000 votes from dedicated supporters. The Quad Axle Brine Truck beat, now known as Saltimus Prime, edged out 15 other candidates, including Barbara Salters and Sweet Carolbrine.

The name in the race for the Bike Path Plow, Snowbi Wan Kenobi, won in a landslide victory, earning over 1,000 votes with the runner up, Austin Plowers, earning an admirable 352.

The voting was set up as ranked choice system where voters select their top five picks. The top five candidates in the race for the Double Wing Plow Truck were Kung Plow Chicken, Pushy McDriftyflakes, Snowsferatu, Blizzo and the winner, Dolly Plowton.

Last but certainly not least, Seymour Pavement took home the title of naming the new Loader with Plow and Wing, narrowly advancing passed Scoopy Doo with a narrow margin of less than 15 points.

The City of Madison has launched the voting for what to name its new Loader with Double-Wing... — The City of Madison has launched the voting for what to name its new Loader with Double-Wing Plow Truck (left) and Quad-Axle Brine Truck, on Jan. 23, 2023.(City of Madison)

Quad-Axle Brine Truck	Double-Wing Plow Truck
Saltimus Prime	Dolly Plowton
Saline Away	Dual-wing Banjos
Brinestone Cowboy	Blizzo
KeaNo Freeze	Plowie Walnuts
Albert Brinestein	Pushy McDriftyflakes
Barbara Salters	Willem DePlow
Pavement Pickler	Snowsferatu
LaBrine James	Justin Timberflake
Sweet Carolbrine	Kung Plow Chicken
Haline Dugan, PhD	Winged Victory
Snowdium Clearride	Bring Da Truckus
Brine of Tarth	Drifity Do Dah
Eb-brine-eezer Scrooge	Robert Plowney, Jr
Deputy Briney Fife	Wing Crosby
Brine Cranston	A Plow Me to Introduce Myself
Master of Brine Arts

The City of Madison has launched the voting for what to name its new Loader with Plow & Wing... — The City of Madison has launched the voting for what to name its new Loader with Plow & Wing (left) and Trackless MT7 Bike Path Plow, on Jan. 23, 2023.(City of Madison)

Loader with Plow and Wing	Trackless MT7 Bike Path Plow
Seymour Pavement	Snowbi Wan Kenobi
Slyvester Snowlone	Icecycle
Scoopy Doo	Plowdy Doody
The Shovin’ Scoopful	Slush-a-bye, Baby
Flakemingo	Polar Troll
KaPlow	Aldo Leocold
Jean-Luc Plowcard	Plowaton
Mustard Sidewinder	Pennyfarthing McChuckalot
JD Plower and Associates	Spokes’man
Speed-the-Plow	Peddle Plower
Plowedly Whitford	Cycle-Ops
Brrrrt Reynolds	Clyde Shovelfield
Cindy Plowford	Claire DeWay
Fighting Bob La-PlowIt	Snow Pesci
Giannis Intent-to-Scoop-Snow	Austin Plowers

Click Here to Vote

In announcing the opening of the voting window earlier this month, the Streets and Engineering Division explained how it would work. Rather than simply picking the one that gets a plurality of votes they will keep counting until a majority of voters wins.

They started by counting all the first-place votes. If one of the names had a majority at that point, then everything was done and city workers will know what they are going to be calling their new vehicle. However, if no name hits that 50% threshold, the one in last place is dropped and the voters who picked that name will have their next choice counted instead. They will keep doing that over and over until one of the name hits the majority of votes. The city also included links to a few videos to explain further how ranked-choice voting works: