Electoral Reform Amendment (Passed)

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Party victories at the regional level are indicative of voter preferences at te regional level. It is no different than how we let the regions elect regional senators. I admit the districting system could let some parties stack the deck in favour of themselves if they control many regions, but that's the nature of the game, and I think this senate is currently capable of closing some loopholes and making it more difficult for the system to run itself into the ground. That being said, I think this move would make regional elections more important and more competitive, which would be good for the game. So let's not add too many training wheels here. I also think it would make the senate elections more interesting themselves, too. So I would certainly support the spirit of the change. I just think we need to fix up the particulars.

And I think allocating some sort of party quota would pretty much erase all the benefits that this system would otherwise bring.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I'm not quite sure what you're intending here, Windjammer. The language of your amendment does make it sound like you want this proposal to go into effect for the first election following the passage of the bill. I think we should set it firm at August 2015.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

That seems to have been the plan from the beginning, yes.

I'm nervous to make it "the next Class B election" because we need to make sure we have the full three months to draw te boundaries.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I'm also not very confident in Atlasia's ability to get something done within six weeks. It's unfortunate, but... it's just the way it is. I don't think a one-month campaign is too short.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Nay

I agree with Polnut, sorry Talleyrand. A change as big as this one needs to be spelled out very clearly.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Or what if we just had a vote among the senators who are chosen by the district system? The first time around would have to be a little different, but it could work once we've got the ball rolling. I do agree that getting the whole senate involved might be unnecessary, but surely these senators (and the people they represent) have a stake in how the maps shape up.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I don't really care too much either way, but I agree that getting the whole senate involved could turn into a distraction, especially when it's not really necessary.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Either way, I congratulate my colleagues on turning this bill around. Great work. I'd be eager to support this change, and I hope it will help make the game a little bit more interesting for those people who are beginning to find it stale.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I don't necessarily see oakvale's suggestion as a poison pill, but I also don't really see how it's related to the current set of changes. It's a different issue entirely that I haven't given much thought to, and I don't really want to have to think about it in this particular debate. I have no strong feelings one way or the other, but I'm thinking that keeping this amendment as simple as possible would be advantageous to those of us who want to see the amendment pass.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

That was a lot of words to say basically nothing, but yeah.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I'm torn. As a former party organizer and former at-large senator, I actually thought these contests had the potential to be really fun. That being said, I think it's time to try something new and get the regions more involved in federal politics. This approach could do that... and I think it's worth trying.

Aye