Federalist Convention—LITTLE ROCK, AR (Voting on convention locations)

[Associate Justice PiT]

     So you proposed an amendment to prohibit deficit spending without supermajority support? You might be registered with the wrong party.

[Lumine]

Good morning, members of the Federalist Party.

Right in the middle of my reelection campaign, I wanted to ask for your endorsement for the Mideast Assembly. We probably don't agree in several issues, but it was stated during my first campaign that my views were slightly close to the Federalist mainstream, and I have tried my best to collaborate with all parties in the Assembly, which is why I believe I can ask for this endorsement.

Whatever the result, thanks beforehand!

[HagridOfTheDeep]

So, I’d like to apologize for completely neglecting this convention. If anyone else would like me to tabulate the endorsement results for the senate election that has already passed, let me know. I owe a big sorry to those candidates who were seeking our endorsement. I also apologize for my absence: Exams were busy and then I jetted off to Florida where my internet connection didn’t exactly pan out. Hopefully things haven’t fallen apart too much. As for the Mideast election… I’ll try to scrape something together soon.

That said, I think it’s appropriate for me to give another post-election de-brief now that we’ve had time to absorb Matt’s loss in the senate race. It was too close for comfort, and losing sucks. Matt lost his seat by less than two votes. It’s particularly frustrating because I can point to two Federalist voters who didn’t show up to vote for Matt when I had already considered them “locked up.” They know who they are, so it’s no use pointing fingers… but I think what went down in the April election speaks to those issues I addressed after the last presidential race. I’m going re-state some things, and I apologize if y’all think it’s condescending.

1)   Federalists didn’t vote for Federalists.

Imagine me bringing this one up again! I hate to do it, but it’s hard for me not to when we lose by two votes. Honestly, I don’t have that much to say here, because the situation speaks for itself. I also understand that this critique applies to a lot of our zombie voters who probably won’t even read this message, but I think that fact alone should tell us where we go from here. Here’s the lesson: Me and ZuWo can’t be the only one private messaging these inactive voters, or it makes them a lot more susceptible to manipulation from other forces. We’ve got to build a sense of community, and that’s something we can all work on. I’d urge you to say hello to new voters as they register. Keep engaged. Be friendly. We shouldn’t be failing in this area, but it did us in here.

2)   If a candidate from another party messages you and says “your party’s candidates are safe; vote for me,” don’t buy it.

Or, at the very least, do the research for yourselves. I’m going to single out Mr. X here, and it’s not because I dislike him, but it’s because his pleas to our members—which proved unnecessary—ended up giving the Liberals a seat at our expense. That’s not fair, and I know for a fact that some of our members bought into the idea that we had our two seats in the bag. Tell me—with hindsight, does it look like we had those seats in the bag? There’s only one answer here, and the answer is no. So let’s refrain from making assumptions and go out to support our members first.

3)   Communicate.

“Mr. X spent the last half hour convincing me to vote for him on the IRC, and I didn’t hear anything from Matt.”

I don’t need to say much more. I’m not saying anyone completely bombed in this area, but obviously there was some room for improvement. Talk to each other. Sometimes the mass private messages are necessary, but it never hurts to see where each person stands individually. It goes a long way, and if you’re thinking of running for national office, you’ve got to be willing to do it.

Anyhow, that’s all I have in terms of a post-mortem. Hopefully you can understand why I’m disappointed—again, it’s hard not to be upset when it was just so flippin’ close. These results could have been prevented.

Now, we do still have some business to attend to in this convention. I was hoping to address it before I left for Florida, but it’s better late than never. I have some suggestions for changes to the by-laws, and I think a few other people do too. For one, I think we should consider eliminating the mid-term convention completely. I thought our last convention was very successful, but this one just didn’t seem necessary. They’re a lot of work to run, and if they don’t accomplish anything, there’s no real point. I’m also formulating a better endorsement schedule so the chairman doesn’t have to hold endorsement votes every other day. As it stands, I haven’t even been following the schedule—it’s pretty crazy.

So I hope you’ll all take my words to heart. I apologize for being so strict with this stuff, but it’s my goal to make sure our candidates win. We’ve got to be on the same page if we’re going to make that happen. Over the next few days, please give the by-laws and platform a look to see if there’s anything you think should be changed. I’d love for it to be a bit of a collaboration rather than have it be me saying “let’s change this, this, and this” with y’all echoing back “okay, okay, okay.”

Thanks guys,


Hagrid

[Talleyrand]

I think this might be the right time to issue an apology for an unintentional but irregardless harmful action on my part. Speaking with a member of the Federalist Party a few hours to the end of the election, I mentioned that Hagrid and Matt were safe (this is what tabulated results were showing at the time and I assumed Federalist firepower was still on the way, going off of the previous two national elections and the party's performance in the August and December elections), and made a statement encouraging them to go for someone else. However, this turned out to be a WHOLLY incorrect statement, and I was pretty stunned when I woke up the next morning to see that Matt had fallen just short to Kalwejt for the last seat. Turns out it was a premature call on my part which may have improperly influenced a potential voter.

Therefore, I am quite sorry for my role in this scenario and I will make sure I get my facts straight before making any all-encompassing statement of such a magnitude in the future.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Thanks Talleyrand. For the most part, I can't blame people from other parties for this... It's a valid strategy. Our guys have to be willing to check things out for themselves. So at the end of the day, it's a failure on our part, not anyone else's.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

POORLY-ORGANIZED MIDEAST ENDORSEMNT VOTE

Okay, so I know the election begins very soon, and there's just no way to finish a vote before it starts. What I'm going to do is this: Any other non-Federalist candidates seeking our endorsement must step in here before midnight tonight. Inks, Oldiesfreak, and Miles will automatically recieve our endorsement. Up to two other candidates may be endorsed.

At midnight, an endorsement vote will begin and it will last 24 hours. Sorry for the scrappy organization of this whole shindig, but it's the best we can muster right now.

[Lumine]

Well, I already asked for an endorsement a few days ago (a Person did as well), but I'm posting here again just in case the rules only apply for today.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'll request an endorsement, though Lumine and a Person are good too.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Mideast Assembly Endorsement Ballot

This vote will last for twenty-four (24) hours. Please rank the following candidates in order of who you believe most deserves the endorsement of the Federalist Party. Two candidates will be endorsed. If you believe only one of these candidates warrants an endorsement, please rank "None of the Above" as your number two candidate behind your first preference.

Please rank the following candidates for the Mideast Assembly.

[  ] a Person (LIGHT-IL)
[  ] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[  ] shua (LIB-VA)
[  ] None of the Above

[TJ in Oregon]

Mideast Assembly Endorsement Ballot

This vote will last for twenty-four (24) hours. Please rank the following candidates in order of who you believe most deserves the endorsement of the Federalist Party. Two candidates will be endorsed. If you believe only one of these candidates warrants an endorsement, please rank "None of the Above" as your number two candidate behind your first preference.

Please rank the following candidates for the Mideast Assembly.

[3] a Person (LIGHT-IL)
[2] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[1] shua (LIB-VA)
[  ] None of the Above

[Goldwater]

[3] a Person (LIGHT-IL)
[2] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[1] shua (LIB-VA)
[  ] None of the Above

[Maxwell]

[3] a Person (LIGHT-IL)
[2] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[1] shua (LIB-VA)

[Oldiesfreak1854]

[1] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[2] shua (LIB-VA)
[3] a Person (LIGHT-IL)

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

[  ] a Person (LIGHT-IL)
[2] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[1] shua (LIB-VA)
[  ] None of the Above

[Sopranos Republican]

[3] a Person (LIGHT-IL)
[1] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[2] shua (LIB-VA)
[  ] None of the Above

All three are very good, but I'll give it to Lumine, since it seems Shua is doing very well so far.

[Supersonic]

[1] LumineVonReuental (IND-IN)
[2] shua (LIB-VA)
[] a Person (LIGHT-IL)

[HagridOfTheDeep]

[1] shua
[2] Lumine
[3] a Person

[HagridOfTheDeep]

ENDORSEMENT RESULTS

Shua and LumineVonReuental recieve the endorsement of the Federalist Party in the current election to the Mideast Assembly. Congratulations and good luck! I apologize again for how slapped-together this whole thing was.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

BY-LAW AMENDMENTS

The next few posts are a compilation of all my proposed changes. In other words, should each amendment pass, these posts show what the by-laws would look like. There was no good way to do it separately, so I apologize for that. To compensate, I've made a numbered list of amendments that will explain what each change is. You can find this index below. Each change will be voted on individually in two days.

Some of the amendments are more procedural and some will be a bit controversial. I hope you'll read them all carefully. Feel free to please discuss the amendments. It's so much more gratifying when I can know that I'm not just dictating these changes.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

------------- By-Laws -------------
THE FEDERALIST PARTY
OF ATLASIA

I. MEMBERSHIP

1. Eligibility. All members registered as Federalists with the Registrar General shall be granted membership in the Federalist Party.

2. Expulsion. A member may be expelled from the party by majority vote if that member behaves in such a way as to the detriment of the party. Requests for an expulsion vote must be seconded.


II. LEADERSHIP

1. Leadership positions. The national party leadership shall consist of three offices: chairman, vice chairman, and secretary. All members holding these offices must be registered members of the Federalist Party of Atlasia.

2. The Chairman. The chairman shall be the executive leader and chief spokesperson of the party. It shall also be his or her responsibility to preside over the party convention.

3. The Vice Chairman. The vice chairman shall assist the chairman in providing executive leadership. The vice chairman shall become chairman in the event of a vacancy.

4. The Secretary. The secretary shall be responsible for maintaining an up-to-date list of all party members and maintaining a calendar of events for the party. These events may include, but are not limited to, leadership elections, primaries and endorsement deadlines, and national conventions. The secretary is appointed by the chairman to serve a four month term bracketed by leadership elections.

5. Leadership Elections. The chairman and vice chairman shall be elected every four months. These elections shall run concurrently for three (3) days in April, August, and December February, June, and October. The first election for chairman and vice chairman shall occur by public instant-runoff vote (IRV). All subsequent elections shall occur by a simple up-down vote on the party leaders. In the event that the chairman, vice chairman, or both chairmen lose the confidence of the party, the position(s) shall become vacant. Leadership elections for the chairman and vice chairman shall occur after party members have had ample time to declare their interest in a position. The elections shall occur by public instant-runoff vote (IRV).

6. Leadership Vacancies. Vacancies may be deemed to have occurred if party leaders resign, lose the confidence of the party by majority vote, or have not posted within the Atlasia sub-boards for two (2) weeks or more. In the event of a vacancy in the office of secretary, the chairman shall appoint another member to the office. In the event of a vacancy in the office of vice chairman, members shall have forty-eight (48) hours ample time to declare their intention to run for the vacant position. After that time, the chairman shall hold an IRV election for the vice chairman position, to last three (3) days. In the event of a vacancy in the office of chairman, the vice chairman shall become chairman of the Federalist Party, unless he wishes to remain in his current position. In that case, an election for chairman will be held.

7. Succession Snafus. In emergency situations where both the chairman and vice chairman positions are vacant, the secretary shall be responsible for running concurrent elections for both offices. In the event that all leadership positions are vacant, the most senior member of the Federalist caucus in the senate shall have the authority to run leadership elections. If there is no Federalist senator, this responsibility shall fall to the most senior Federalist regional executive.

8. Regional Chairmen. At his or her discretion, the chairman may appoint up to one regional chairman per region for the purposes of lazer-targeting, recruitment, get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operations, and other party activities. Regional chairmen will also have the authority to run endorsement votes for elections in their region.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

III. ENDORSEMENTS AND PRIMARIES

1. Endorsing non-Federalist candidates. If numbers permit the Federalist Party to endorse non-member candidates, candidates seeking the party’s endorsement can submit their names for consideration in the Federalist Party’s main thread or at a party convention. Alternatively, Federalist Party members may move to endorse candidates from other parties. An endorsement vote shall thereafter be held, the logistics of which shall be at the discretion of the party executive. The party shall not be required to endorse any non-Federalist candidates. The number of non-Federalists endorsed by the party must not conflict with the maximum candidates endorsed in a given race, as stipulated in section III, subsections 2-7.

1. 2. Regional legislature elections. All Federalist candidates running for regional legislature positions shall automatically receive the endorsement of the Federalist Party. If the total number of open seats in a regional election is larger than the number of declared Federalist candidates one (1) week on the first Friday prior to the vote, the party may endorse candidates from non-Federalist Parties. The number of non-Federalist candidates endorsed will reflect the difference between the number of Federalist candidates and the number of available seats.

2. 3. At-large senate elections. Two (2) weeks prior to the election, the ratio of registered Federalists to total votes cast in the preceding at-large election shall determine the maximum number of Federalist endorsements in the race when applied against the five open senate seats as a percentage. Fractional quotients shall be rounded up. Currently, a maximum of two candidates may be endorsed for the senate at large. If the Federalist Party has more than this number of incumbent at-large senators seeking re-election, the number of incumbent at-large senators shall instead serve as the maximum number of endorsements  each of the incumbents may still receive the endorsement of the party. If, at two (2) weeks on the first Friday prior to the at-large election, the number of declared Federalist candidates is equal to or less than the maximum number of endorsements, no primary election shall be held and those candidates shall automatically receive the endorsement of the Federalist Party. Any Federalist candidates entering the race after this time shall not enjoy the party’s official endorsement. If, at two (2) weeks on the first Friday prior to the election, the number of declared Federalists is larger than the maximum number of Federalist endorsements, a primary election shall be held. The election shall run for three (3) days and shall be decided by public IRV. If the number of declared Federalist candidates is less than the maximum number of endorsements, non-Federalists may receive these remaining endorsements.

3. 4.  Regional executive elections. In elections for the office of regional executive, only one candidate in each region shall receive the party’s endorsement. If, at two (2) weeks on the first Friday prior to the regional election, only one Federalist candidate has declared for a given position, no primary election shall be held and that candidate shall automatically receive the endorsement of the Federalist Party. If more than one Federalist candidate has declared their intention to run, a primary election shall be held. This election shall run for three (3) days and shall be decided by public IRV. If no Federalist candidate has declared, one non-Federalist may be endorsed.

4. 5. Regional senate elections. Federalist endorsements in regional senate elections shall follow the same model for endorsements in regional executive elections (see section III, subsection 3 4).

5. 6.  Special elections to the senate. Federalist endorsements in special elections to the senate shall follow the same model for endorsements in regional executive elections (see section III, subsection 3 4), the only difference being that Federalist candidates must declare within three (3) days a reasonable timeof the notice of vacancy. If more than one position is up for election, the party will offer a corresponding number of endorsements.

6 7. Presidential elections. Federalist endorsements in presidential elections shall follow the same model for endorsements in regional executive elections (see section III, subsection 3), but Federalist candidates must declare their intention to run at least four (4) weeks prior to the election. Regardless of the number of candidates running for president or the party affiliations of said candidates, a Federalist primary shall be held within three (3) weeks of all presidential elections to determine which ticket will receive the endorsement and resources of the Federalist Party. Candidates wishing to run in this primary must also put forward the name of their chosen running mate.

7. Endorsing non-Federalist candidates. If numbers permit the Federalist Party to endorse non-member candidates, candidates seeking the party’s endorsement can submit their names for consideration in the Federalist Party’s main thread or at a party convention. Alternatively, Federalist Party members may move to endorse candidates from other parties. An endorsement vote shall thereafter be held, the logistics of which shall be at the discretion of the party executive. The party shall not be required to endorse any non-Federalist candidates. The number of non-Federalists endorsed by the party must not conflict with the maximum candidates endorsed in a given race, as stipulated in section III, subsections 1-6.

8. Secondary endorsements. At the discretion of the party chairman, the party may run elections giving “second preference endorsements” (or similar) to non-Federalist candidates.

8 9. Revoking endorsements. The Federalist Party may revoke endorsements if a motion is presented with a second and is then passed by a majority vote.


IV. CONVENTIONS

1. Timing. A convention shall be called by the chairman two (2) three (3) weeks before the start of every regularly-scheduled federal presidential election. Conventions may deviate from this timeline in emergency situations.

2. Location. It shall be at the discretion of the party executive to determine the location of the Federalist Party’s first convention. Thereafter, public IRV elections shall be held for three (3) days at the end of each convention to determine the location for the party’s next gathering. Members shall be given forty-eight (48) hours prior to this vote to nominate candidate cities.

3. By-law and platform amendments. At each convention, members may propose amendments to the by-laws and platform. These amendments shall be adopted if they pass with a majority vote. The duration of said votes shall be determined at the discretion of the party executive.

4. Leadership elections and non-confidence motions. Leadership elections may occur during a national convention. Additionally, a member of the party may call for a vote of non-confidence in the leadership of either the chairman or vice chairman. If the vote receives a majority, the relevant position shall become vacant.

5. Endorsements and Primaries. Primaries and endorsement votes may occur during conventions.


V. GENERAL

1. Concurrent ballots. Intra-party elections may run concurrently on the same ballot for purposes of efficiency.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

INDEX OF AMENDMENTS

Amendment 1. (Section II, subsection 5)
Changes leadership elections to correspond with the presidential election cycle.

Amendment 2. (Section II, subsection 5)
Switches leadership votes from an up-down “referendum” to an actual election.

Amendment 3. (Section II, subsection 6)
Clarifies that party leaders can lose the confidence of the party by a majority vote.

Amendment 4. (Section II, subsection 6)
Loosens the time requirements for emergency leadership votes in the event of a vacancy.

Amendment 5. (Section II, subsection 8)
Gives regional chairmen the ability to run endorsement votes pertaining to elections in their region.

Amendment 6. (Section III, subsections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)
Moves section III, subsection 7 to the beginning of the section and renumbers the following subsections and section references accordingly.

Amendment 7. (Section III, subsection 1)
Changes the timing of the endorsement process for regional assembly elections to the first Friday before the vote. This change would make it easier to organize concurrent ballots for multiple races.

Amendment 8. (Section III, subsection 2)
Removes a strange formula to determine the number of endorsements in at-large senate races, and instead sets the limit at two.

Amendment 9. (Section III, subsection 2)
Clarifies that the only time the party will give more than two at-large senate endorsements is if the endorsements strictly go to incumbent Federalist senators.

Amendment 10. (Section III, subsection 2)
Changes the endorsement and primary timeline for at-large senate elections to the first Friday before the vote.

Amendment 11. (Section III, subsection 3)
Changes the endorsement and primary timeline for regional executive elections to the first Friday before the vote.

Amendment 12. (Section III, subsection 5)
Loosens the endorsement timeframe for special elections to the senate.

Amendment 13. (Section III, subsection 6)
Completely alters the endorsement process for presidential elections. This change would institute a fixed primary process for the Federalist Party’s endorsement, which would apply in every presidential election. Non-Federalist tickets would be permitted to run in this primary. The primary would occur three (3) weeks before each regularly-scheduled presidential election.

Amendment 14. (Section III, subsection 8)
Allows the party to hold votes for “second preference endorsements” at the discretion of the party chairman. The amendment also renumbers subsequent subsections.

Amendment 15. (Section IV, subsection 1)
Pushes conventions back so that they would begin three (3) weeks before the appropriate scheduled elections. This change would allow presidential primaries to occur during conventions, should Amendment 13 pass.

Amendment 16. (Section IV, subsection 1)
Cancels conventions for midterm at-large senate elections. Conventions would now occur three times per year before each presidential election.

[ZuWo]

I like your amendments, Hagrid. I am especially in favor of giving regional chairmen the ability to run regional endorsement votes. Clearly, this requires that our regional chairmen are active, so we will have to pay attention to this.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Thanks, ZuWo. I tried to word it so that the power would remain split between the party chairman and the regional chairmen. It's a lot of work to keep track of what's going on, so if someone (a.k.a., me ), were to lose track of things, it would be easier for someone else to pick up the slack.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

So, I’d like to apologize for completely neglecting this convention. If anyone else would like me to tabulate the endorsement results for the senate election that has already passed, let me know. I owe a big sorry to those candidates who were seeking our endorsement. I also apologize for my absence: Exams were busy and then I jetted off to Florida where my internet connection didn’t exactly pan out. Hopefully things haven’t fallen apart too much. As for the Mideast election… I’ll try to scrape something together soon.

That said, I think it’s appropriate for me to give another post-election de-brief now that we’ve had time to absorb Matt’s loss in the senate race. It was too close for comfort, and losing sucks. Matt lost his seat by less than two votes. It’s particularly frustrating because I can point to two Federalist voters who didn’t show up to vote for Matt when I had already considered them “locked up.” They know who they are, so it’s no use pointing fingers… but I think what went down in the April election speaks to those issues I addressed after the last presidential race. I’m going re-state some things, and I apologize if y’all think it’s condescending.

1)   Federalists didn’t vote for Federalists.

Imagine me bringing this one up again! I hate to do it, but it’s hard for me not to when we lose by two votes. Honestly, I don’t have that much to say here, because the situation speaks for itself. I also understand that this critique applies to a lot of our zombie voters who probably won’t even read this message, but I think that fact alone should tell us where we go from here. Here’s the lesson: Me and ZuWo can’t be the only one private messaging these inactive voters, or it makes them a lot more susceptible to manipulation from other forces. We’ve got to build a sense of community, and that’s something we can all work on. I’d urge you to say hello to new voters as they register. Keep engaged. Be friendly. We shouldn’t be failing in this area, but it did us in here.

2)   If a candidate from another party messages you and says “your party’s candidates are safe; vote for me,” don’t buy it.

Or, at the very least, do the research for yourselves. I’m going to single out Mr. X here, and it’s not because I dislike him, but it’s because his pleas to our members—which proved unnecessary—ended up giving the Liberals a seat at our expense. That’s not fair, and I know for a fact that some of our members bought into the idea that we had our two seats in the bag. Tell me—with hindsight, does it look like we had those seats in the bag? There’s only one answer here, and the answer is no. So let’s refrain from making assumptions and go out to support our members first.

3)   Communicate.

“Mr. X spent the last half hour convincing me to vote for him on the IRC, and I didn’t hear anything from Matt.”

I don’t need to say much more. I’m not saying anyone completely bombed in this area, but obviously there was some room for improvement. Talk to each other. Sometimes the mass private messages are necessary, but it never hurts to see where each person stands individually. It goes a long way, and if you’re thinking of running for national office, you’ve got to be willing to do it.

Anyhow, that’s all I have in terms of a post-mortem. Hopefully you can understand why I’m disappointed—again, it’s hard not to be upset when it was just so flippin’ close. These results could have been prevented.

Now, we do still have some business to attend to in this convention. I was hoping to address it before I left for Florida, but it’s better late than never. I have some suggestions for changes to the by-laws, and I think a few other people do too. For one, I think we should consider eliminating the mid-term convention completely. I thought our last convention was very successful, but this one just didn’t seem necessary. They’re a lot of work to run, and if they don’t accomplish anything, there’s no real point. I’m also formulating a better endorsement schedule so the chairman doesn’t have to hold endorsement votes every other day. As it stands, I haven’t even been following the schedule—it’s pretty crazy.

So I hope you’ll all take my words to heart. I apologize for being so strict with this stuff, but it’s my goal to make sure our candidates win. We’ve got to be on the same page if we’re going to make that happen. Over the next few days, please give the by-laws and platform a look to see if there’s anything you think should be changed. I’d love for it to be a bit of a collaboration rather than have it be me saying “let’s change this, this, and this” with y’all echoing back “okay, okay, okay.”

Thanks guys,


Hagrid

I just saw this and I just want to say that I did genuinely believe that MattFromVT was a lock to win reelection and for a while, I thought I had little shot of winning.  What I learned is not to make assumptions until all the votes are in.  I sincerely apologize if I inadvertently cost you guys a seat by trying to persuade folks to vote for me.  Matt did seem safe for a good chunk of the election.  No hard feelings or anything, I get Senator HagridOfTheDeep's point, but just wanted to clarify this.  Sorry to interrupt.