b]Consolidated Northeastern Election Law[/b]
1) Filling vacancies
A) Assembly
i) When a vacancy arises in the Assembly three or more weeks before the next regularly scheduled Assembly election, the vacancy shall be filled by a special election.
ii) The special election shall be held in the same manner and procedure as a regular election for the whole Assembly.
iii) If the date of the vacancy is two days or less before a Friday, the election shall be held on the next weekend.
iv) Upon the certification of the results by the appropriate election administrator, the elected candidate shall be eligible to assume their seat.
v) The governor may appoint a person to fill the vacated seat. The term of the appointed representative shall expire on the swearing-in of the newly elected representative.
vi) When a vacancy arises in the Assembly less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled Assembly election, the vacancy shall be filled by gubernatorial appointment.
B) Regional Senator
i) If a vacancy should arise for the Northeast Senate seat, a special election shall take place to fill the vacancy. The polling booth shall be opened at 12:00:00AM Eastern Standard Time on the Friday after the vacancy occurs, unless the date of the vacancy is two days or less before that Friday, in which case, the polling booth shall be opened at 12:00:00AM Eastern Standard time the following Friday. The polling booth shall close at 11:59:59PM the following Sunday. The victor shall be seated immediately. The Governor may appoint an interim Senator to fill the seat in the time between the arising of the vacancy and election of a new Senator.
ii) If there are less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled regional Senate election when the vacancy occurs, the Governor may forgo the special election and appoint a Senator subject to confirmation by the Legislative Assembly.
C) Governor
i) Northeast Governor vacancies shall be filled in the manner described in Article III, Sections 6-7 of the Northeast Constitution. As of the time of this law, those provisions state:
"6. If the office of Governor is to become vacant at some point while he or she is in office, the Lieutenant Governor shall assume the role of Acting Governor until a special election may be held. During this time, the Acting Governor shall retain their position as Lieutenant Governor and Representative. However, they shall not be able to exercise any of their duties as Lieutenant or as Representative during this time. If the vacancy occurs less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled election, the Lieutenant Governor shall immediately become the Governor and serve for the remainder of the term - vacating their other offices.
7. In the event that the office of Governor falls vacant three or more weeks before the next scheduled gubernatorial election, a special election shall be held to fill the remainder of the term. The election shall be held on the first Friday following the vacancy, except where the Friday falls within two days of the position becoming vacant, in which case the election will take place the following Friday, and be held in the same manner as a regular gubernatorial election. Upon certification of the results, the Governor-elect shall immediately assume office upon swearing in."
2) Voting Booth
A) Text of Voting Booth
Section i.
a. The voting guideline outlined in Section ii of this act applies to all regional elections held within the Northeast, but not those conducted by the Northeast for the federal government, such as constitutional amendments.
b. The relevant administrator of the election shall be charged with posting the guideline outlined in Section ii in the voting booth.
c. The provision allowing for the None of the Above option is repealed.
Section ii.
a. The voting guideline shall appear as follows:
b. When a referendum is placed on the ballot, the following language shall be inserted:
B) Voting Booth Rules
i) Once a ballot has been posted in the voting booth thread, the voter shall have 20 minutes from the posting of the ballot to edit his post as necessary; but no ballot shall be counted as valid which has been edited more than 20 minutes after being posted in the voting booth thread.
ii) No voter may make any post in the voting booth that is not the voter's ballot, nor make multiple posts in the voting booth. Such action will result in the invalidation of any applicable ballots.
iii) For a ballot to be counted in a regional election, it must be cast in the same language by which it was presented to the voter.
iv) In the event that the polls shall not have been opened by 7:00 am Eastern Standard Time on the day appointed for the election to begin, any member of the Atlasian Supreme Court, the Registrar General, Secretary of Federal Elections, Governor or the Lieutenant Governor of the Northeast has the authority to open the polls and conduct the vote.
v) In referendums and proposed constitutional amendment votes, voters shall vote either Aye or Nay.
