Talk Elections

Dear fellow Pacific Region constituents:

This is the place where I will conduct my local surgery work. Tell me what you think, what you want me to do, what legislation I should introduce, what you think I should support and oppose, and so forth. Tell me how you think I am doing my job, and how I can improve. Ass kissing is permitted as well. :)

Thank you.

Torie

     Hello, Senator Torie. I am a new constituent of yours. I was just reading the thread about the Partisanship Requirement Amendment. Though I'm glad to see it fail in its current form, I would support an amended version.

     The amended version would require people to affiliate with a major party or as independents. If someone wants to start a new party, they could start a thread asking people to join. Once it reaches 5 citizens (including the party founder), it can begin operating as a major party.

     I understand that the amendment was brought up to make the game more interesting. However, getting rid of one-person joke parties is a much more interesting way of doing it than getting rid of them & independent registration as well. Just my $0.02.

Welcome to the Pacific region, PiT, and thanks for dropping by. You seem to be suggesting stamping out anemic parties. I am not sure what the difference is between anemic parties, and subsisting as an independent, as I am doing at the moment, as far as the game works. Perhaps you may wish to elaborate on this. I am prepared to introduce bills that constituents want me to introduce (even if I may not be in love with them myself), as long as we can hash out the details, and understand the implications.

     Though a large majority of people belonging to minor parties would probably become independents, we don't know that all would. As was pointed out in the debate over the amendment, there's no real benefit to joining a party. It's probable that some citizens considered joining a major party, but decided to form a minor one, since there's no real downside.

     It would make the game more interesting in that we could see if these minor party members are truly independents or if they stand with a major party. This would make it easier to gauge party strength on a regional basis.

     However, this would have to go hand-in-hand with some sort of benefit. Maybe the parties could hold conventions where they develop their platforms. Here, members could try to steer their party towards emphasizing issues that they care about. The convention would vote on its platform, which naturally would only be open to members of said party.

     If a citizen becomes disenchanted with the direction of his/her party, s/he would have the recourse of trying to form another party/joining another party/becoming an independent. This would discourage any two parties from being too similar, as any sudden change in platform could cause their members to defect to the other, similar party.

     There could be additional or alternate perks to being a member of a party. That's just the one that occurred to me, since it would be a perk to being a member of a party (you can help direct regional/national policy) while also being a perk to being an independent (no expectation of supporting any party's platform). Again, just my $0.02.

The observation that comes to my mind, is that each and every one of us is so "notorious," that we tend to vote the notoriety, rather than the party. The parties play no intermediating role, and will not, unless those not within a party,  don't obtain votes they otherwise would  get, and for that to happen, it may be that the law would have to incorporate some auto vote mechanism. In other words, if you belong to a party, and the party endorses, than your vote is automatically counted for the endorsed candidate as a party member, at least to the extent you voted on the endorsement, one way or the other. If you didn't vote for the endorsement, then you can't vote at all.

I am just thinking out loud.

     I assume that some sort of primary would be implemented in that event. In that case, really divisive primaries would basically never happen, as no one would want to emerge the winner with the support of basically half his/her party. It would also give independents a great deal of power, since they would be free to vote for whomever's running.

     However, any suggestion is better than no suggestion. It's just that the party system is so irrelevant under the current rules, that these suggestions are needed to make belonging to a party worthwhile.

     Maybe, there could be a closed primary, but one that's not binding for party members. Since citizens here vote for people over parties, they would be motivated to join the party of their favorite poster, to help him/her win whatever office that s/he is running for. Just a thought.

PiT, why don't you take a crack at some language for a Constitutional Amendment as to what you have in mind, and we can work from there. Putting stuff into words I often find to be useful exercise.

     I suppose an amendment including the non-binding primary would look like this:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared null and void. Any member of such a party has one week to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her ability to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before the commencement of a general election, a primary election for that party will be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer the election. If the party chair fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and all candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to withdraw his/her name from the ballot.

Good job! But add this:

2. All parties shall have a party chair. Elections for party chair must take place at least once every six months.

     It didn't occur to me to add this, since all major parties have a party chair (last time I checked). Obviously, this election will be closed, so here's the revised text (changes bolded, except the title, which is normally bold):

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared null and void. Any member of such a party has one week to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her ability to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before the commencement of a general election, a primary election for that party will be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the members of said party, by members of said party, to terms of six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer the election. If the party chair fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and all candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to withdraw his/her name from the ballot.

Change "six months" to "no more than six months". The obvious time to hold a vote would be at a party convention, and those are held somewhat irregularly.

     I have reservations about that change only because it seems like the government is deciding too much party policy. It seems like such a plan would basically be asking the parties to hold conventions at least once every six months (then again, we ARE setting guidelines for when primaries are held, which is already plenty of good ole guvmint in our parties :)). I'll tentatively add it now, though I would like to see what Torie, or anyone else for that matter, thinks about it.

     The 3rd draft of the proposed amendment:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared null and void. Any member of such a party has one week to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her ability to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before the commencement of a general election, a primary election for that party will be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the members of said party, by members of said party, to terms of no more than six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer the election. If the party chair fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and all candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to withdraw his/her name from the ballot.

Well, the 2nd draft forced parties to hold elections every 6 months. I think this is far more flexible.

     To be honest, I had not thought about the ramifications of that change. I just figured that the party chair would just be able to PM all the members & then they could go hold the election (with the results submitted to the necessary authority).

     Anyway, I'm thinking about a change that would prevent a citizen from serving as party chair for consecutive terms, in order to cut down on beaurocracy. It's nice to get some fresh blood in the leadership every now & then.

We should leave that to the parties to decide.

     You have a point there. Oh well, any critiques or concerns regarding article III of the proposed amendment?

My proposed Article III:

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer the election. If the party chair or other designated elections administrator fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and all no candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to add or withdraw his/her name from the ballot.

---

Adding a bit of an incentive for the chair to do his job.

     I see you fixed an oversight of mine. ;) Besides that, I realize that my initial suggestion for punishment wasn't really that great. If all candidates remain on the ballot, one could "de facto withdraw" & tell his/her supporters to vote for the other candidate. However, I think that it is unnecessary to keep the part about withdrawing his/her name from the ballot in light of the change in punishment.

     So here's the 4th draft:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared null and void. Any member of such a party has one week to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her ability to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before the commencement of a general election, a primary election for that party will be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the members of said party, by members of said party, to terms of no more than six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer the election. If the party chair or other designated elections administrator fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and all no candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to add or withdraw his/her name from the ballot.

     I decided to change some language to make it more internally consistent, as well as to be more specific.

     I guess you could call this the 5th draft :P:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared null and void. Any member of such a party has one week upon finding by the Secretary of Forum Affairs that said party is no longer viable to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her ability right to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before the commencement of the relevant general election, a primary election for that party will shall be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the membership of said party, by the membership of said party, to terms of no more than six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer the said primary election. If the party chair or other designated elections administrator fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and no candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to add his/her name from the ballot.

---

     I am considering removing the requirement that the polls for a primary remain open for 72 hours. After all, the point of the proposed amendment is to empower the parties. As such, it should only regulate their behavior in ways that would help see it implemented.

     I doubt that the parties would deviate too far from the customary 72 hours. If they do, the members of the party could protest, or refuse to support the nominee. To protect the rights of the people, though, if this part were stricken, I would support a replacement part that would provide that the party must give the times that the primary begins & ends ahead of time.

     What does everyone think?

A few more changes:


Just adding some internal consistency.


The 5th amendment timetable allows only one day for the general election campaign. This way, there is time for GE campaigning, a runoff (if needed), and flexibility for the party chair in opening the election.


I think the 72 hours rule is fine. It's the only voting time in use for any sort of election, and it provides a safeguard.

---

Would this really need an amendment?

     I agree with this to some extent. The reason that I set the timetable that I did was because the deadline for declaring as a candidate for Senator or President is one week before the election. That would have to be changed for such an early primary to work, since otherwise, one could file after his/her party's primary & not have to deal with it.

     Implementing your other suggestion though, here's the 6th draft:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared inviable, and thus null and void. Any member of such a party has one week upon finding by the Secretary of Forum Affairs that said party is no longer viable to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her right to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before the commencement of the relevant general election, a primary election for that party shall be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the membership of said party, by the membership of said party, to terms of no more than six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer said primary election. If the party chair or other designated elections administrator fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and no candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to add his/her name from the ballot.

---

     I don't know that it requires a constitutional amendment. However, Torie asked me to draw up a proposed amendment. Speaking of Torie, where is he? I'm going to need someone to introduce the bill to the senate, & I want his approval of it. :)

I tried watching one of those surgery TV shows once. It was gross. :(

Well then, we can make one week the deadline for Independents, and let the parties create their own deadline (within the 1-3 week timetable).

Calling Torie. Where are you, Torie?

     Okay, I made the latest revision, so here's the 7th draft:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared inviable, and thus null and void. Any member of such a party has one week upon finding by the Secretary of Forum Affairs that said party is no longer viable to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her right to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then 96 hours before at a time no less than one week before the commencement of the relevant general election, a primary election for that party shall be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the membership of said party, by the membership of said party, to terms of no more than six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer said primary election. If the party chair or other designated elections administrator fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and no candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to add his/her name from the ballot.

     4. A candidate seeking office independent of any major party shall declare his/her candidacy no less than one week before the commencement of the relevant, regularly-scheduled general election. A candidate seeking office as an affiliated member of a major party shall declare his/her candidacy by a deadline set by the party chair, no less than one week, but no more than three weeks before the commencement of the relevant, regularly-scheduled general election. This deadline shall be set by the party chair no less than one month before the commencement of the relevant, regularly-scheduled general election.

---

     As I'm sure you noticed, I added an article IV. The nice thing about the change is that now major party candidates are afforded a comparable amount of time to campaign compared to independents, which previous drafts did not give.

Why not just make the deadline identical to the start time of the primaries?

I will wade through all of this tonight. I am on the floor at the moment.  Thanks.

Is this intended to apply to all elections, or just federal elections?  I would think that for non viable parties, the result would be that it members automatically become independents. Any legislation that strips the franchise entirely is doomed to fail. I don't see why the time limits to declare a candidacy need to be changed, except that it would be limited to independents and those who have won their party's nomination.

I don't see how this will accomplish much, but I guess it does force folks to choose between a party and hoping the get the nomination, or becoming an independent. It might cause a spike up in the independents.  I assume the idea is that if you are a member of a party, and lose the nomination, you are ineligible to be put on the ballot. But then one could declare as a write in no?

I assume this needs to be a Constitutional amendment, but I have not looked into that.

After I understand what you want, after thinking all of this through, I will suggest alternative language.

Best, Torie

All.


Well, it does make parties, or at least their chairs, important.


But this'd be a time limit for the primary election.


Another way it increases the role of parties.


Part of the fun.


Wonderful.

Xahar, do you want to take the laboring oar as to whether this requires a Constitutional amendment or not? I am quite sure that  it does, if it is to bind for  regional elections, but how about if it is just for federal elections?  Someone told me you knew Atlasia law by heart and from memory. :)

     Xahar pretty accurately represented my intentions here. Anyway, I'll incorporate the suggested revision, with a 24 hour lapse between the deadline for candidacy & the beginning of the primary. When you figure out if this needs to be an amendment, or have further suggestions, I'll be glad to make any revisions. Here's the 8th draft:

     Amendment for the Empowerment of Parties

     1. Membership of a party whose membership numbers fewer than five registered voters is hereby declared inviable, and thus null and void. Any member of such a party has one week upon finding by the Secretary of Forum Affairs that said party is no longer viable to attempt to increase the party's membership to five citizens once again, or to re-register. If said citizen re-registers within the time frame, his/her right to vote in any election held within the next ten days shall not be infringed.

     2. If two or more members of a given party declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled general election, then at a time no less than one week before the commencement of the relevant general election, a primary election for that party shall be held. The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, who shall be elected from among the membership of said party, by the membership of said party, to terms of no more than six months in duration. Any citizen in good standing with the party may vote in said primary election. There shall be as many primary elections as there are parties with multiple candidates seeking office in the relevant general election.

     3. If the party chair gives advance warning that s/he will be unable to administer said primary election, s/he shall empower any citizen in good standing with the party to administer said primary election. If the party chair or other designated elections administrator fails to properly administer the election, through failure to open or close the booth in a timely fashion, the primary shall be declared null and void, and no candidates of that party for the relevant general election shall appear on the general election ballot, regardless of any attempt by a candidate to add his/her name from the ballot.

     4. A candidate seeking office independent of any major party shall declare his/her candidacy no less than one week before the commencement of the relevant, regularly-scheduled general election. A candidate seeking office as an affiliated member of a major party shall declare his/her candidacy by a deadline set by the party chair, no less than one week, but no more than three weeks which shall be 24 hours before the commencement of the relevant, regularly-scheduled general primary election. This deadline shall be set by the party chair no less than one month before the commencement of the relevant, regularly-scheduled general election.

     You know, after Torie gives it a once-over, maybe we should get a party chair or two in here to help write it. After all, it delegates a great deal of power & responsibility to the party chair. The only problem is if the party chair decides to be lazy, s/he may resist many of the changes.

Pit (and Xahar), I just wanted you to know that I am in the processing of printing out portions of Atlasian law, including the Constitution, and all  procedural statutes and regulations, which I will read in short order to ascertain how this proposed legislation fits into the mix. Thank you.

Well, I was going to take a look, but I guess I won't now.

     Sweet. I eagerly await your findings.

PiT your proposal clearly requires a Constitutional Amendment. I wrote it up, so that if the chair does not act, or there is no chair, the Secretary of Forum Affairs acts in the chairs stead. Othewise, games galore could be played. The time frames are tight, very tight. It would be better to open them up, but the start date should coincide with the registration deadline, so they need to be tight. Maybe the 72 hours could be cut to 48 hours. Lots of definitions are used. They need to be used, to get language that is tight and not filled with holes. Anyway, here is a first draft. It probably needs more work, but I wanted to get something on paper for you to think about. Best, Torie

24th  Amendment to the Atlasian Constitution Regarding the Role of Parties and Its Citizens

     1. No registered person shall have a right to vote in any federal or regional election for office (“General Election”) who is a registered member of any political party (“Non Viable Party”) which has less than five registered as of the commencement of the 9th day EST prior to the date scheduled for such election to commence (“Registration Close Date”). Parties which have at least five registered voters as of such time are hereinafter referred to as “Viable Parties,.” and its registered members as of such time, “Eligible Members.” Voting events for Constitutional Amendments or referenda are not General Elections for purposes of this Amendment, and the right to vote in same shall not be affected hereby.

     2. If two or more members of a Viable Party timely declare candidacy in the same regularly- scheduled Election (“Eligible Party Candidates”), then at a time no less than one week before the earliest possible time for the commencement of such General  Election, a primary election for each such Viable Party with two or more Eligible Party Candidates.  The polls shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair, if such party chair holds office pursuant to the rules of such Viable Party (“Party Chair”), and if no such Party Chair exists shall be conducted by the Secretary of Forum Affairs. Any Eligible Member of the applicable Viable Party shall have a right to vote in such primary election.

     3. If a siting  Party Chair of a Viable Party fails to commence such primary election for such Viable Party within 24 hours of the Registration Close Date, then within 24 hours thereafter, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall conduct such primary election. 

     4. No person may appear on the ballot for a General Election who is a member of a Viable Party who has not won the primary election of such  Viable Party for the applicable General Election Office pursuant to the procedure described above, or who is a member of a Non Viable Party as of the Registration Close Date for such General Election.

     5. This Amendment shall have no effect on the candidacy or voting rights of any registered person of Atlasia who is not a member of a Non Viable Party as of the Registration

     Nice. I do have one question though. If only one person from a party declares candidacy, I assume that that person is considered to have won the primary by default for the purposes of Section IV, right? That seems to be the implication, though it just seems somewhat strange to me.

     Good job, though! :)

Good point. The way it is written, that needs to be clarified.

Here is a revision:

24th  Amendment to the Atlasian Constitution Regarding the Role of Parties and Its Citizens

     1. No registered person shall have a right to vote in any federal or regional election for office (“General Election”) who is a registered member of any political party (“Non Viable Party”) which has less than five registered as of the commencement of the 9th day EST prior to the date scheduled for such election to commence (“Registration Close Date”). A party which have at least five legally registered voters as of such time is  hereinafter referred to as a "Viable Party,” and its registered members who are legally registered voters as of such time, “Eligible Members.” Voting events for Constitutional Amendments or referenda are not General Elections for purposes of this Amendment, and the right to vote in the same shall not be affected hereby.

     2. If two or more legally registered voters who are members of a Viable Party timely declare candidacy for the same office in a General Election (“Eligible Viable Party Candidates”), then at a time no less than one week before the earliest possible time for the commencement of voting in such General  Election, a primary election shall be conducted  for each such Viable Party with two or more Eligible Viable  Party Candidates.  The polls for each such primary election shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair of each such Viable Party, if such party chair holds office pursuant to the rules of such Viable Party (“Party Chair”), and in cases where no such Party Chair  exists, such primary election for such Viable Party without a Party Chair shall be conducted by the Secretary of Forum Affairs. Any Eligible Member of the applicable Viable Party shall have a right to vote in such primary election.

     3. If a siting  Party Chair of a Viable Party fails to commence such primary election for such Viable Party within 24 hours of the Registration Close Date, then within 24 hours thereafter, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall conduct such primary election in the manner described above.

     4. No person may appear on the ballot for office in a General Election who as of the Registration Close Date for such General Election is either (i) a member of a Viable Party who has neither (a) won the primary election of such  Viable Party for the applicable General Election office pursuant to the procedure described above, nor (b) been the  sole Eligible Viable Party Candidate of his or her Viable Party for such office, or (ii) a registered member of a Non Viable Party.

     5. This Amendment shall have no effect on the candidacy or voting rights of any registered person of Atlasia who is not a member of a Non Viable Party as of the Registration Close Date.

If you like it as written, I will introduce it, and get it in the queue. I doubt that I will support it though. :D

     Indeed, I like it a lot in its current form. Also, I don't mind if you don't support it. You've already done a fine job with it. It'll be nice though to see how things go with it in the Senate.

I see a problem. During the August senatorial election, we elect 5 senators. But with this law, they can only endorse one candidate. They should be able to endorse 5 candidates I think.

Good point, at least for the 5 senate seats which are at large. Maybe the PiT has a comment. Welcome to the Pacific by the way.

     I didn't realize that that was how at-large Senatorial elections worked. In that case, an exception could be written in for this. As far as I know, at-large Senatorial elections are the only ones of those kind, which means we just have to address this problem.

     I would try to rewrite that section for this, but I would have to know one thing: how exactly do the at-large Senatorial elections work?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote

     Okay, now that I see how it works, here's a re-write to take care of that flaw (with one misspelled word & a few extra spaces fixed):

24th  Amendment to the Atlasian Constitution Regarding the Role of Parties and Its Citizens

     1. No registered person shall have a right to vote in any federal or regional election for office (“General Election”) who is a registered member of any political party (“Non Viable Party”) which has less than five registered as of the commencement of the 9th day EST prior to the date scheduled for such election to commence (“Registration Close Date”). A party which have at least five legally registered voters as of such time is hereinafter referred to as a "Viable Party,” and its registered members who are legally registered voters as of such time, “Eligible Members.” Voting events for Constitutional Amendments or referenda are not General Elections for purposes of this Amendment, and the right to vote in the same shall not be affected hereby.

     2. If more legally registered voters who are members of a Viable Party timely declare candidacy for the same office in a General Election (“Eligible Viable Party Candidates”) than there are seats available in the same, then at a time no less than one week before the earliest possible time for the commencement of voting in such General  Election, a primary election shall be conducted  for each such Viable Party with two or more Eligible Viable Party Candidates. The polls for each such primary election shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair of each such Viable Party, if such party chair holds office pursuant to the rules of such Viable Party (“Party Chair”), and in cases where no such Party Chair exists, such primary election for such Viable Party without a Party Chair shall be conducted by the Secretary of Forum Affairs. Any Eligible Member of the applicable Viable Party shall have a right to vote in such primary election.

     3. If a sitting Party Chair of a Viable Party fails to commence such primary election for such Viable Party within 24 hours of the Registration Close Date, then within 24 hours thereafter, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall conduct such primary election in the manner described above.

     4. No person may appear on the ballot for office in a General Election who as of the Registration Close Date for such General Election is either (i) a member of a Viable Party who has neither (a) won the primary election of such Viable Party for the applicable General Election office pursuant to the procedure described above, nor (b) been the sole Eligible Viable Party Candidate of his or her Viable Party for such office, or (ii) a registered member of a Non Viable Party.

     5. This Amendment shall have no effect on the candidacy or voting rights of any registered person of Atlasia who is not a member of a Non Viable Party as of the Registration Close Date.

This is quite the brain teaser. Here is yet another iteration. So many holes to fill, so little time.

24th  Amendment to the Atlasian Constitution Regarding the Role of Parties and Its Citizens


     1. No registered person shall have a right to vote in any federal or regional election for office (“General Election”) who is a registered member of any political party (“Non Viable Party”) which has less than five registered as of the commencement of the 9th day EST prior to the date scheduled for such election to commence (“Registration Close Date”). A party which has at least five legally registered voters as of such time is hereinafter referred to as a "Viable Party,” and its registered members who are legally registered voters as of such time, “Eligible Members.” Voting events for Constitutional Amendments or referenda are not General Elections for purposes of this Amendment, and the right to vote in the same shall not be affected hereby.

     2. In a case where the number of  legally registered voters who are members of a Viable Party timely declare candidacy (“Timely Declared Candidates”) for the same office in a General Election  is in excess (“Excess Party Candidates”) of the number of seats (“Available Seats”) for which a registered voter is entitled to vote (which number as of the date of adoption of this amendment, is one such seat for region specific seats, and five such seats for at large seats), then at a time no less than one week before the earliest possible time for the commencement of voting in such General  Election, a primary election shall be conducted  for each such Viable Party with Excess Party Candidates. The polls for each such primary election shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair of each such Viable Party, if such party chair holds office pursuant to the rules of such Viable Party (“Party Chair”), and in cases where no such Party Chair exists, such primary election for such Viable Party without a Party Chair shall be conducted by the Secretary of Forum Affairs. Such primary election shall be conducted in a manner such that such Viable Party nominates a number of candidates for the subject office which does not exceed the number of Available Seats, with each of those so nominated, or who are Timely Declared Candidates of a Viable Party which does not have Excess Viable Party Candidates, referred to herein as a “Eligible Viable Party Candidate.” Any Eligible Member of the applicable Viable Party shall have a right to vote in such primary election. Except as otherwise specified herein, the manner of conducting such primary election shall be within the discretion of the Party Chair (or the Secretary of Forum Affairs if paragraph 3 below is applicable).

     3. If a sitting Party Chair of a Viable Party fails to commence such primary election for such Viable Party within 24 hours of the Registration Close Date, then within 24 hours thereafter, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall conduct such primary election in the manner described above.

     4. No person may appear on the ballot for office in a General Election unless such person with respect to such General Election  is either (i) an Eligible Viable Party Candidate, or (ii) as of the Registration Close Date for such General Election, not a registered member of either a Viable Party or Non Viable Party.

PiT how do you want me to proceed from here? Thanks.

     Sure. I like the current form a lot. I think that the implementation of primary elections would be very interesting. ;D

I seeking comments from Pacific region constituents on the following amendment that is on the floor on the Senate. Thank you.

Constitutional Amendment

That the following changes be made to the Atlasian Constitution:

1. Article I, Section 1, Clause 2 shall be amended to read as follows: No person shall be a Senator who has not attained a hundred or more posts.

2. Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 shall be amended to read as follows: The Senate shall be divided into two classes: Class A and Class B, both of which shall be elected by a form of proportional representation.

3. Article I, Section 4, Clause 4 shall be amended to read as follows: If a vacancy shall occur in any Senate seat, then a special election shall be called to fill the remainder of the vacant term within one week of the vacancy occurring.

4. Article I, Section 4, Clause 5 shall be amended to read as follows: However, if a vacancy shall occur less than two weeks before the end of the term in question, then no special election shall be necessary.


Sponsor: Lewis Trondheim

Colin has proposed something interesting during the Southeast constitutional Convention.

We should go that way.

What was that?