General Senate Discussion

[Poirot]

There is no Vice-President so what is the procedure for Cabinet nomination to take place. 

[Poirot]

My citizen opinion is the Senate should confirm Talleyrand for the job of Secretary of Federal Elections. He was assistant to SoFE so he knows elections and is qualified for the role.

I think he applied for it so it shows his interest. It appears other people asked have refused. If Senators have concerns about the nominee due to past behavior, they can ask him what he would do in certain situations they think is open to interpretations and be reassured that way.

This is not a lifelong position. If he does an awful job he can be replaced. If he makes a call that you find unfair, you can go to the Supreme Court. So please Senators, confirm him.

[Poirot]

In the Closing election loophole Act in regards to the editing ballot rule, there was a possibility brought up of clarifying the case of posting a ballot less than 20 minutes before the deadline and if the editing period could extend after the closing of the booth. I don't see this addresses in the Act.

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I don't see the text makes clear no edit is valid after the voting booth closes.

[Poirot]

The National Broadcaster might well be a media to show the Poirot series to the general public. I don't have to explain the cultural importance of this. For this and because there is a role for a national broadcaster, I am against its privatization.

[Poirot]

Shouldn't there be a hearing for the nomination of a new Registrar General? I think the President nominated someone for that position.

[Poirot]

About the Freedom to donate Act (blood), some countries have a requirement of no same sex relation in the last 12 months to be considered a donor. Canada justified 12 months this way:

“It’s still 12 months because the testing is imperfect, because we are still on this incremental journey,”

I prefer security. I don't know how satisfying it is to someone to be able to sue if you are transfered a disease. Atlasia should protect the citizens and have a high concern for security and adopt a 12 month period.

[Poirot]

It's about risks. If countries like France, Canada or Australia have 12 month wait period, I imagine there is not all scientific evidence there is no risk. Besides I don't consider donating blood a fundamental right.

[Poirot]

Something with a big A for Atlasia

[Poirot]

About the currency tactile Act, I dislike having and handling new Canadian polymer bank notes. I prefer standard paper. I believe old bank notes had tactile feature so if it's possible I prefer paper money.

[Poirot]

If this is the new constitution on amendments:

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two thirds of membership means what, the total of members in the body so 4/6 for Senate and 6/9 for House?

It doesn't depend on the number of legislators voting. If there is a vacancy is the membership total lower or it is always the total of seats in the constitution.

[Poirot]

In the GM law, the GM can be dismissed by the President with agreement of legislators but is there a time period for the GM mandate? Does it end at the same time as the Presidential term or ends when the GM decided to resign (or dismissed). 

[Poirot]

Suggestion and question on the Federal electoral Act.

Section 14:
Voter needs to post 10 times in the 8 weeks prior to the election.
We could make it 8 times, equivalent to once a week. Less votes would be thrown out because of number of posts.

Voter is deregistered after missing three federal elections. Are federal elections Presidential and House and Senate considered regional?

Section 6 on absentee voting
It doesn't give much time for a voter to vote by absentee ballot if a voter is gone all weekend. Vote can only occur after there is an official ballot (I think candidates can declare for House 1 day before the election. Maybe a voter who knows will be gone could not have to wait for the official ballot and send his ranking of candidates to the Secretary of Elections before the end of candidate declaration. 

[Poirot]

In the Election law, waiting almost two weeks for elected candidates to take office tend to lead to lull period. Don't know if elected president need a long time to prepare before swearing in, but at least for other offices if for President is not possible, I prefer shorter lame duck period.

[Poirot]

On the Official language act, my opinion is English should be the official language for laws, elections and federal departments. All official government operations should be in English. All Atlasians don't have English as first language but if we want the game to function we need to use a common language.

[Poirot]

In a proposal to change the electoral act:

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Does this cover Senators? Senators are elected by regional ballot so not a federal election.

I think Senators beginning of term can vary by region if regions don't specify when a term begins.   

[Poirot]

Even if it's legal I don't like a President who has that role by accident appoints a Supreme Court Justice. It should be done by the next elected President.

[Poirot]

What happens if there is a tie in the Senate for a confirmation of a Cabinet role ?
Does it fail or the VP breals the tie?

[Poirot]

The Universal Healthcare and Affordability Act seems to be very complex. I don't understand how that system works. I would prefer government single payer for most health coverage.

[Poirot]

There was a constitutional amendment passed by the House on language during voting:

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While personally I don't see why someone would go to the trouble of changing language of ballot and find it more trouble than fun, I oppose this amendment. For some voting in another language is fun or creative and want to be able to do it. It seems people don't want boringness impose on them. We need citizens to vote and accept their creativity so they have fun participating.

I also don't know if it is applicable. If a candidate has a letter like é or ä in his name it could be ruled as not English.

[Poirot]

I find the Make the Atlasia federal government more effcient amendment introduced in the House interesting. At the constituional convention some people expressed concern about adding another layer of government, that by having two legislative chambers it would slow down the process, that it was not practical for the game. Turns out they were right, but bicameralism was adopted even if it was a divisive issue and was narrowly adopted. Also this amendment seems to reduce the number of legislators in Nyman. That is a good step since there are too many offices in Nyman.

[Poirot]

At least there was an effort to defend bicameralism in the Make the Atlasia federal government more efficient amendment. Explains the theory behind it. Better than argument at the constituional convention. 

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The convention fell for it not listening to the voices of the practicality. Making the legislative process more complicated and slow. When I look at the government board, I have a hard time knowing what passed one chamber and is on the verge of becoming law if the other adopt it or what is just starting in the legislative process. I have a harder time to follow what is going on.

The other issue was the number of offices. With the two chambers, there are more offices in Nyman so the reduction in the total number of seats was smaller. It makes it more difficult for regions to have a good number of players for regional assemblies.

I had to count the vote in the convention and it looks like it was 9 for bicameralism, 7 for unicameralism, 2 absentations and 1 expressing reservations but not even voting. A very divisive plan and vote.   

[Poirot]

Reading a suggestion made in Amending the federal electoral Act in the Senate

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Would this deny the right to vote for persons not residing in a region for 168 hours, in the new region, the old region and federal election 168 hours after a move between region ? It's probably not the intent.

I'm in favor of wording that article for it to describe what it takes to have the right to register to vote instead of formulating it right to vote can't be denied. It would save lisitng all cases when a vote could be not counted. The article doesn't have to specify activity requirement with a number, it could be specified in legislation.

The House Voting rights amendment will make a big paragraph in the Bill of rights. I would prefer if the reasons to reject a ballot was in leggislation and not in that place. Even if I tend to agree with the reason, this could be seen as being boring and killing the fun for people with creativity (such as writing in another language) or throwing away too many votes (if a voter writes all candidates are great on a ballot or rank a candidate number 999 and is deemed campaigning because it's negative towards a candidate).

I see no problem making an activity requirement for all Atlasia, a minimum residency to become a voter for all Atlasia and an agreement between all regions on requirements for voters moving regions. Try and keep it simple.     

[Poirot]

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Keeping the same wording "vote shall not be denied, except" forces us to include all possibilities to reject a ballot in the Bill of Rights.

I would like to only list the rules and cases for valid and invalid votes in legislation and not in the constitution. So section 4 would not be about the undeniable right to vote. It could be about votes cast shall be counted if they respect legislation on voter registration and filling ballots, or about earning the right to vote, for example citizens become registered voter after 7 days in Atlasia and their vote is valid if respects all legislation on voter eligibility and valid ballot.       

[Poirot]

On the Absentee voting act, since a citizen could vote after the declaration period is over

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for the House election, is the only possibility for voting then on Thursday ? One day is better than none but it is a short period.

[Poirot]

On the previous page in a post from last year I commented on the absentee voting being too restrictive.

Section 6 on absentee voting
It doesn't give much time for a voter to vote by absentee ballot if a voter is gone all weekend. Vote can only occur after there is an official ballot (I think candidates can declare for House 1 day before the election. Maybe a voter who knows will be gone could not have to wait for the official ballot and send his ranking of candidates to the Secretary of Elections before the end of candidate declaration. 

I would let a voter vote before the end of declaration if the voter can't vote on the Thursday either. If a candidate waits until the last minute to declare it's not the voter's fault.