MA: An Amendment to reduce the size of the Mideast Assembly (Tabled)

[ZuWo]

Fellow Assemblymen, there can be no doubt that it appears to have become increasingly difficult to find candidates for 5 Assembly seats. At this very moment, only 3 people have officially declared to run for an Assembly seat in the upcoming Mideast elections. Clearly, this is a situation which is truly unfortunate and damaging to our Assembly.

Reducing the number of Assemblymen to 3 is a drastic step. I have been sceptical of this measure at the beginning since an Assembly consisting of 3 members may encounter serious difficulties as soon as 1 or even 2 Assemblymen are absent for a certain period of time. Yet, I believe there is no other viable solution to the problem we're currently facing. If we were to create an Assembly with 4 Assemblymen there would always be the risk of a 2-2 tie when it comes to voting on proposed pieces of legislation, which would lead to unsatisfactory outcomes because many bills could simply not be passed.

Furthermore, a 3-seat Assembly would finally lead to competitive elections in our region. I am aware that this Amendment might cost any of the sitting Assemblymen their seat in the next elections, but I know that we have to change the current state of affairs for the sake of our Assembly.

[ZuWo]

The entire procedure which is necessary for this amendment to be ratified is going to take a while. While we are still going to elect 5 Assemblymen in the upcoming elections, I am confident that we can reduce the seats of the Assembly to 3 for the elections in September if the amendment is going to be approved both by the Assembly and the Mideast people. Considering our struggle to even find enough candidates for 5 seats it would appear illogical to be against a reduction of the seats. However, I think we shouldn't rule out the possibility that, if people in our region become much more active in the future, we could return to an Assembly with 5 Assemblymen one day.

[ZuWo]

Hmmmm.... There appear to be four active and enthusiastic members of the assembly, so in having three seats, we'd be forced to sacrifice one of them. Still, given the current state of things, I'd be willing to support this.

EDIT: Is afleitch not running for re-election? If that is true, then we'd have the right number of active and enthusiastic members.

afleitch is running for Governor. He's the only official candidate at the moment.

The next Assembly will still consist of 5 Assemblymen. The amendment which is currently being discussed is only going to take effect after the September elections if it gets passed.

[ZuWo]

Tmth, you've got a point here. The recent candidate declarations came unexpectedly, but I am glad! I'm actually considering withdrawing this amendment. If this trend towards more activity continues in the next weeks, a reduction is unnecessary. Of course, if we experience similar recruitment problems before the next elections in September, we've got to have a look at this amendment again. It is not my wish to have an Assembly with 3 Assemblymen, but that seemed to be a necessity a few days ago. Now with 6 candidates, however, there might not be a need for such a change anymore.

[ZuWo]

ZuWo, do you want to keep debate going, or are you withdrawing this?

Let's keep debate going. We can get this passed and see how the situation looks before the September elections.

[ZuWo]

We could always base the Assembly off of the number of declared candidates.  If the number of declared candidates is X or lower, it's 3.  If it's greater than X, it's 5.  Any thoughts on that?

I like that idea. A first suggestion could be that if the number of declared candidates is greater than 5, it's 5 seats. If only 5 or fewer people declare that they will run, the Assembly has 3 seats.

Could we simply amend the Constitution by adding such a clause to the section which currently says that the Assembly has 5 seats?

[ZuWo]

I vote 6, including write-ins, that makes a competitive election.

I disagree with write-ins.  I think the number should be set in stone before voting starts.  Otherwise, if people only vote for 3 people, and more people get written in, voters who vote at the beginning get burned.

That's what I think as well. If 6 candidates (or more) officially declare that they will run, the Assembly shall consist of 5 members. If fewer than 6 people declare, the Assembly gets 3 seats. Don't count the write-ins for the seat calculation.

[ZuWo]

Aye to table this amendment