Mideast Propositions

[Peter]

I plan to put the following measures on the ballot for the Mideast next weekend (beginning Friday 18th March):

Prop 05 - Activity Requirements

1.  Those registered voters of the Mideast Region shall be considered inactive if they have not posted at least five times in the forum at large in the four weeks prior to the commencement of a given election or vote, or have not posted at all in the fantasy elections boards in the eight weeks prior to the aformentioned commencement.
2.  Under authority granted by Article IV, Clause 1 of the Regional Constitution, those considered inactive under Clause 1 of this Statute shall not be eligible to vote in a given election or vote.


Prop 06 - Juvenile Death Penalty

1.  The Death Penalty shall no longer be considered as a possible punishment in the Mideast Region for those criminals who were less than eighteen years old at the time of the commission of their crime.
2.  The decision of the Mideast Governor to commute the death penalties of those juvenile criminals whose sentences would not have been rendered had this statute been in effect is affirmed.

There will also be a 7th Proposition on the Regional Electoral System that I will write over this weekend. There is a discussion on this ongoing in this thread

[Akno21]

Can we just abolish the death penalty altogether, not just for juvenilles, or did we do that already?

[Peter]

Can we just abolish the death penalty altogether, not just for juvenilles, or did we do that already?

We have not done that yet. You are free to try by Initiative to put it on the ballot however.

[Akno21]

Can we just abolish the death penalty altogether, not just for juvenilles, or did we do that already?

We have not done that yet. You are free to try by Initiative to put it on the ballot however.

I will. When is the deadline, I want to confer with someone to get the language correct before I offically introduce it.

[Peter]

You are governed by Section 3 of Mideast Election Regulations:

1. As mandated by the Mideast Constitution, the residents of the Mideast shall have the ability to propose initiative (for Statute or Constitutional Amendment) and recall petitions.
2. Any thread in which an initiative or recall petition is initiated shall be clearly titled as such in the Subject line.
3. The text of the initiative or the intent of the recall shall be clear and unambiguous else it shall not be valid.
4. The Governor or Lieutenant Governor must formally recognise an initiative or recall petition as soon as is reasonably possible unless they feel that either of the previous two clauses has not been satisfied.
5. The Governor or Lieutenant Governor must formally state when an initiative or recall petition has gained the necessary support to be voted upon.

And Article III, Section 2 of the Regional Constitution:

   1. If one-fifth of the People shall call for a vote on a Bill they have written, then a vote shall be held on the Initiative as though it were a Proposition.
   2. If the Initiative shall pass by less than a two-thirds majority of those voting, then the Governor shall have power of veto.
   3. An Initiative must accumulate the necessary support to be voted upon within one week of its proposal, else it shall not be valid.
   4. Propositions and Initiatives may address any matter not denied to them by the Federal Constitution or specified by this Constitution.

FYI there are presently 32 voters in the Mideast, meaning that you need 7 voters to sign the petition to get it on the ballot.

[Akno21]

Thanks for that info.

[Peter]

So I don't lose it, this is the Akno's death penalty petition: here

[Peter]

Prop 07 - Gubernatorial Elections

Section 1: The Ballot

1. In their ballot in the Gubernatorial Election, each voter shall list some, none or all of the candidates in the voter's order of preference for them.
2. If no numbering of the preferences is stated then the candidate at the top of the list shall be presumed to be the first preference, the candidate on the second line of the list shall be presumed to be the second preference, and so on.
3. Nothing in this section shall be construed as to amend the provisions of Section 1 (Write-ins) of the Election and Vote Regulations Statute.

Section 2: Determination of the Winner

1. If any candidate shall gain a majority of the first preference votes, then that candidate shall be declared the winner of the election.
2. If no such candidate shall exist then the candidate with the least preferences shall be eliminated and his votes redistributed according to lower preferences.
3. If any candidate shall have a majority of the preference votes, then that candidate shall be declared the winner of the election. If no such candidate shall exist then Clause 2 of this Section shall be implemented again until such a candidate does exist or until all candidates have the same number of preference votes.
4. If there shall be a situation where there shall be two candidates tied for the least number of preference votes, then the following procedure shall be used to determine which candidate shall be eliminated and his preference votes redistributed:
   i. The candidate with the least number of first preference votes shall be eliminated.
   ii. The candidate with the least number of second preference votes shall be eliminated.
   iii. And so on for all preference votes.
   iv. If neither candidate has yet to be eliminated then the Governor with the consent of the Lt Governor shall select one of the candidates to be eliminated.
5. If the event that all candidates have the same number of preference votes shall occur then the procedure outlined in Section 2 (Ties) of Election and Vote Regulations Statute shall be used to break this tie.

Section 3: Determination of the Runner-up

1. If a winner under Section 2 is able to be determined through the redistribution of preference votes then the following procedure shall be used to determine a runner-up.
2. The winner's first preference votes shall be redistributed according to preferences. If any candidate shall then have a majority of the preference votes, he shall be declared the runner-up.
3. If no such candidate shall exist then the procedures of Section 2, Clauses 2 through 5 shall be implemented to determine a runner-up.
There is also now Joe's proposal to change the jurisdictional rules concerning Stow, Ohio.

[Peter]

I have been slightly concerned by various gaps in Mideast electoral law that I've discovered in the last couple of weeks, some coming from our actual experiences and some from review of federal laws.

I will therefore be putting the following proposition up to deal with these insufficiencies for the next ballot.
Prop 09 - Mideast Second Election and Vote Regulations Statute

Section 1: Administration of Voting Booths

   1. Those officers with power to administrate voting booths may have concurrent power to administrate a single voting booth.
   2. Certification of election and vote results as outlined in Section 4 Clause 3 of the Election and Vote Regulations Statute shall be carried out as soon after the period of voting has expired as is reasonably possible.

Section 2: Initiative and Recall Petitions

   1. There shall be no more than one initiative or recall petition contained in each thread.
   2. The Governor or Lieutenant Governor may decline to formally recognise any petitions in violation of the above clause.
   3. The author of an initiative or recall petition may withdraw their petition at any time before it has gained sufficient signatures to be voted upon.
   4. A withdrawn petition may be adopted by another person with all its signatures still valid, though the original date of proposal shall remain unchanged for the purposes of applying Article III Section 2 Clause 3 and Section 3 Clause 4 of the Regional Constitution.
   5. A signatory to an initiative or recall petition may withdraw their signature at any time before the petition has gained sufficient signatures to be voted upon.
   6. If an initiative is amended by the author after its petition has gained signatories, then the Governor or Lieutenant Governor may require these signatories to clarify whether their signature remains in effect for the amended version.
   7. The proposer of an intitiative or recall petition is considered a signatory to that petition regardless of whether he states such by signing it.

Section 3: Limitations on Lawsuits concerning election and vote results

   1. Lawsuits challenging the validity of election or vote results shall only be valid if filed with the Mideast Superior Court within two weeks of the certification of such results.
   2. Lawsuits challenging the validity of election or vote results certified on or before 1 April, 2005 shall only be valid if filed with the Mideast Superior Court within one week of the passage of this statute.
   3. This section shall in no way be construed as to effect the validity of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of statute.
The vote will not be taking place concurrently with the federal midterms this month because our elections begin on the third Friday of a month, whilst federals begin on the second to last Friday of a month. This April these happen to be different weekends. Our vote will be beginning on 15 April.

Any suggestions of improvements to this proposition are welcomed (as are other suggestions to generally improve forum affairs laws)

There will also be propositions concerning part of the budget, one concerning some environmental laws and possibly one on euthanasia. I need to finish writing these however.

[Peter]

Prop 10 - Pornography and Sex Crime Proposition

Section 1: Right to pornography

1. All those persons of 16 years of age or older not incarcerated for crimes shall have the right to buy, possess and view pornography depicting only persons of 18 years of age or older.

Section 2: Right to engage in sexual relations

1. All those persons of 16 years of age or older not incarcerated for crimes shall have the right to give consent to engage in sexual acts with other persons of 16 years of age or older.
2. All those laws outlawing particular sexual conducts based on the number of persons engaged in the conduct are hereby repealed.
3. All those laws outlawing particular sexual conducts based on the sex, sexuality, marital status, race, religion, ancestry or nationality of those engaged in the conduct are hereby repealed.

Section 3: Additions to Rape definitions

1. Any person of 16 years of age or older who engages in a sexual act with a person of 12 years of age or younger is guilty of statutory rape.
2. Any person of 21 years of age or older who engages in a sexual act with a person of 15 years or younger is guilty of statutory rape.

Section 4: Co-operation with Federal Authorities

1. All Mideast law enforcement agencies shall co-operate fully with Federal authorities empowered to pursue investigations pursuant to Sections 1 through 8 of the Anti-Opebo Act.
There's another one for this month. I wrote this after I read through the Federal act because I think its good to have Regional governments responding to the federal legislation that gets passed that in some way involves them.

I imagine the porn change is pretty much a uniform change from 18. Most states in the Mideast have an age of consent law of 16, but there are a few exceptions: Illinois, Missouri (17) and Virginia, Wisconsin (18). Any of the laws that have survived the Lawrence cull against various sexual acts based on bigoted views also get repealed.

I have no idea how these statutory rape definitions affect standing State laws, but they are not intended to replace those in place, simply supplement them. If by bizarre insanity these definitions are not already included in those laws, they now will be.

[Peter]

So I don't lose them for future reference:

Akno's Initiative on ID

Dean's Initiative on CC and Recall

MHS' Initiative on Abortion

Note: Prop 09 has been slightly amended with a new Sec 2 Cl 7

[Peter]

Many thanks go to Lt. Gov. Joe Republic for authoring the following proposition:

Prop 11 - Mideast Alcohol Age Restrictions Statute

Definition:  Low-alcohol = a beverage containing less than 0.5% alcohol.

1. No one under the age of 18 is allowed to possess or consume any alcohol in any public or private place, unless the underage person is accompanied by a parent, spouse who is not an underage person, or legal guardian.

2. Also anyone under the age of 16 is not allowed to possess or consume any low-alcohol beverage in any public or private place, unless accompanied by a parent, spouse who is not an underage person, or legal guardian.

3. The limit of intoxication to drive a vehicle for someone under 18 years of age is a concentration of at least two-hundredths of one gram but less than ten-hundredths of one gram by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of the person's breath.  For everyone 18 years of age or more it is a concentration of ten-hundredths of one per cent or more but less than seventeen-hundredths of one per cent by weight of alcohol in the person's blood.

4. Anyone found guilty of violating Clauses 1 or 2 may be subject to one or both of the following penalties:
A fine of no less than $50 and no more than $500.
A period of community service no longer than six months.

5. Anyone found guilty of violating Clause 3 may be subject to one or more of the following penalties:
A fine of no less than $100 and no more than $1000.
A period of community service no longer than two years.
A term of imprisonment no longer than twelve months.
Revocation of driver's license for a period no longer than six months if it is a first offense.
Revocation of driver's license for a period no longer than twelve months if it is a second offense.
Permanent revocation of driver's license if it is a third offense.

[Peter]

Prop 12 - Honouring the Fathers Statute

No formal language yet, but basically what will happen is that by Law we will rename towns and cities within the Mideast to names that Honour the Founding Fathers of both the Nation and the Region in particular.

For Nym90: A town in MI and IL will be renamed to Nyman
For Al: A town in WV and KY will be renamed to Cephmiar
For NickG: A town in MD and MO will be renamed to Goedert
For Demrepdan: A town in IL will be renamed to Danbury
For Texasgurl: A town in WI will be renamed to Texasville
For MichaelZ: A town in VA will be renamed to Ziegerston
For Liberty: A town in VA will be renamed to Liberty
For JFK: A town in OH will be renamed to Kennedy
For Gustaf: A town in IN will be renamed to Lundgren
For PBrunsel: A town in MO will be renamed to Brunsel.

The "convention" of how this works I invisage going something like this:
Former Presidents, VPs and Governors from the Region will get 2 towns named after them.
Any Former Senator, SCJ or Secretary (who actually did something) from the Region will get a town named after them.
Former Presidents from outside the Mideast get a town named after them.

I did this from memory last night, so apologies to anybody who I've missed.

I need suggestions for towns that would be appropriate to change, and I will allow for those being honoured to choose their particuar town.

This has to be done by Thursday so it can be on the ballot, so don't be shy.

[ian]

Section 1: Right to pornography

1. All those persons of 16 years of age or older not incarcerated for crimes shall have the right to buy, possess and view pornography depicting only persons of 18 years of age or older.

Didn't this already pass nationally?

[Peter]

Section 1: Right to pornography

1. All those persons of 16 years of age or older not incarcerated for crimes shall have the right to buy, possess and view pornography depicting only persons of 18 years of age or older.

Didn't this already pass nationally?

There were various suggestions in debate on the Anti-Opebo Act, this might have been one of them. If they had, I'd question its legality because its not really a federal issue.

[Gabu]

There were various suggestions in debate on the Anti-Opebo Act, this might have been one of them. If they had, I'd question its legality because its not really a federal issue.

The Anti-Opebo Act was dealing with child pornography and pedophilia; I don't see anything in it that would regulate adult pornography.

[Akno21]

I was senator for 3 months, but I won't be offended if I don't get a town.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Just general thoughts right now...

For Nym90: A town in MI and IL will be renamed to Nyman

For MI, a town in the UP would probably make sense (ideally in Marquette county) although if not UP a town in Manistee county wouldn't be a bad choice either.

For IL... somewhere in Southern Illinois perhaps. No reason, it's just nice down there. Cairo maybe? (for those that don't know it's where the Mississippi and the Ohio meet).

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Hindman, KY for one. Tuther... ooh... somewhere in either McDowell, Mingo or Logan counties. I'll decide tomorrow.

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IIRC he lives near Silver Spring*, so something from round there might make sense. Or somewhere in rural MD.
Because of * the town in MO should be in the old lead mining area. Somewhere in Iron county perhaps?

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The answer to that is obvious: Champaign City

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Logically that would be Whitewater City

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Where in VA is most like Ilford? Somewhere in Fairfax county I'd guess

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Easy enough: somewhere in Henrico county

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I think some of the eastern suburbs of Cleveland are a bit like Dulwich. Alternatively, JFK's best county in 1960 was Mahoning county... and Youngstown sure could do with a change of image...

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Nowhere like Sweden in IN, but parts of the Ohio Valley are nice... a town in Perry county maybe?

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In 1928, Hoover's best county in MO was Hickory. It stayed with Hoover in 1932 as well and was the only county in the area to do so.

So it has to be a small town in Hickory county

[Peter]

In recognition of the contribution to the Republic of Atlasia at large and the Mideast Region in particular, we honour the following individuals by the renaming of towns and cities:

   1. Nym90, President of the Republic, Supreme Court Associate Justice and Senator, esteemed resident of Michigan; For him, the towns of Ishpeming, Michigan and Cairo, Illinois are renamed to Nyman.
   2. Al, Vice President of the Republic, Senator and Secretary of Labor, esteemed resident of West Virginia; For him, the towns of [ ], West Virginia and Hindman, Kentucky are renamed to Cephmiar.
   3. NickG, Governor of the Mideast, esteemed resident of Maryland: For him, the towns of
   4. Demrepdan, Supreme Court Associate Justice, Senator, Secretary of Forum Affairs, Attorney General and Principle Framer of the First Constitution, esteemed resident of Illinois; For him the city of Champaign, Illinois is renamed to Danbury.
   5. Texasgurl, Supreme Court Associate Justice and Senator, esteemed resident of Wisconsin; For her, the city of Whitewater, Wisconsin is renamed to Texasville.
   6. MichaelZ, Senator, esteemed resident of the District of Columbia; For him, the town of Herndon, Virginia is renamed to Ziegerston.
   7. Liberty, Supreme Court Associate Justice, Secretary of State, esteemed resident of Virginia; For him, the town of Glen Allen, Virginia is renamed to Liberty.
   8. Gustaf, President of the Republic, Secretary of State, esteemed resident of Minnesota; For him, the city of New Lexington, Ohio is renamed to Lundgren.
   9. John F. Kennedy, President of the Republic, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Senator and Secretary of Defence and Security, esteemed resident of California; For him, the town of Youngstown, Ohio is renamed to Kennedy.
  10. PBrunsel, President of the Republic, Governor of the Midwest, esteemed resident of Iowa; For him, the town of Hermitage, Missouri is renamed to Brunsel.
I have the above. Al, the rest is pretty much down to you....

[Colin]

Al's last name is Cephmiar? Is that Welsh or just an old Anglo-Saxon name?

[Peter]

Al's last name is Cephmiar? Is that Welsh or just an old Anglo-Saxon name?

Its not his genuine surname I think, but it is a rearrangement of his surname that he uses when signing up for email accounts, etc. Since he won't give us his real surname, this is as good as I can do for him.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I was about to suggest using Alton instead (Al+Ton) but then I remembered a certain former M.P for a seat in Liverpool... no I'd rather not be associated with him...

Alsby wouldn't be that bad on reflection.

Oh... I'll take Welch, WV

[Joe Republic]

May I also suggest renaming a town in Indiana to Bellville?

[Peter]

I was about to suggest using Alton instead (Al+Ton) but then I remembered a certain former M.P for a seat in Liverpool... no I'd rather not be associated with him...

haha

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Okay thats fine. I still need help on the towns for NickG if thats okay.

May I also suggest renaming a town in Indiana to Bellville?

I wouldn't want Bellville, but beyond that everybody else on the list has retired from the post that qualifies them to be on the list, so I wouldn't be at all comfortable with putting my name on. Hopefully when I leave the post, I'll be honoured in some way, but thats something for then.

[Joe Republic]

May I also suggest renaming a town in Indiana to Bellville?

I wouldn't want Bellville,

Bellburg it is then.

but beyond that everybody else on the list has retired from the post that qualifies them to be on the list, so I wouldn't be at all comfortable with putting my name on. Hopefully when I leave the post, I'll be honoured in some way, but thats something for then.

Fine by me.