Serious legislative proposals from the SoFE

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The Omnibus Forum Affairs Act of 2011



Section I
The By-Election Article

1. The Senate, though it's leader, be it the PPT or Vice President, will inform the SoFE of any vacancies in the Senate within 48 hours of such vacancy occurring.

2. Upon Receipt of the notice, the SoFE has 48 hours to set a date for the election.

3. Upon the setting of a date, the campaign begins. Only once the campaign begins are declarations for intent to run considered valid.

4. The Campaign period will be no less than 6 full days and no more than 13 full days. The election must begin on a Thursday.

5. An exception is made to section 4 when a General election is scheduled between 6 full days and 20 full days after the start of the campaign; which will then cause the by-election ballot to be attached to the General Election ballot.



Section II
The Election Ballot Article

1. Those wishing to run for Senate or President must declare their intention to do so 72 hours prior to the start of the election.

2. Absentee ballots will be prepared and posted by the SoFE and posted no earlier than 72 hours prior to the start of the election. Absentee ballots will not include any cross party endorsements.

3. Any party wishing to endorse a candidate must make the SoFE aware of this between 72 and 24 hours prior to the start of the election.

4. The SoFE is free to create the ballot however he or she chooses, following these guidelines:
 A - All candidates are treated equally. The only exception is that candidates from, or who are endorsed by, major parties, are listed as being endorsed by those parties; candidates endorsed by or running for minor parties may or may not have that information listed at the discretion of the SoFE.
 B - Candidate's names should be listed in an impartial manner, for example, in alphabetical order, in the order of declaration, or the reverse of either of these. A SoFE should strive to use the same system for all elections he or she administrates.
 C - The name of the candidate should be easily legible and if possible, bold, or, in a larger text size.
 D - Additional help in identifying the candidate is advised. Possible ideas include:
  i - Links to the candidate's profile page.
  ii - Posting the candidate's "known" name rather than user name.
  iii - Posting both the "known" and username of the candidate with one in brackets
  iv - Adding the official colour of the major parties



Section III
Forum Affairs re-organizing Article

1. Whenever the SoFE or RG is temporarily unable to act, the other may fill in and complete his or her duties.

2. Within 8 full days of a general election, before or after, the SoFE or RG may fill in for the other even if the other is permanently unable to act.

3. The "Department of Forum Affairs" is abolished, and created in it's place is the Department of Federal Elections, and the Department of the Registrar General. Both shall be within the Forum Affairs Secretariat. Any affairs or duties of the Moderator General shall also be within this new Secretariat, as moderator duties is indeed a "forum affair". This subsection, article, and act shall not be interpreted as placing the position of Moderator General either inside or outside of the Cabinet.

4. The President, at any time he or she wishes, may create a committee of the Forum Affairs Secretariat.



Section IV
Clarity of Election Law Article

1. Starting with the passage of this act, and ending exactly one year later, the Government is instructed to provide for a new "Clear Election Law Act". This Act will contain the following.

 A - All acts and laws that are not in the constitution relating to elections will be merged into this single act.
 B - All clauses and amendments in the constitution that are currently and actively relating to elections, will be repeated verbatim in this act.
 C - Any changes to any of the above will require an edit of the wiki text of this bill by the AG, SoFE, RG, or other qualified person, within 72 hours of the changes becoming law.

2. Failure to do so within the time period allotted will allow the SoFE 96 hours to create emergency legislation, which will the be submitted directly to the senate, which then must introduce the bill for debate, regardless of standing orders.



Section V
Tiebreakers

1. All "Joke write-ins" will henceforth not be counted in any tiebreaker situations.

2. A "Joke write-in" is defined as writing in any candidate who has not accepted write-ins.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I bump this as I feel some of these changes are truly needed.

[bgwah]

Consolidating all election law into one bill could be beneficial in the long-run, though it would be a lot of work initially.

I think the RG-SoFE law is mostly unnecessary now. The recently passed Cabinet Flexibility Amendment already allows this.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

This can be amended of course, even prior to official introduction.