I'm at work (tea break) so have not had time to read the whole thread hence I apologise in advance if these points have been made:
1. Demographics come into this as the people with an affinity for badge A or B are now very much in the minority given a lot of them are in the Holgate in the sky. However the 1986 badge will have most people at an age that have an affinity to it. It will therefore get the bigger share of the vote as badge's A & B mean nothing to them. As the current badge is very poor it stands to reason that the 1986 badge will be the most popular given the reasons stated.
2. Why not have a badge with "ERIMUS" on it? This would be option E but it is our town motto and adding the Transporter in the middle of the ships above a red lion would cover most things.
Here is the picture of our Shield of Arms from the Town Hall
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