In my view, since the election was called and conducted under the old constitution, that is the document governing this election.
I do not see how a constitution that has been passed in an election could then become retroactive to govern that election that had been called and conducted before the new constitution was passed.
Future elections would be conducted under the new constitution.
This is correct. The election was held under the old constitution. The December elections will be held under the new constitution. Best I can tell, we didn't expressly make the results of the October elections contingent on the passage of the new constitution in the new constitution or the legislation enabling the October referendum, so the old document has to govern because it was what was in place at the time the voting booth was opened.
I know that I am knew to this region, but this is a very interesting question that I hope you will not mind if I but in. Here is the way I see it. The election was held under the old Constitution, thus 7 reps and a Lt. Gov were properly elected.
However, the new constitution was also voted in. That constitution expressly states that the there will be 5 Reps and the Lt. Gov will be the Rep with the most votes. As it does not have a sunset provision for the old legislature or Lt. Gov (such as these changes will take place in the next regional election following the ratification of the Constitution by the people) it is my opinion that they take effect immediately. Thus, while the elections were proper for about a nanosecond, once the new constitution was put in effect, the new changes become immediate.
We once had this situation in my union. We had elections for 4 board members at the same time that we were trying to add a fifth position. Had the vote on the new position failed, the election of the 4th would have been fine. Since it passed, we had an immediate by-election. It is our situation in reverse.
Thus, the way I see it, as the new constitution is in effect, we have 5 reps with the Lt. Gov being one of them. Sorry Cincy, not the way I wanted to start off here, but that is the way I see the situation.
