Unified Electoral Code Bill

[Emsworth]

Section 1: Votes

1. In their vote in the Elections to the Senate and the Presidency, 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. A voter may cast a write-in vote in any election, except a runoff election.
4. In order to write-in a candidate, the voter shall not be required to explicitly specify that his or her vote is for a write-in candidate.
5. In order for write-in votes for a candidate to qualify as countable votes, the person written-in must formally accept the write-in candidacy before the end of voting in the given election.
6. A voter may vote for "None of the Above" in any election, except a runoff election. Any voter who votes for "None of the Above" may do so only as a first preference; any and all lower preferences of the voter shall be ignored.

Section 2: Determination of the Winner

1. If any candidate shall gain a majority of highest preference votes, then that candidate shall be declared the winner of the election.
2. If no candidate has a majority of highest preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first preferences shall be eliminated, and his or her votes redistributed according to the next-highest preferences of the voters.
3. If, after the implementation of Clause 2 of this Section, any candidate shall have a majority of the highest 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 highest preference votes.
4. If two or more candidates are tied for the least number of highest preference votes, but none of those candidates are tied for the greatest number of highest preference votes, then the following procedure shall be used to determine which candidate is eliminated:
    i. The candidate with the least total number of preferences expressed by voters shall be eliminated.
    ii. The Senate shall vote on which candidate to eliminate, with the Vice President being able to cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary.

Section 3: Run-off Elections

If all remaining candidates shall have the same number of highest preference votes, then the following procedure shall be used to break the tie:

1. A runoff shall be held beginning at midnight Eastern Standard Time on the first Friday after the election, and ending 72 hours thereafter.
2. Those candidates who have tied shall be automatically entered onto the ballot. No other candidacies shall be allowed.
3. Voters shall only be able to cast a vote for one candidate.
4. If any candidate shall gain a majority of the votes cast, then he shall be declared winner.

Section 4: Sudden Death Tie Breaking

If Section 3 fails to yield a winner then candidates shall have the option of using one of the following methods to break the tie:

1. Number Guessing

    i. The President shall choose an integer between one and ten and shall secretly communicate this number to the Secretary of Forum Affairs and to the Chief Justice. Once receipt of this number by both parties is confirmed, the candidates in the tie shall then guess the original number and communicate this guess to the three officials without revealing their guess to others.
 
    ii. Whichever candidate guesses closest to the number shall be declared the winner of the tie. In the event that two or more guesses are equidistant from the original number, this shall result in a tie, and the process shall be repeated until this event does not occur.

    iii. In the event that any of the office holders listed either are themselves candidates present in the tie or are not present to fulfill their duty, those in the aforementioned situation shall be replaced by the highest office holder in the following list who is not a candidate present in the tie and who is present to fulfill the duty:

Vice President
Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs
President Pro Tempore
Secretary of State
Attorney General
Secretary of Defense
Secretary of the Treasury
Senior Associate Justice
Junior Associate Justice
District 1 Senator
District 2 Senator
District 3 Senator
District 4 Senator
District 5 Senator
Mideast Senator
Midwest Senator
Northeast Senator
Pacific Senator
Southeast Senator

    iv. In the event that all office holders listed in Clause iii either are candidates in the tie or are not present to fulfill the duty, the President shall appoint one to three citizens able to fulfill the duty, depending on how many are needed to fill the vacant positions, and the citizen(s) shall then be required to be approved by the Senate by a majority vote before the number shall be selected.

2. Term Splitting

The candidates in the tie shall agree upon a schedule according to which the candidates shall divide the term among themselves. The schedule shall be allowed to be whatever the candidates agree upon, provided that its total length does not exceed the term to which a candidate would have been elected to had he won in his own right.

3. Governor's Vote

The Governors of the several Regions shall each vote for one of the candidates in the tie; If one candidate achieves an absolute majority, then he shall be declared victor. If no candidate obtains such a majority, then the Governors shall have continuous re-votes until such a candidate exists.

4. Failure to Agree

If within one week of the necessity of Sudden Death Tie Breaking being known, the candidates have not agreed on a method to break the tie, then the method described in Clause 3 shall be used to break the tie.

Section 5: None of the Above

If, in an election, the None of the Above option shall have gained more votes than each candidate, then a new election shall be held under the following procedure

1. The new election shall be held beginning at midnight Eastern Standard Time on the second Friday after the election, and ending 72 hours thereafter.
2. None of the candidates defeated by the None of the Above option in the original may be declared candidates in the new election. However, a voter may still write-in any such candidate.
3. The candidacy declaration deadline for the new election shall be the same as for special elections.
4. Except as regards Clause 2 of this Section, all provisions of Section 1 of this Act shall apply to the new election.

Section 6: Applicability

Any instance of the word "candidate" in Sections 1 through 5 shall be read as "ticket" in the case of Presidential elections.

[continued in next post]

[Emsworth]

Section 7: Administration of Voting Booths

1. Whenever possible, the Secretary of Forum Affairs, or the Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs, shall be the administrator of the voting booth. If both shall be absent or unable to administer the voting booth, then the President shall designate an executive officer to do so instead.
2. The administrator of a voting booth shall be free to design the ballot as he or she sees fit, as long as the content of the ballot is clear and unambiguous.
3. The administrator of a voting booth shall post links to all relevant statute regarding electoral law on the ballot.

Section 8: Certification of Election Results

1. When the voting period has expired, the administrator of the voting booth or a moderator of the Forum shall lock the thread containing the voting booth. The thread shall not be unlocked except to enter the certification of the election result onto the thread.
2. Certification of the election result shall be conducted as soon as humanly possible after the voting booth shall have closed by the administrator of the voting booth. If the administrator of the voting booth shall not be available to conduct such certification, then he or she shall designate another executive officer of the federal government to carry out such certification in his stead.
3. In certifying the result the administrator shall list all those votes which he or she has discounted, and the reasons for these votes being discounted. The voting booth administrator shall discount all votes that are invalid under the law, and shall only count those remaining votes for which he or she is able to make a reasonable determination as to the intent of the voter.
4. Once certification of an election result has occurred it may not be amended or rescinded except on the basis of a Court order.

Section 9: Concession of Victory

1. If a candidate shall concede his or her victory of a Senate election after the certification of the election result, then the candidate with the next greatest number of highest preference votes in that election shall then be declared victor.
2. If both members of a Presidential ticket shall concede their victory in the Presidential election after the certification of the election result, then the members of the ticket with the next greatest number of highest preference votes in that election shall then be declared victors.
3. If a victor who has conceded shall wish to retract his or her concession, then he or she shall only be able to do so with the permission of the newly declared victor.
4. Concessions made before the certification of election results, or on or after the date on which the newly elected official is due to be sworn in, are of no legal effect whatsoever.

Section 10: Statute of Limitations

1. Lawsuits challenging the validity of certified election results shall only be valid if filed with the Supreme Court within one week of the certification of such results.
2. Lawsuits challenging the validity of election results certified on or before 4 July, 2005 shall not be valid.

Section 11: Electoral Crimes

1. The act of in some way interfering or tampering with the Number Guessing option of Sudden Death Tie Breaking to grant an unfair advantage to one of the tied candidates or tickets is hereby declared a crime against the Republic of Atlasia. Any person found guilty of such a charge shall have their voting rights removed for up to 8 months. Trials will be conducted according to the provisions set in place by the Omnibus Criminal Law Act.

Section 12: Federal Activity Requirements

1. All those persons who have posted at least 25 times in the 8 weeks (56 days) prior to the commencement of an election shall be defined as active for the purposes of that election.
2. Those persons considered inactive (defined as not active) shall not be qualified to vote in a particular election.
3.  Anyone who has cast an absentee ballot shall be regarded as an active voter, provided he or she fulfills the definition by the time the election commences for which the ballot was cast, of an "active voter"; However, the post containing the ballot shall not count towards the total number of required posts.

Section 13: Repealed Legislation

The following Acts are repealed:
1. Preferential Voting Act
2. None of the Above Act
3. Election Procedures, Certification, and Challenges Act
4  The Amendment to the Election Procedures, Certification, and Challenges Act
5. Omnibus Election System, Procedure and Certification Act
6. Federal Activity Requirements Act

Sponsor: Sen. True Independent
Co-Sponsor: Sen. Sam Spade

[Colin]

I would like to propose an amendment to this bill:

Section 4 Clause 3 is struck and Section 4 Clause 1 is hereby struck and replaced with:

Senatorial Vote

The Senate shall vote to break the tie under quorum rules, with the Vice President casting a deciding vote as necessary.

[MHS2002]

I would like to co-sponsor this bill, if that is acceptable to all parties involved.

[Sam Spade]

I would like to co-sponsor this bill, if that is acceptable to all parties involved.

No problem here.

[Peter]

I would like to propose an amendment to this bill:

Section 4 Clause 3 is struck and Section 4 Clause 1 is hereby struck and replaced with:

Senatorial Vote

The Senate shall vote to break the tie under quorum rules, with the Vice President casting a deciding vote as necessary.

Two things to note here: Any significant amendment of Section 4 will have an impact on Clause 4 of that Section. Also, the removal of the number guessing option will render Section 11 redundant, so that should be removed also.

[Emsworth]

I would like to propose an amendment to this bill:

Section 4 Clause 3 is struck and Section 4 Clause 1 is hereby struck and replaced with:

Senatorial Vote

The Senate shall vote to break the tie under quorum rules, with the Vice President casting a deciding vote as necessary.

The question is on the Wixted Amendment. All those in favor, say Aye; those opposed, say No.

Senator Wixted has PMed me an absentee vote of Aye.

Unless a Senator objects, Section 11 will be automatically struck if this amendment is passed, because that section is only relevant in the context of these clauses.

[MHS2002]

Aye

[MasterJedi]

Aye

[True Democrat]

Aye

[Sam Spade]

Abstain.  I don't really care one way or the other.

[DanielX]

Abstain.  I don't really care one way or the other.

I also abstain, for the same reasons as my esteemed colleague.

[Emsworth]

With four ayes and three absences/ abstentions, the amendment is passed.

[Peter]

Section 4: Sudden Death Tie Breaking

If Section 3 fails to yield a winner then candidates shall have the option of using one of the following methods to break the tie:

1. Senatorial Vote

The Senate shall vote to break the tie under quorum rules, with the Vice President casting a deciding vote as necessary.

2. Term Splitting

The candidates in the tie shall agree upon a schedule according to which the candidates shall divide the term among themselves. The schedule shall be allowed to be whatever the candidates agree upon, provided that its total length does not exceed the term to which a candidate would have been elected to had he won in his own right.

4. Failure to Agree

If within one week of the necessity of Sudden Death Tie Breaking being known, the candidates have not agreed on a method to break the tie, then the method described in Clause 3 shall be used to break the tie.

Section 4 presently stands as above. I'm not so bothered about the last section being numbered 4 (and I think that SPRs might have automatically renumbered it anyway), I am bothered that Clause 3 no longer exists, or that it will be self referring.

[Emsworth]

Section 4 presently stands as above. I'm not so bothered about the last section being numbered 4 (and I think that SPRs might have automatically renumbered it anyway), I am bothered that Clause 3 no longer exists, or that it will be self referring.

This being another minor grammatical change, the clause is renumbered, and the reference changed to "clause 1," unless a Senator objects.

[Emsworth]

The bill now stands as follows:

Section 1: Votes

1. In their vote in the Elections to the Senate and the Presidency, 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. A voter may cast a write-in vote in any election, except a runoff election.
4. In order to write-in a candidate, the voter shall not be required to explicitly specify that his or her vote is for a write-in candidate.
5. In order for write-in votes for a candidate to qualify as countable votes, the person written-in must formally accept the write-in candidacy before the end of voting in the given election.
6. A voter may vote for "None of the Above" in any election, except a runoff election. Any voter who votes for "None of the Above" may do so only as a first preference; any and all lower preferences of the voter shall be ignored.

Section 2: Determination of the Winner

1. If any candidate shall gain a majority of highest preference votes, then that candidate shall be declared the winner of the election.
2. If no candidate has a majority of highest preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first preferences shall be eliminated, and his or her votes redistributed according to the next-highest preferences of the voters.
3. If, after the implementation of Clause 2 of this Section, any candidate shall have a majority of the highest 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 highest preference votes.
4. If two or more candidates are tied for the least number of highest preference votes, but none of those candidates are tied for the greatest number of highest preference votes, then the following procedure shall be used to determine which candidate is eliminated:
    i. The candidate with the least total number of preferences expressed by voters shall be eliminated.
    ii. The Senate shall vote on which candidate to eliminate, with the Vice President being able to cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary.

Section 3: Run-off Elections

If all remaining candidates shall have the same number of highest preference votes, then the following procedure shall be used to break the tie:

1. A runoff shall be held beginning at midnight Eastern Standard Time on the first Friday after the election, and ending 72 hours thereafter.
2. Those candidates who have tied shall be automatically entered onto the ballot. No other candidacies shall be allowed.
3. Voters shall only be able to cast a vote for one candidate.
4. If any candidate shall gain a majority of the votes cast, then he shall be declared winner.

Section 4: Sudden Death Tie Breaking

If Section 3 fails to yield a winner then candidates shall have the option of using one of the following methods to break the tie:

1. Senate Vote

The Senate shall vote to break the tie under quorum rules, with the Vice President casting a deciding vote as necessary.

2. Term Splitting

The candidates in the tie shall agree upon a schedule according to which the candidates shall divide the term among themselves. The schedule shall be allowed to be whatever the candidates agree upon, provided that its total length does not exceed the term to which a candidate would have been elected to had he won in his own right.

3. Failure to Agree

If within one week of the necessity of Sudden Death Tie Breaking being known, the candidates have not agreed on a method to break the tie, then the method described in Clause 1 shall be used to break the tie.

Section 5: None of the Above

If, in an election, the None of the Above option shall have gained more votes than each candidate, then a new election shall be held under the following procedure

1. The new election shall be held beginning at midnight Eastern Standard Time on the second Friday after the election, and ending 72 hours thereafter.
2. None of the candidates defeated by the None of the Above option in the original may be declared candidates in the new election. However, a voter may still write-in any such candidate.
3. The candidacy declaration deadline for the new election shall be the same as for special elections.
4. Except as regards Clause 2 of this Section, all provisions of Section 1 of this Act shall apply to the new election.

Section 6: Applicability

Any instance of the word "candidate" in Sections 1 through 5 shall be read as "ticket" in the case of Presidential elections.

Section 7: Administration of Voting Booths

1. Whenever possible, the Secretary of Forum Affairs, or the Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs, shall be the administrator of the voting booth. If both shall be absent or unable to administer the voting booth, then the President shall designate an executive officer to do so instead.
2. The administrator of a voting booth shall be free to design the ballot as he or she sees fit, as long as the content of the ballot is clear and unambiguous.
3. The administrator of a voting booth shall post links to all relevant statute regarding electoral law on the ballot.

Section 8: Certification of Election Results

1. When the voting period has expired, the administrator of the voting booth or a moderator of the Forum shall lock the thread containing the voting booth. The thread shall not be unlocked except to enter the certification of the election result onto the thread.
2. Certification of the election result shall be conducted as soon as humanly possible after the voting booth shall have closed by the administrator of the voting booth. If the administrator of the voting booth shall not be available to conduct such certification, then he or she shall designate another executive officer of the federal government to carry out such certification in his stead.
3. In certifying the result the administrator shall list all those votes which he or she has discounted, and the reasons for these votes being discounted. The voting booth administrator shall discount all votes that are invalid under the law, and shall only count those remaining votes for which he or she is able to make a reasonable determination as to the intent of the voter.
4. Once certification of an election result has occurred it may not be amended or rescinded except on the basis of a Court order.

Section 9: Concession of Victory

1. If a candidate shall concede his or her victory of a Senate election after the certification of the election result, then the candidate with the next greatest number of highest preference votes in that election shall then be declared victor.
2. If both members of a Presidential ticket shall concede their victory in the Presidential election after the certification of the election result, then the members of the ticket with the next greatest number of highest preference votes in that election shall then be declared victors.
3. If a victor who has conceded shall wish to retract his or her concession, then he or she shall only be able to do so with the permission of the newly declared victor.
4. Concessions made before the certification of election results, or on or after the date on which the newly elected official is due to be sworn in, are of no legal effect whatsoever.

Section 10: Statute of Limitations

1. Lawsuits challenging the validity of certified election results shall only be valid if filed with the Supreme Court within one week of the certification of such results.
2. Lawsuits challenging the validity of election results certified on or before 4 July, 2005 shall not be valid.

Section 11: Federal Activity Requirements

1. All those persons who have posted at least 25 times in the 8 weeks (56 days) prior to the commencement of an election shall be defined as active for the purposes of that election.
2. Those persons considered inactive (defined as not active) shall not be qualified to vote in a particular election.
3.  Anyone who has cast an absentee ballot shall be regarded as an active voter, provided he or she fulfills the definition by the time the election commences for which the ballot was cast, of an "active voter"; However, the post containing the ballot shall not count towards the total number of required posts.

Section 12: Repealed Legislation

The following Acts are repealed:
1. Preferential Voting Act
2. None of the Above Act
3. Election Procedures, Certification, and Challenges Act
4  The Amendment to the Election Procedures, Certification, and Challenges Act
5. Omnibus Election System, Procedure and Certification Act
6. Federal Activity Requirements Act

[Emsworth]

The question is on final passage of the bill. All those in favor, say Aye; those opposed, say No.

Senator Colin Wixted casts an absentee ballot in favor.

[Sam Spade]

Aye, obviously.

[Gabu]

Aye.

[DanielX]

Aye

[MasterJedi]

Aye

[Emsworth]

The bill has enough votes to pass. Senators may vote or change their votes in the next 24 hours.

[Peter]

Section 4 Clause 3 is still self-referring.

[True Democrat]

Aye for the record.

[MHS2002]

Aye