L8.9.1: Constitutional Amendment Establishing Lincoln Election Administrator

[RC (a la Frémont)]

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Author: Blair
Sponsor: ReaganClinton

[Blair]

This is one reform that I'd planned to introduce for a while; and put simply adds a great deal of flexibility to the way that are elections are handled.

It's problematic in my view to have an office Lt.Governor (who's primary job is to fill in if the Governor quits) that has a tied on element (election administrator). This amendment basically splits this role away from the office of Lt.Governor; I don't think this makes the office any less worthy, and in fact would make the role more attractive!

It's also doubly restrictive; as the Lt.Gov has to be from the Assembly, so therefore the the person running the election has to be from the Assembly. Which means you only have 3 people to chose from

It would still be possible for the Lt.Gov to be appointed as Elections Administrator if the Governor so wishes, but this amendment basically gives much more flexibility to how we run our elections.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

It's also doubly restrictive; as the Lt.Gov has to be from the Assembly, so therefore the the person running the election has to be from the Assembly. Which means you only have 3 people to chose from

It would still be possible for the Lt.Gov to be appointed as Elections Administrator if the Governor so wishes, but this amendment basically gives much more flexibility to how we run our elections.

I have a few problems with all this about the Lt. Gov. Situation. I don’t think an appointed Lt. Gov. should also be appointed to the position like they are now, instead it should be the duty of an assembly member or a completely different person outside of the gubernatorial administration. Not sure if there’d be an election for the position included or just a wider field of candidates for the governor to chose from, but I just wouldn’t have both offices, possibly also including an assembly seat, being controlled by one person.

[Blair]

It's also doubly restrictive; as the Lt.Gov has to be from the Assembly, so therefore the the person running the election has to be from the Assembly. Which means you only have 3 people to chose from

It would still be possible for the Lt.Gov to be appointed as Elections Administrator if the Governor so wishes, but this amendment basically gives much more flexibility to how we run our elections.

I have a few problems with all this about the Lt. Gov. Situation. I don’t think an appointed Lt. Gov. should also be appointed to the position like they are now, instead it should be the duty of an assembly member or a completely different person outside of the gubernatorial administration. Not sure if there’d be an election for the position included or just a wider field of candidates for the governor to chose from, but I just wouldn’t have both offices, possibly also including an assembly seat, being controlled by one person.

I largely agree; one of the reforms I thought about would be getting rid of the position, or having tickets. It's just a problem because people won't want to run to be Lt.Gov if you're only role is to hope the Governor resigns, or goes inactive.

Basically there are very few people in the game who don't hold office, but are reliably online. I assume that's why Lt.Gov was tied to the Assembly; as people in the Assembly are generally going to be active, where as whoever was begged to run to be Lt.Gov may not be active.

That's why I wanted to create the Election Administrator position; to ensure that someone who is reliable could get the position

[Clyde1998]

I have no objection to this, but I feel as if we don't need to create an additional office. Perhaps allocating it to the Lincoln Justice could alleviate the issue of having someone with invested interest in the election, but without creating a new office. Either way, I'm happy to vote in favour of this as it stands should others prefer the current solution.

[Blair]

The issue of the justice doing it would be that I'd be expected to deal with any subsequent case on my own handling of the election, which would mean that I'd have to recuse myself.

My hope is that since the role can be granted to anyone in Lincoln there should be a lot of flexibility with it.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Sorry, I’ve been on break for a while.

To be honest, I’d like to expand this bill a great deal, almost to the point of restructuring the Office of the Lt. Gov. and their job.

If you don’t mind, I’ll go on a small tangent.

I believe that the job of Lt. Gov. And Lincoln Election Administrator should definitely be separate, it’s a good idea. Blair does bring up a good point, though, the office shouldn’t just be sitting around waiting for the Governor to resign or something. So here’s the proposal: The Assembly should be extended into a four-seat system, keeping the three current seats for the elected assemblyman, and a fourth one for the Lt. Gov, who would act as the Speaker of the Assembly. That way, the Lt. Governor has an actual job and we can totally separate the election system from the administration officials.

Any thoughts?

[Blair]

I don't see why we can't have two amendments; one dealing with the position of Election Administrator and one that reforms the role of Lt.Gov.

I also don't like the Lt.Gov being Speaker; as the it muddles up the divide between the Executive and the Assembly (and we have that codified in the constitution)

My hope was that we could pass this bill quickly to deal with the issue; as it still needs to be voted on by the entire region in a referendum.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

I don't see why we can't have two amendments; one dealing with the position of Election Administrator and one that reforms the role of Lt.Gov.

I suppose it is quite a hefty task for one bill.

I also don't like the Lt.Gov being Speaker; as the it muddles up the divide between the Executive and the Assembly (and we have that codified in the constitution)

I kind of want to stick by this one, but if it's a deal breaker for reforming the office, I can see just making an assembly seat for the Lt. Gov. and going about electing a speaker the same way as we always do.

My hope was that we could pass this bill quickly to deal with the issue; as it still needs to be voted on by the entire region in a referendum.

Let's get down to work, then. I will draft a new version of this bill and a Lt. Gov. Reform bill.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Still working on the updated version of this, it should be submitted tonight.

[SamTilden2020]

This measure helps to deconsolidate power from the government, and a unique idea in general. I support this measure.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

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re-wrote it a bit Update: fixed some of the language

Without any further objections, the bill will come to a vote.

[Leinad]

This measure helps to deconsolidate power from the government, and a unique idea in general.

Actually I already did this in the South, which is why Peebs is administering elections for us down there.

That being said I fully support it's implementation here (not that my opinion matters ).

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Might I suggest, politely, that the language of the proposed amendment be cleaned up a bit? In the present text, there are at least two titles ("Lincoln Election Administrator" and "Lincoln Election Administration") for what is presumably the same office, others ("Lutenient Governor") are mispelled, and words like "somebody" are a little too vague and universal to be included in a governing charter (I'd recommend "acting officer").

I'd be happy to help redraft the amendment if desired, though of course I understand if the speaker would prefer to do so himself.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Might I suggest, politely, that the language of the proposed amendment be cleaned up a bit? In the present text, there are at least two titles ("Lincoln Election Administrator" and "Lincoln Election Administration") for what is presumably the same office, others ("Lutenient Governor") are mispelled, and words like "somebody" are a little too vague and universal to be included in a governing charter (I'd recommend "acting officer").

I'd be happy to help redraft the amendment if desired, though of course I understand if the speaker would prefer to do so himself.

You’re completely right. I’ll clean it up a bit now. And as for the title conflict, I’ll change it to just “Lincoln Election Administrator”

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Bump, fixed it a while ago.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

And a bump for this too

[Blair]

What's happening with this bill?

[OneJ]

What's happening with this bill?

We should be looking into this very soon.

[OneJ]

I will assume sponsorship of this.

[OneJ]

If I'm not mistaken, this is the bill as it currently stands:

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So ReaganClinton, what would be the main remaining duties of the Lieutenant Governor when this law passes?

[RC (a la Frémont)]

If I'm not mistaken, this is the bill as it currently stands:

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So ReaganClinton, what would be the main remaining duties of the Lieutenant Governor when this law passes?

That is where the second bill comes in. After the job of Election Administrator is passed, the job of the Lieutenant Governor would become a Delegate to the Assembly.

[OneJ]

Because the South already has it and it's been working well down there, I believe I can support this.

[Bidenworth2020]

Because the South already has it and it's been working well down there, I believe I can support this.

[OneJ]

I now open a vote on this. Assemblymen, please vote AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN. The vote shall last 48 hours.

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