A proposal.

[tpfkaw]

Constitutional amendment:

1. The size of the Senate shall be set at 25 members, or one fifth the number of registered voters in Atlasia, rounding down, whichever is lower.
2. The prohibition against holding both Federal and Regional or other office shall be repealed. However, Atlasian citizens may hold only one Federal office, and holding dual offices shall not be considered a legal remedy in any way for removal from office for reasons of inactivity.
3. The method of election to the Senate shall be in the form of party-list proportional representation (D'Hondt method).
4. All members of the Senate shall be up for election during all Federal elections.
5. The method of voting for Senate shall be a secret ballot in the form of a posted poll thread.
6. The method of selecting party lists shall be proposed as a bylaw by the leadership of each recognized party and must be approved by a majority vote of voting party members.
7. Parties may choose to create joint lists provided it is in accordance with both parties' bylaws.
8. Atlasian citizens may create independent party lists of themselves or of themselves and other Atlasians by mutual agreement.
9. All final party lists must be publicly posted in the Atlas Fantasy Elections subforum no later than 1 week prior to a Federal election.  Recognized parties or independent lists which do not submit a party list prior to the deadline shall not be considered eligible for that election.
10. Party lists shall be listed by official party abbreviation or abbreviations or “Ind. List,” followed by the names of the first 3 numbered candidates in the party list.  For example:

A recognized party:

CPSU – 1. Josef Stalin 2. Vladimir Lenin 3. Leonid Brezhnev

A joint list:

DEM/REP – 1. Barack Obama 2. John McCain 3. Nancy Pelosi

An independent list:

Ind. List – 1. Jesus Christ 2. Virgin Mary 3. St. Peter

A party list with only 2 members:

WPK – 1. Kim Jong-un 2. Kim Jong-il

11. If an Atlasian citizen is elected on more than one party list, that citizen must choose which party list to be elected on.
12. If a party list is elected to more Senate seats than there are candidates on that list, any excess seats shall be considered forfeited and distributed among the other lists.
13. Candidates may be removed from a party list by request of the candidate, bylaws set by each recognized party, or by petition of a majority of eligible voters who were party members at the time the final party list was chosen and submitted to the SoFE.  Replacement candidates may not be selected past the 1 week deadline.
14. The Senate shall have the power to assist the implementation but not to pervert the meaning of this amendment by appropriate legislation.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Sounds fun!
How would the excess seats be distributed among the other lists?

[tpfkaw]

Sounds fun!
How would the excess seats be distributed among the other lists?

Just proportional representation ignoring the excess votes.  Probably should've made that more clear but I thought it was fairly obvious.

[Napoleon]

The secret ballot doesn't work.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Sounds fun!
How would the excess seats be distributed among the other lists?

Just proportional representation ignoring the excess votes.  Probably should've made that more clear but I thought it was fairly obvious.

probably is obvious to someone who understands D'Hondt.

[tpfkaw]

The secret ballot doesn't work.

It's not PM-based, it's thread-based (a poll in a thread).  There is no way it couldn't work, and in fact it would be less vulnerable to tampering than the current system.

[Napoleon]

The secret ballot doesn't work.

It's not PM-based, it's thread-based (a poll in a thread).  There is no way it couldn't work, and in fact it would be less vulnerable to tampering than the current system.

Take your buddy Ghostwhite as an example. He could log in with his prior accounts to vote and no one would know.

[tpfkaw]

The secret ballot doesn't work.

It's not PM-based, it's thread-based (a poll in a thread).  There is no way it couldn't work, and in fact it would be less vulnerable to tampering than the current system.

Take your buddy Ghostwhite as an example. He could log in with his prior accounts to vote and no one would know.

Absolutely nothing prevents people from voting with sock accounts now.  And knowing him he couldn't be bothered, and everyone could see if he was logging in to his old accounts as well.

[Napoleon]

The secret ballot doesn't work.

It's not PM-based, it's thread-based (a poll in a thread).  There is no way it couldn't work, and in fact it would be less vulnerable to tampering than the current system.

Take your buddy Ghostwhite as an example. He could log in with his prior accounts to vote and no one would know.

Absolutely nothing prevents people from voting with sock accounts now.  And knowing him he couldn't be bothered, and everyone could see if he was logging in to his old accounts as well.

Ok but right now we can actually see who is voting, so we know. Socks tend to be rooted out quick around these parts, like Simfan or Jmfcst or Atheist2006. I was giving an example of a possible situation, not questioning the character or commitment of Ghostwhite. I still remember his term as Governor.

I've actually never understood the fascination with the secret ballot some have- it's a game and I find it fun watching the votes pour in. Elections are the time to be around these boards- don't take that away from us.

[tpfkaw]

How often do socks vote and be banned prior to certification of the results?  Not very often, and I'm fairly certain it has never affected an election result.  And, as we both know, there's both a peer-pressure issue where people feel pressure to vote a certain way.  Certain people also get way too emotional about how others vote.  And, you know, maybe it would be nice to mix things up now and again?

[ZuWo]

How often do socks vote and be banned prior to certification of the results?  Not very often, and I'm fairly certain it has never affected an election result.  And, as we both know, there's both a peer-pressure issue where people feel pressure to vote a certain way.  Certain people also get way too emotional about how others vote.  And, you know, maybe it would be nice to mix things up now and again?

That's precisely why I think a secret ballot is a good idea. Unfortunately, the Mideast rejected a concrete secret ballot proposal a couple of weeks ago - among other things, efforts to introduce a secret ballot (the bill was written by a Person, member of the Light Party) were claimed to be a "Federalist power grab" for reasons I still don't understand.

[The Simpsons Cinematic Universe]

Hmm. I would usually say that MMP would be preferable to PR.

One problem with PR that I've always had is that it gives too much power to parties. Makes it more difficult to be elected as an independent.

[PJ]

A secret ballot would drain most of the fun from elections and probably decrease participation significantly. I like a few other aspects of this proposal, but I'm not willing to consider it as a package deal.