In spite of Grice's efforts the vote was held as planned, and to the surprise of everyone except Dredd, the Democrats actually lost. Democratic government had not existed for over forty years, and most citizens could not remember it. Most did not even bother to vote at all, and of those who did, the majority decided to retain the "status quo". A two-million-strong mass of democrats marched on the Grand Hall, believing this to be a fix, but Dredd was able to both convince Blondel Dupre that the result was accurate and break her will in front of the others, pressuring her to state in public "you are the law." Discredited and disheartened, mainstream support for democracy faded away.