S.18.17: Southern Elections Act (Tabled)

[TheSaint250]

Southern Elections Act of 2018

Be it enacted:

1.) Elections for Governor of the Southern Region and Southern Chamber of Delegates will take place concurrently with federal midterm elections.

2.) If any member of the Chamber of Delegates resigns from office, is recalled, or ascends to another elected office 30 days or more prior to the next regularly scheduled legislative election, a special election shall be scheduled for exactly nine days after.

     a. This special election shall follow the established rules of regularly scheduled legislative elections, with the exception that candidacies may be declared from the creation of the vacancy until before the second day prior to the election.

3.) This shall take effect immediately upon approval by the signature of the Governor of the South.


This is a very rough draft. I'm debating whether this should go into effect immediately, or not until after the next Southern elections. What are everyone's thoughts?

Sponsor: Deputy Speaker Razze

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Yes, we can discuss it here. With the way this law is currently written, it would change the dates for the next election from July to August. Would other people be okay with that? I would also be okay with changing it to go into effect after the next elections, if that's what people want. But as of right now, I think it would be beneficial to make this change ASAP to increase voter turnout.

[TheSaint250]

Yes, we can discuss it here. With the way this law is currently written, it would change the dates for the next election from July to August. Would other people be okay with that? I would also be okay with changing it to go into effect after the next elections, if that's what people want. But as of right now, I think it would be beneficial to make this change ASAP to increase voter turnout.

Right now, I'm thinking possibly delaying this until the following election so as to continue the status quo and prevent confusion seeing as a number of candidates have already declared and planned accordingly.  I think we should do the same for the special elections portion, too. 

The big issues I wanted to discuss had to do with the special elections portion.  If there is one vacancy, should that election and that election only change to FPTP, or should it still remain IRV-STV?

Furthermore, what if there are more than one vacancies, such as what would happen as a result of the House election if both you (Razze) and Lechasseur are forced to vacate (hence why we should implement this bill after the next set of elections).  Should we set a limit where if another Delegate vacates a seat within a few days of the other we would go with the standard IRV-STV system so as to not have so many elections within a short period?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Is it really necessary to change the election date from July to August?

[TheSaint250]

Is it really necessary to change the election date from July to August?

That's why I was thinking we should wait until the next set of elections so as to not cause confusion so immediately.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Works for me. I just want the South to eventually be on the same schedule as the rest of the country. These sudden, random elections don't really garner as much interest as they should.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Anything left to debate in regards to the legislation?

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Anything left to debate in regards to the legislation?

Nope, except for adding an amendment that says this takes effect after the next Southern election. Also, to amend (1.) to state that Governor elections happen during the midterms, and that Chamber elections happen during both midterm and general elections, so that Chamber elections happen twice as often as Governor elections, and on a regular schedule. That make sense to everyone?

[Pericles]

This doesn't seem to affect the date of Southern Senate elections. Does the chamber want to keep those dates the same?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I do not support aligning Southern elections with midterms or with general elections. I don't think the changes you propose here will do any good, overall. We'll lose more than what we gain.
We are the South. We forge our own path. We need not copy the rest of the country in regards to everything.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

After all, Atlasia would be too boring for too many players if all elections took place at two different occasions within a presidential term...
I'm willing to support staggering things so that each of the three regions holds elections a different month, though.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

If the other regions follow our lead, Tim, then sure. But as it stands, the South has elections that occur seemingly at random (to the lay observer) and voter turnout is depressed. I would support a movement to stagger the regional elections, but right now the South stands alone and it hurts us.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

If the other regions follow our lead, Tim, then sure. But as it stands, the South has elections that occur seemingly at random (to the lay observer) and voter turnout is depressed. I would support a movement to stagger the regional elections, but right now the South stands alone and it hurts us.

I think that any potential benefit we would get from synchronizing our election schedule to Atlasia-wide presidential elections and midterm elections, would be more than neutralized by the damage it will do the game. It's just not worth it. Even if turnout increased, the cost is too high.

[TheSaint250]

Due to the constitutionality of this and the introduction of S.18.20 to fix that problem, I move that we skip the unanimous consent portion and instead immediately move to table.

48 hours to vote.

[PragmaticPopulist]

Without objection.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Without objection.

[TheSaint250]

Ok so I realize my language was kinda ambiguous. Meant to say we were just going right to voting instead of voting on getting rid of unanimous consent here. Very sorry about my stupid mistake

I will cut off the voting on voting period I accidentally called at 11 a.m. EST. Then, we will vote on tabling.

Once again, very sorry.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Ok so I realize my language was kinda ambiguous. Meant to say we were just going right to voting instead of voting on getting rid of unanimous consent here. Very sorry about my stupid mistake

I will cut off the voting on voting period I accidentally called at 11 a.m. EST. Then, we will vote on tabling.

Once again, very sorry.

All is forgiven. We all make mistakes.

[TheSaint250]

Ok, now the tabling vote is opened. 48 hours.

Aye

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

aye

[TheSaint250]

This has been tabled 3-0-2.