SB 18-15: Voter Eligibility Reform Act (Failed)

[Lumine]

VOTER ELIGIBILITY REFORM ACT

HOUSE BILL

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress

Section 1; Title
1. This bill may be cited as the Voter Eligibility Reform Act.

Section 2; Substance
1. 2016-012, the Federal Electoral Act, is amended by amending section 14 to read as follows:

1. A person may become a registered voter if they have attained fifteen posts and have been registered at the forum for at least 7 days. In registration, the person must state their name and State of fantasy residence; In addition, they may optionally state a political affiliation.
2. All those persons who have registered to vote 7 days (168 hours) 4 days (96 hours) before the commencement of the election and posted at least 10 5 times in the 8 weeks (56 days) prior to the commencement of an election shall be defined as active for the purposes of that election. If a voter changes their state of registration within the 7 days 4 days, the state from which they were originally registered shall be the state from which their vote is cast.
3. Persons may only change their State of registration from one region to another region once every 180 90 days. Changes in State of registration may only occur within a single region every 72 hours.
4. Any registered voter who fails to vote in elections for six months eight months for which they are qualified to vote shall have their registration no longer considered valid. The said voter may only be deregistered after missing three four consecutive federal elections, not including runoffs and special elections. A vote in a special election or runoff will be counted towards activity the same as a vote in a regular federal election. This clause shall not be construed to deny a forum user the right to register anew.
5. Anyone who has cast an absentee ballot shall be regarded as an active voter, provided he or she fulfills the definition by the time the election commences for which the ballot was cast, of an "active voter"; However, the post containing the ballot shall not count towards the total number of required posts.
6. Any political party of three or more members is considered to be an organized political party.

People's House of Representatives
Passed in the House of Representatives 7-1-0-1

Sponsor: TBD.
Designation: SB 18-15.

[Lumine]

We need a sponsor.

[Comrade Funk]

I'll sponsor.

[Lumine]

I'll sponsor.

24 hours for objections.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Comrade Funk is now sponsor.

[Comrade Funk]

Not everyone has the personal time or patience to participate in every election. We all know the plague of spammed PMs can drive people out of Atlasia. Before getting involved in Atlasian politics, I myself would groan whenever a new deluge of PMs were sent during election season. The threat of deregistration can aggravate these concerns. An easing in voter eligibility rules will encourage more activity for some of our newer players, while also providing more opportunity for some our less active players to remain involved without the threat of deregistration.

I stand in support of this bill.

[Vern]

I am leaning on supporting this. The only thing I am not fully sold on is the change in how long you have to wait to change regions.

[Dr. MB]

Well said, Comrade Funk.

I am leaning on supporting this. The only thing I am not fully sold on is the change in how long you have to wait to change regions.

Look at Ben Kenobi - he registered in Fremont by mistake and now he's stuck there for 6 months. This sort of stuff happens all the time. 90 days is plenty: it aligns perfectly with regional elections. Maybe someone moved for a change, didn't like it, and wants to move back, but they can't because of overly restrictive move times. They become disillusioned.

[Poirot]

My citizen's opinion on lowering the requirements in the Coter Eligibility Reform Act now in the Senate.

I think the proposed changes are moving the game in the wrong direction. It makes it easier to be mostly a numbers game. By lowering the eligibility standards you possibly get even more voters who don't follow Atlasian life or are not very interested, or who don't post in Atlasia but only come out to vote for someone / a party because a player tells them to.

Lowering the number of days to be registered from 7 days to 4 gives even more time closer to the election for mass registration operation of parties. We've seen before the June election deadline a flurry of activity in the new registration thread. I'm not sure new voters can really know what is going on in 4 days.

Reducing the time for regional move to 3 months helps strategic regional registration. Citizens will be more mobile so a party who feels threatened or want to take a region in the next election will be able to move some people around more freely. And there is more time to move people since you could do it until 4 days before the election instead of 7.

Cutting in half he post requirements from 10 to 5 in the last 56 days helps people who don't post much. I could have benefited from this in the past since sometimes I read Atlasia but didn't post and thought I have to start posting if I need 10 posts. But it can also help voters who are rarely Atlas visitors.

Requiring 8 months of missing elections instead of 6 to be deregistered will keep inactive people or who are not really interested for a longer time on the voters list. It inflates the total population of the game. It is great for political parties who will get a longer contact list to get some additional votes. It helps for zombie voting operation.

The changes are very good for electoral tactics based on numbers but not for the quality and health of a democratic and civic life in Atlasia. 

[Sirius_]

My citizen's opinion on lowering the requirements in the Coter Eligibility Reform Act now in the Senate.

I think the proposed changes are moving the game in the wrong direction. It makes it easier to be mostly a numbers game. By lowering the eligibility standards you possibly get even more voters who don't follow Atlasian life or are not very interested, or who don't post in Atlasia but only come out to vote for someone / a party because a player tells them to.

Lowering the number of days to be registered from 7 days to 4 gives even more time closer to the election for mass registration operation of parties. We've seen before the June election deadline a flurry of activity in the new registration thread. I'm not sure new voters can really know what is going on in 4 days.

Reducing the time for regional move to 3 months helps strategic regional registration. Citizens will be more mobile so a party who feels threatened or want to take a region in the next election will be able to move some people around more freely. And there is more time to move people since you could do it until 4 days before the election instead of 7.

Cutting in half he post requirements from 10 to 5 in the last 56 days helps people who don't post much. I could have benefited from this in the past since sometimes I read Atlasia but didn't post and thought I have to start posting if I need 10 posts. But it can also help voters who are rarely Atlas visitors.

Requiring 8 months of missing elections instead of 6 to be deregistered will keep inactive people or who are not really interested for a longer time on the voters list. It inflates the total population of the game. It is great for political parties who will get a longer contact list to get some additional votes. It helps for zombie voting operation.

The changes are very good for electoral tactics based on numbers but not for the quality and health of a democratic and civic life in Atlasia. 

Honestly I have to agree with you there. In fact, I'd be willing to support adding a post requirement to remain a registered citizen. The game of how many random people who don't actually care you can get to register isn't fun for people like me, who have tried to create our own movements and run real candidacies, and for me in particular being someone who prefers governing, only to be destroyed by the machines. This is the reason I've relegated myself to observer status.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I agree with the points Ninja and Poirot has made. I understand the importance of accessbility, but it has to be balanced with accessibility into the culture and civic apparatus of the game, and to encourage that over the long term and i worry that we essentially with bills like this and the one celebrating Zombie voters a few weeks ago that we are approaching a time in which we purposely maintain an underclass of disconnected zombies whose only value is election cannon fodder. Throw in the negative impact of discordification and the inactivity in office that it creates and you have a recipe for an unsustainable model long term.

[tmthforu94]

I generally am in agreement with the points made by Poirot and would veto this bill in its current form. At minimum, I would like to see the requirement removed lowering it to 5 posts in the previous 8 weeks. That is barely active, I can almost guarantee that every person who is currently between 5-10 posts has no involvement in the game. This really does nothing to improve the game, it just adds to the stockpile of zombie voters the parties' have stashed away for elections.

[Lumine]

I'd strongly second what has been said by Poirot, Ninja, Tmth and others. With respect to both contenders in the recently finished election, having dozens of people sent into the game for the sole purpose of voting was neither responsible nor healthy for the game, and the last thing we need to do is to legitimize such ways of playing the game by lowering already generous requirements.

[Vern]

I motion we table this

[Devout Centrist]

I object

[Lumine]

I motion we table this

A motion to table is recognized, is there a seconder?

[Former President tack50]

I have to agree with everyone else here, including Poirot, tmth, Lumine and Yankee.

This would only increase the armies each party has at their disposal without contributing actual new citizens. There is a happy medium between too strict requirements which make this game as we know it impossible in the first place, and too lenient requirements that basically encourage amassing large armies of passive voters.

I believe the current rules are fine.

[Dr. MB]

Looking forward to passing this bill next session! Or maybe the one after that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Tack is right there is a happy medium to be had and just as I said in the Ninja bill, in this one and also in the one celebrating zombies. We need to open and inclusive of new people and more people yes, but at the same time we need to also be mindful of how best to encourage people to participate and engage.

I have always favored an expansive game, but I have also always desired an engaged one as well.

I motion for a final vote, Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Lumine]

Senators, a final vote has started. Please vote AYE, NAY or ABSTAIN.

[Devout Centrist]

Aye

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Nay

[Comrade Funk]

Aye

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Nay

[Vern]

I’m going to go with a Nay on this.