Do you have 1 or 2 reservation numbers? Possible if same priority when preorder. conversion announced but not required. Just execute on 1 let other ride I suspect.
At this point likely come down to date of reservation and location. Have you asked Slate?
Email them tonight, likely get reply tomorrow
You're exactly right, here. There's a good deal of psychology in much of Slate's approach, and TBH I'm not put off by it. It's not terribly manipulative, just guidance to get this product to market, as favorably as possible.
If I'm totally honest, the release and the delivery of my new Slate is giving me something to really look forward to, like the thought of going on a vacation, or a long-promised reward. In my mind, it's kind of a feature, not a glitch.
I'm sure Slate has put a significant amount of research into estimating a conversion rate and will set up the windows accordingly. I would expect the delivery windows to be relatively wide (at least 90 days) and with some overlap. So if the 30-day pre-order closes with a window underfilled, it just means the deliveries in the next window will start closer to the beginning of the window. Much easier to do it that way than deal with a large amount of order shuffling.
Just wait, there should be no long wait list by then. After four years we will all find out how Slate sales are going, success or flop.
If you have a reservation, cancel it and get it refunded. My guess is that Slate will automatically cancel and refund all unused reservations once they close the pre-order process and transition to a regular first-come-first-served ordering process - might as well get your $50 back now.
