I think that nominees that positively participate in the election process should be awarded a badge for their effort. I suggest the following:
- A silver badge for anyone who received [nn] amount of votes in the primary
- A gold badge for anyone who made it to the election phase, but did not win.
It just seems like the 'right thing to do (TM)' to reward people who took additional time to be of service to the community. All nominees open themselves up to be judged by their peers, especially during the nomination and primary phase.
This could also encourage people who might not have 20k+ reputation to run next year and hang in until the final election even if the primary results seemed gloomy.
Unfortunately, I can't think of a good name for either badge. Civic Minded
came to mind for the silver badge, Endurance
came to mind for the gold one.