Confirmation Hearing: Ernest (Secretary of Forum Affairs)

[Q]

I call this hearing to order.  Senators, please ask your questions of the nominee, Ernest.

[WMS]

In your opinion, is it possible to enact a system that allows for a voter to correct their ballot if they make an honest mistake, yet prevents people from deliberately spoiling their ballots or otherwise making tactical vote changes to their ballot? This is not a trick question, I'm genuinely curious.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

  Senator, it certainly would be possible to amend the laws to make it clear that those who have voted in the wrong Senate race are entitled to cast a ballot in the correct race and establish consistent procedures for informing them of that fact.

  As for a more general reform, one possibility would be the addition of a capability I've seen on other message boards, but not this one.  Whether the capability is not available for SMF or Dave has chosen to not implement it, I couldn't say, but I have seen some boards that can have a poll indicate not simply the total number of votes for a particular option, but also who has chosen that option.  That have the virtue of easily allowing for a secret ballot (secret during the poll that is), except in the case of write-in votes, thereby greatly reducing the opportunity for tactical voting.
   It would have the defects of requiring a seperate thread for each race and a change from Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) to either First Past The Post (FPTP) or Approval Voting (AV), as even with a three candidate race with no write-in option, 17 different poll options would be needed (6 3-candiate lists; 6 2-candidate lists; 3 1-candidate list; 1 0-candidate list; 1 NOTA vote)  and 42 options for a 4 candidate race making IRV or any other ranked voting scheme simply not feasible if we were to make use of a hidden identified vote unless there exists a ranked hidden identified vote plug-in for SMF, which I rather doubt is the case as only election geeks such as ourselves would be likely to use it.

[Yates]

I have no questions.  I believe the nominee to be qualified, and will vote to confirm him.

[WMS]

I thank the honorable nominee for his reply. I would also like to pursue one point - again, not a trick question since I think you're very qualified for this position. Would it be possible to adapt the system so people could correct mistakes in their Presidential or Gubernatorial votes as well?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

  Possible Senator, but without a ballot that is secret until at least the votes are counted, it would lead to a worse problem with tactical voting than we have now.  However, it would be possible to eliminate the listing of only half the ticket controversy that has affected a few Presidential ballots in the past by eliminating tickets.

  There are several methods that could be employed other than a two person ticket.  The one that would give the voters the greatest flexibility in choosing candidates would be to have the President and Vice President be elected separately.  Another way of retaining an elected Vice President while doing away with a ticket would be to use the original system of the United States in which the person who came in second in the Presidential race would become Vice President.  While both these options would prevent the President from having a Vice President of his own choosing, it would make balloting simpler and thus reduce potential points of controversy.
   Other possibilities would be to have the President nominate the Vice President in the same manner as the heads of the executive departments or to even eliminate the office of Vice President altogether and have the line of succession proceed directly to the heads of the executive departments.  These would retain the ability of the President to have a successor of his choice but at the cost of limiting voter input in the choice.

[WMS]

  Possible Senator, but without a ballot that is secret until at least the votes are counted, it would lead to a worse problem with tactical voting than we have now.  However, it would be possible to eliminate the listing of only half the ticket controversy that has affected a few Presidential ballots in the past by eliminating tickets.

  There are several methods that could be employed other than a two person ticket.  The one that would give the voters the greatest flexibility in choosing candidates would be to have the President and Vice President be elected separately.  Another way of retaining an elected Vice President while doing away with a ticket would be to use the original system of the United States in which the person who came in second in the Presidential race would become Vice President.  While both these options would prevent the President from having a Vice President of his own choosing, it would make balloting simpler and thus reduce potential points of controversy.
   Other possibilities would be to have the President nominate the Vice President in the same manner as the heads of the executive departments or to even eliminate the office of Vice President altogether and have the line of succession proceed directly to the heads of the executive departments.  These would retain the ability of the President to have a successor of his choice but at the cost of limiting voter input in the choice.

I thank the esteemed candidate for his reply.

[Q]

72 hours having passed since this nomination was brought to the floor, voting on the nominee, Ernest, is hereby opened.

Senators, please vote aye, nay, or abstain.

[Peter]

Aye

[CheeseWhiz]

Aye

[Bacon King]

Aye

[MasterJedi]

Nay

[WMS]

Aye.

[Gabu]

Aye.

[The Dowager Mod]

Aye

[Q]

This nomination has garnered enough votes to pass.

[Q]

With 6 Ayes and 1 Nay, Ernest has been confirmed as Secretary of Forum Affairs.

[Bono]

Aye ftr

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I thank the Senate for its vote of confidence.

[TeePee4Prez]

Aye