Well, having skipped a round, I feel that North America at least deserves a dedicated thread. It's the least I could do. Anyway, let's look at the ties: 1. Morristown Line v MBTA Commuter 2. NEC Boston v Sherman Hill 3. LIRR Commuter v Cajon Pass 4. Sand Patch Grade v Clinchfield Railroad. The way this draw has worked out does mean there could be 1-3 Passenger or freight routes in the Quarter Finals, so that's interesting. Sand Patch (33) narrowly won the freight group, just ahead of Clinchfield (30) and Cajon (30). Morristown swept the passenger group comfortably. NEC Boston/Sherman Hill and LIRR Commuter/Cajon Pass are likely just Passenger v Freight clashes. Rules You'll get four votes, one per tie. You could double vote in a tie but you'd just cancel yourself out.
It seems the only real contest is between SPG and CRR. Pity there are two Passenger vs Freight but I guess that's how the cookie crumbles.
As TrackingTrains said it's just for separation so it's easier to see where one vote starts and the other ends.
But people can and have voted for one or more of the three dots. Why on earth would they want to do that? If you don't like the options, just do not vote!
On the first point - I know, but the reason I don't really care about that is because if the '...' isn't there then they just wouldn't vote in that particular tie so it makes no difference. I suppose it's just what some folk prefer.