Final version of the Bill of Rights for Voting on the next initiative election

[Bono]

A Constitutional Amendment
Article 6: Bill of Rights
1. All individuals are born equally free and independent; therefore, all government of right originates from the people and is founded in consent.

2. All individuals have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights - among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this region.

3.  All individuals have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the region.

4. Among the natural rights, some are, in their very nature unalienable, because no equivalent can be given or received for them. Of this kind are the Rights of Conscience.

5. Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to hold religious or philosophical beliefs according to the dictates of his own conscience, and reason; and no person shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for acting upon those religious or philosophical beliefs in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious or philosophical profession, sentiments, or persuasion; provided he does not disturb the public peace or disturb others in their religious or philosophical pursuits.

6. As ethics and fidelity, correctly grounded on high principles, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will lay, in the hearts of men, the strongest obligations to due fealty; and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through an organization, therefore, the organizations shall at all times have the right of electing their own teachers, and of contracting with them for their support or maintenance, or both. But no person shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the schools of any organization. And every individual or organization shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one organization to another shall ever be established without its consent.

7. The people of this region have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent republic; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the Atlasian Senate.

8. All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public's right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted.

9. No office or place, whatsoever, in government, shall be hereditary - the abilities and integrity requisite in all, not being transmissible to posterity or relations.

10. Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

11. All elections are to be free, and every inhabitant of the region with 50 posts or more shall have an equal right to vote in any election. Every person shall be considered an inhabitant for the purposes of voting in the state where he has his domicile. No person shall have the right to vote under the constitution of this region who has been convicted of treason, bribery or any willful violation of the election laws of this state or of Atlasia; but the Magistrate may, on notice to the Governor, restore the privilege to vote to any person who may have forfeited it by conviction of such offenses. The people shall provide by law for voting by qualified voters who at the time of the regional elections, or of the primary elections therefor, or of lower elections by official ballot, are absent from the Atlas Forum , or who by reason of physical disability are unable to vote in person, in the choice of any officer or officers to be elected or upon any question submitted at such election. Voting registration and polling threads shall be easily accessible to persons  who are otherwise qualified to vote in the choice of any officer or officers to be elected or upon any question submitted at such election. The right to vote shall not be denied to any person because of the non-payment of any tax. Every inhabitant of the region, having the proper qualifications, has equal right to be elected into office.

12. Every member of the community has a right to be protected by it, in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property; he is therefore bound to contribute his share in the expense of such protection, and to yield his personal service when necessary. But no part of a man's property shall be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. Nor are the inhabitants of this region controllable by any other laws than those to which they, or their representative body, have given their consent.

13. No person, who objects to the bearing of arms by reason of his Conscience, shall be compelled to so bear them.

14. Every citizen of this region is entitled to a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries he may receive in his person, property, or character; to obtain right and justice freely, without being obliged to purchase it; completely, and without any denial; promptly, and without delay; conformably to the laws.

15. No citizen shall be held to answer for any crime, or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described to him; or be compelled to accuse or furnish evidence against himself. Every citizen shall have a right to produce all proofs that may be favorable to himself; to meet the witnesses against him face to face, and to be fully heard in his defense, by himself, and counsel. No individual shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, who shall be fully informed of their right to judge both the law and the facts of the case, or the law of the land; provided that, in any proceeding to commit a person acquitted of a criminal charge by reason of insanity, due process shall require that clear and convincing evidence that the person is potentially dangerous to himself or to others and that the person suffers from a mental disorder must be established. Every person held to answer in any crime or offense punishable by deprivation of liberty shall have the right to counsel at the expense of the region if need is shown; this right he is at liberty to waive, but only after the matter has been thoroughly explained by the court.

16. No individual shall be liable to be tried, after an acquittal, for the same crime or offense. Nor shall the people make any law that shall subject any person to punishment, (excepting for the government of the army and navy, and the militia in actual service) without trial by jury.

17. All penalities ought to be proportioned to the nature of the offense. No wise legislature will affix the same punishment to crimes against property, which they do to those against life or liberty. Where the same undistinguishing severity is exerted against all offenses, the people are led to forget the real distinction in the crimes themselves, and to commit the most flagrant with as little compunction as they do the lightest offenses. For the same reason a multitude of sanguinary laws is both unwise and unjust. The true design of all punishments being to reform, not to exterminate mankind.

18. Every citizen hath a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. Therefore, all warrants to search suspected places, or arrest a person for examination or trial in prosecutions for criminal matters, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation; and if the order, in a warrant to a civil officer, to make search in suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure; and no warrant ought to be issued; but i n cases and with the formalities, prescribed by law. Asset forfeiture shall only be possible after a convicting veredict has been issued by a jury, and be only ordained by a judge.

19. In all controversies concerning property, and in all suits between two or more persons except those in which another practice is and has been customary and except those in which the value in controversy does not exceed $500 and no title to real estate is involved, the parties have a right to a trial by a fully informed jury. This method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in cases arising on the high seas and in cases relating to mariners' wages.

20. In order to reap the fullest advantage of the inestimable privilege of the trial by jury, great care ought to be taken, that none but qualified persons should be appointed to serve; and such ought to be fully compensated for their travel, time and attendance.

[Bono]

21. Free speech and liberty of the press are essential to the security of freedom in a region: They ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.

22. Retroactive laws are highly injurious, oppressive, and unjust. No such laws, therefore, should be made, either for the decision of civil causes, or the punishment of offenses.

23.  A well regulated militia is the proper, natural, and sure defense, of a region.

24.  Standing armies are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be raised, or kept up, without the consent of the people.

25. In all cases, and at all times, the military ought to be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

26. No soldier in time of peace, shall be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner; and in time of war, such quarters ought not to be made but by the civil authorities in a manner ordained by the people.

27. No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty, shall be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people.

28. The region shall not mandate or assign any new, expanded or modified programs or responsibilities to any political subdivision in such a way as to necessitate additional local expenditures by the political subdivision unless such programs or responsibilities are fully funded by the region or unless such programs or responsibilities are approved for funding by a vote of the local legislative body of the political subdivision.

29. The power of suspending the laws, or the execution of them, ought never to be exercised but by the people, or by authority derived therefrom, to be exercised in such particular cases only as the people shall expressly provide for.

30. The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate, by the people in legislative debates, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution, in any other court or place whatsoever.

31. The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common good, give instructions to their representatives, and to request of the government, by way of petition or remonstrance, redress of the wrongs done them, and of the grievances they suffer.

32. No magistrate, or court of law, shall demand excessive bail or sureties, impose excessive fines, or inflict cruel or unusual punishments.

33.  No person can, in any case, be subjected to law martial, or to any pains or penalties by virtue of that law, except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in actual service, but by authority of the people.

34. Economy being a most essential virtue in all regions, especially in a young one, no pension shall be granted, but in consideration of actual services; and such pensions ought to be granted with great caution, by the people, and never for more than one year at a time.

35.  In the government of this region, the three essential powers thereof, to wit, the legislative, executive, and judicial, ought to be kept as separate from, and independent of, each other, as the nature of a free government will admit, or as is consistent with that chain of connection that binds the whole fabric of the constitution in one indissoluble bond of union and amity.

36. No law or charter shall be imposed by the people on any particular state, being the people of any state or lower subdivision free to incorporate freely; in the case of lower divisions, the possibility of incorporation can be restrited by the charter or ordinances of the higher divisions.

37. No individual shall ever be imprisoned for debt, or failure to pay taxes, alimony, or child support.

38. Upon aproval by the people, the present article of the constitution shall require a two-thirds majority of validly expressed votes in order to be altered or removed.

[Bono]

Thanks for ignoring this.

[Q]

Thanks for ignoring this.

I'm sorry, Bono.  I didn't realize this was eligible for the vote, as I think several of us had forgotten that Governors' initiatives need no signatures to go on the ballot.

I see nothing in the Constitution or election regulations to prevent it from being adding it to the ballot at this point, but 3 ballots have already been cast, and those voters would have no input on this measure.

What do you want to do?

Is it constitutional to schedule a special election to vote on this, or do we have to wait till next month?

Per my reading of the Constitution and applicable regulations and initiatives, there is no provision for such a special election.