Office of Governor Sawx - Come One, Come All (SPECIAL ELECTION AHOY)

[cinyc]

It is very sad that you proposed and signed a bill that treats the CJO as a prosecutor.  As I told you when you proposed the bill, the CJO is NOT a prosecutor, but a judge.  

Now, you've created a crime that has to be prosecuted by the CJO.  Who is going to hear the case?  There is no impartial Northeast judge to hear it.  Are you expecting charges be filed before the Altasian Supreme Court?  They could - and should - refuse to hear a case that is solely based on Northeast law.  So your new law is unworkable.

Also, no regional government has the power to ban voting in a regional election.  Federal law is supreme when it comes to voting rights.

[cinyc]

It is very sad that you proposed and signed a bill that treats the CJO as a prosecutor.  As I told you when you proposed the bill, the CJO is NOT a prosecutor, but a judge.  

Now, you've created a crime that has to be prosecuted by the CJO.  Who is going to hear the case?  There is no impartial Northeast judge to hear it.  Are you expecting charges be filed before the Altasian Supreme Court?  They could - and should - refuse to hear a case that is solely based on Northeast law.  So your new law is unworkable.

Also, no regional government has the power to ban voting in a regional election.  Federal law is supreme when it comes to voting rights.

Yes, that seems to be an oversight that I forgot to carry over when you amended the SirNick is a Terrorist Act. Considering the rapid pace that the Assembly is going at, I have full confidence a fix will be brought up soon.

I sent proposed language to Representative Winfield for a fix.

Like I said, though, I don't think we can ban someone from voting in regional elections.  There is an old court case involving the South's attempts to put different requirements for voting in regional elections than the federal ones.  The Atlasian Supreme Court held that they couldn't do so.

Also, while it's probably not your intent, a regional court can't ban anyone from holding federal office.  The "at any level of goverment" clause at the end of the law can't mean that.

[cinyc]

Governor Sawx-

It has been mentioned in rpryor's confirmation thread that all it takes is three missed votes for a Northeast Representative to be removed from office.  That is true, under the Northeast Constitution.  But that provision has a long history, and was enacted when there was generally only one piece of legislation on the Assembly floor at a given time.   Now, there can be up to 4 pieces of legislation on the floor simultaneously, if you include the budget.

In order to stop turnover in the Assembly, it might be time to revisit the inactivity provision, increasing the number of missed consecutive votes to at least 6, to reflect this new reality.

[cinyc]

This has passed the Assembly and awaits your decision.

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IIRC, proposed constitutional amendments do not need the governor's signature.

[cinyc]

Is Mynheer Peeperkorn's invalid for failing the activity requirements, too?  I think he only had 8 posts in the 8 weeks prior to the commencement of the election on July 10 (which I think goes back to May 15).

I think we need to systematically go through all the votes to see if anyone else failed the activity requirements.

[cinyc]

After a quick look at the non-obvious voters (I doubt obvious active folks like President Bore or the Senators failed the activity requirements but didn't necessarily check), I don't think anyone else failed the activity requirements.

RG Griff - is it safe to assume that everyone else who voted in the election was registered in the Northeast?

[cinyc]

I'm going by the End to the Zombie Apocalypse Act and operating under the premise that it's 10 posts in 8 weeks.

This means that since Antineutrino's 10th post (which was on April 24th) was more than 8 weeks from the start of the election, his vote is invalid.

Check Myner Peeperkorn, too.  I don't think you can count anything posted on or after the start of the election on July 10 as part of the 10 posts.  His 10th post was on May 8, which is more than 8 weeks before July 10.

Everyone other than Antineutrino and Peeperkorn seem fine, at least on the activity front.  I asked to RG to confirm everyone who voted was properly registered in the Northeast.

[cinyc]

Assuming Regions are allowed to create election laws for Regional Senate elections (in addition to Assembly elections which the bill was originally made for), I believe the Northeast Electoral Clarity Act also applies here, meaning a win by most 2nd preferences is legit.

For a SPECIAL election, I think you are probably correct.  Article I, Section 4, Clause 4 of the Atlasian Constitution states: "Any vacancy occurring in a Class A Senate seat shall be filled according to the laws of the respective region."  So the laws of the Northeast regarding vote counting should theoretically govern.

I could see the counterargument and a lawsuit, though.  Since the CJO's office is vacant, it would probably need to be filed in the Atlasian Supreme Court.

[cinyc]

I alluded to this before, but the booth was open from 1:00 AM to 1:00 AM based on the wording of the booth (EST, not EDT). The federal elections use the same concept (EST) and that's why they close at 1 AM between March and October, and 12 AM between November and February. 84285's vote was cast within the stated window of the election. Sawx also technically attempted to close the booth before its proper closing time.

The Northeast has been holding elections from midnight to midnight EDT during the summer for years, despite what the voting booths and constitution say about using EST.   So did the feds, at least until recently.  This is something that I asked to be addressed in the proposed constitutional amendment that the Assembly just passed, but wasn't.

[cinyc]

I alluded to this before, but the booth was open from 1:00 AM to 1:00 AM based on the wording of the booth (EST, not EDT). The federal elections use the same concept (EST) and that's why they close at 1 AM between March and October, and 12 AM between November and February. 84285's vote was cast within the stated window of the election. Sawx also technically attempted to close the booth before its proper closing time.

The Northeast has been holding elections from midnight to midnight EDT during the summer for years, despite what the voting booths and constitution say about using EST.   So did the feds, at least until recently.  This is something that I asked to be addressed in the proposed constitutional amendment that the Assembly just passed, but wasn't.

I definitely recall elections in 2013 being held on the midnight to midnight schedule; how long has this conflict existed? Nevertheless, I merely evaluated what and when the voting booth stated in terms of when it was to open and when it was to close, which stated 00:59:59 AM to 00:59:59 AM EDT. You're saying the NE Constitution says that voting begins at 1:00 AM EDT/12:00 AM EST?

I was initially under the impression that other than the method of selecting a Senator, that each region had to adhere to the same election standards as federal elections. This is a special, so perhaps that complicates things. Everybody else seems to be suggesting that regional laws and precedence applies, however. In that case (and if I recall correctly), only regulations on voting that are more restrictive than the federal regulations would be considered invalid (in essence, they'd be unconstitutional and inevitably struck down by the court if they were attempted to be enforced).

This would mean that based on precedence of how/if votes are counted, Talleyrand's vote is valid (also, it could be argued from the restrictive element in this case, as someone has a 7-day window to vote in an election in a region in which they no longer live versus a 0-day window). It would also mean that Peeperkorn, Pessimistic Antineutrino and 84285's votes are all valid (because there are no regional restrictions to my knowledge on the number of posts or amount of activity a voter needs to vote in NE elections).

The time prescribed in the Northeast Constitution for holding regularly scheduled Northeast regional elections deliberately largely mirrors the Atlasian constitution.  (The new proposed amendment changes that, and I am opposed to it).  So, in theory, we should be holding regularly-scheduled Assembly elections from Midnight to Midnight Eastern Standard Time, i.e. 1AM in the summer.  I'm not aware of any specific time frame in the Northeast Constitution for holding special elections, though I'd have to look.  I also don't want to comment too much further in case I get confirmed as CJO and have to hear a case.

I will say that there was a federal case against the South which struck down activity requirements for local elections that were different than the federal standard.  What that would mean in this case is subject to debate, I suppose.