Confirmation Hearing: Alcon (Forum Affairsl)

[Defarge]

I call the hearing on Alcon's nomination as Secretary of Forum Affairs to order.

[Jake]

Personally, I'm fine with this nominee. Alcon has shown himself to be active on the forum and I have no problem with him serving as SoFA. One question though.

Who would you appoint as your Deputy if confirmed?

[Ebowed]

As Secretary of Forum Affairs, how would you deal with votes in Presidential elections that listed a Presidential candidate and not a Vice Presidential candidate?

[Alcon]

Personally, I'm fine with this nominee. Alcon has shown himself to be active on the forum and I have no problem with him serving as SoFA. One question though.

Who would you appoint as your Deputy if confirmed?

Thank you for your kind words.  I hope I live up to them.

As for the Deputy position:  I have considered this, but I do not yet have a candidate.  Frankly, my main priority wil be making the Deputy's position entirely useless.  As things currently stand, the Deputy SoFA is more like a co-SoFA.  For a position without confirmation, that is way too much sway over something as important as election certification.

My priority will be to make it so that, even if the Deputy SoFA does need to be used (such as in a future administration), their job will be little more than opening/closing the voting both and quickly calculating results in as idiot-proof of a way as humanly possible.  Whether that means a new voting system or a program to calculate, I do not know yet, but we should never have a situation where the SoFA is rushing through complex math to get election results certified, let alone the Deputy SoFA.

As for your question...someone competent with stable Internet access and a well-defined schedule is a must.  There are plenty of people who fall into this category, so I don't see this as much of a problem.

[PBrunsel]

I'd be a lunatic to oppose Alcon for this post!

Heck, he's pretty much been it for a few months now anyway.

[Alcon]

As Secretary of Forum Affairs, how would you deal with votes in Presidential elections that listed a Presidential candidate and not a Vice Presidential candidate?

Thank you for your question.

There are three possible routes here:

1. The voter has written in no Vice President, and the preference is invalid.
2. The voter has cast a blank vote for Vice President,
3. The voter's intent clearly being to cast a full ballot, it should be counted as so.

All are valid.  I believe only one is pragmatic.

The first one disenfranchises the voter entirely.  I can't imagine anyone would be meaning to cast a blank ballot while doing this.  Although it may be the best literal interpretation of the action, it's open too much to interpretation.  Is it legal to cast a ballot without a Vice President?  Can we assume that no Vice President and NOTA are the same thing?  The latter question matters in some situations.  Option one is too much unclarity, and too much disenfranchisement.

Option two requires assuming that no vote is the same thing as NOTA, which is problematic.  Frankly, if we assume that no vote and NOTA are the same thing, I think it's just as easy to assume that it is the Vice President listed on the ballot - and it disenfranchises fewer people.

The short answer to your question is that I would prefer that fewer voters are disenfranchised, especially considering that no VP vote being NOTA for VP is as much of an assumption as no VP vote being what's listed on the ballot.

EDIT:  By the way, we need a law for this, not just the SoFA's judgement.  This should not change every election, and my decision on this is just until the Senate passes legislation clarifying this.  Which, I assure you, I will force you all to do.  With a pointy knife.

[Alcon]

I'd be a lunatic to oppose Alcon for this post!

Heck, he's pretty much been it for a few months now anyway.

Haha, thanks.  I appreciate that. 

By the way, I encourage even convinced Senators to ask questions in a public form.  Transparency is the key to a good SoFA department.  Nowhere in the government structure is it more important to be clear, concise, and open than in elections.  A good dialogue with the Senate will be key to my administration.

[Sam Spade]

Do you promise to never let ilikeverin ever be involved in any Forum Affairs position in the future?

[Alcon]

Do you promise to never let ilikeverin ever be involved in any Forum Affairs position in the future?

To be fair to Verin, he was honest about how occupied he was.  I do not think he should have accepted the position, but as a student, I can appreciate his situation.  It is easily to overestimate one's ability to fulfill offices like these.  Verin may not have put his best forward, but I genuinely believe he felt badly about it.

[Gabu]

EDIT:  By the way, we need a law for this, not just the SoFA's judgement.  This should not change every election, and my decision on this is just until the Senate passes legislation clarifying this.  Which, I assure you, I will force you all to do.  With a pointy knife.

My Election Reform Bill contains a provision clarifying what to do when this occurs.

[Jake]

Do you promise to never let ilikeverin ever be involved in any Forum Affairs position in the future?

To be fair to Verin, he was honest about how occupied he was.  I do not think he should have accepted the position, but as a student, I can appreciate his situation.  It is easily to overestimate one's ability to fulfill offices like these.  Verin may not have put his best forward, but I genuinely believe he felt badly about it.

Hopefully, that's a yes to Sam's question

I've had my questions answered.

[Platypus]

Do you support the Preferential system of voting? If not, what system do you support? Do you support FPTP or FPTP with a runoff?

[PBrunsel]

Where do you stand on the abolition of the Midwest region?

[Alcon]

Do you support the Preferential system of voting? If not, what system do you support? Do you support FPTP or FPTP with a runoff?

I like Preferential voting, but it has some major issues.  I support researching the possibility of other types of voting, especially if they are easy and quick to calculate results for!

FPTP is viable, but personally I like to have many different kinds of candidates in the race.  Unlike the U.S., we lack the party funding support system and primary system that would make FPTP best.  Just too much possibility of spoilers.  FPTP with a runoff is better, but still has the same problem.

Where do you stand on the abolition of the Midwest region?

I do not think this is necessary - yet.  There may be a problem if we bleed more members now that the 2005 elections are over, but considering that the 2006 elections are now upcoming, I doubt that will happen.   The Midwest will probably stay intact, I think.

Thanks for your questions.  Sorry about my brevity - I'm terribly tired today.

[Defarge]

Senators may now vote on the confirmation of Alcon's as Secretary of Forum Affairs.

All those in favor, say Aye; those opposed, say No.

[Jake]

Alcon has proven himself the best man for the job and I'll be happy to vote Aye on his confirmation, though he has to promise to keep ilikeverin out of this department.

Aye

[Ebowed]

Yea

I trust Alcon to do a fine job as SoFA.

[The Dowager Mod]

Aye

[Platypus]

Aye

[Gabu]

Aye.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Aye

[MasterJedi]

Aye

[DanielX]

aye

[Joe Republic]

Could either the Vice President or the PPT please confirm Alcon's confirmation?

[ilikeverin]

Could either the Vice President or the PPT please confirm Alcon's confirmation?

Please?