Election Provisions Amendment Bill

r3naissanc3r

r3naissanc3r

TNPer
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General Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 6 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

6. All government officials, with the exception of members of the Security Council, must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly while in office. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of nominations and throughout the election.
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2. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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3. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 1 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

12. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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4.. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.
 
I highlight below using BBcode the changes effected by this bill. Green indicates new text.
In Article 7, Clause 6 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,

6. All government officials, with the exception of members of the Security Council, must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly while in office. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of nominations and throughout the election.
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In Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,

9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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In Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 1 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific,

12. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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This bill is to correct two unwanted side-effects of the Officials Amendment Act passed in November.

The first is that that Act appears to have accidentally removed the requirement that candidates in election must have been RA members for 15 days prior to the opening of nominations. I realized this when I was creating the nominations thread for the general election and was looking for that provision. This was an oversight on my part when drafting that bill, and for that I apologize. The first section of this new bill brings back that provision.

The second side-effect is that, under the changes of the Officials Amendment Act, Electoral Commissioners appointed by the Delegate are members of the executive branch, and therefore cannot be occupying regional offices outside that branch (e.g., Speaker or Deputy Speaker). This effect had indeed been noticed by myself at the time when the Officials Amendment Act was being drafted and pointed out to a few RA members. At the time I did not consider this a serious issue. I still do not consider it critical, but since a few RA members recently complained about it, I am seeking to ameliorate it with this new bill.

The bill fixes this second issue in two steps: First, it amends the constitutional clause prohibiting members from holding offices in more than one categories, to allow for exceptions to that prohibition to be established by law (this is the second section of this bill). Second, it amends the Legal Code, to create such an exception for appointed Election Commissioners (this is the third section of this bill). Partial credit for the second and third sections of this bill should be given to Eluvatar, with whom I have previously discussed how to fix the issue at hand.

The final, fourth section of this bill is the standard provision we include in bills that amend both the Constitution and the Legal Code.

Any comments and questions are welcome.
 
It was in your original proposal but got taken out when altered for the security council exception.

The preamble of the Legal Code says Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter.

Please can I humbly suggest that you split clauses into one sentence per clause?

I believe this stricter numbering would have prevented the error we made in leaving out part of a clause.


Regarding the other change, if it's okay for a deputy speaker to be an election commissioner, why is it not okay for a minister of internal affairs to be chief justice?
 
Chas, that clause is violated in multiple places in the Legal Code. It is very inflexible and considerably restricts writing style.

I agree that the constitutional clause amendment would be better if split into two; I kept it in a single clause because that was the original form. In that case, as you say, the split helps prevent a similar accident in the future. I have made that change.

However, for the two Legal Code amendments, I believe it is better to keep each in a single clause. In each clause, the second sentence is directly related to the first, and the first is necessary context for the interpretation of the second. If you split the clause in two, this context is lost.

In this case, splitting the clause makes it easier to mess up an amendment in the future: one could repeal one clause without repealing the other, leaving a clause in the law that cannot be interpreted because of the lack of the context necessary for it to be meaningful.

So, to reiterate, I believe clauses should be separated by context, and not by grammatical units.

Regarding your other question. The Election Commissioner is a temporary office that oversees an election. It does not have any conflict of interest with any particular branch of government, neither does the holder having multiple other offices violate separation of power. The only conflict the Election Commissioner has is if they stood as candidates in the election they supervise.

Furthermore, the fact that the Election Commissioner is classified as a member of the Executive is an artifact of the rule we use for classifying appointed offices. The Electoral Commissioner, because of the special nature of their office, does not fit into any branch of government. Therefore, using this artifact classification to restrict who can hold the office is unreasonable.

Both of these characteristics are unique to the Election Commissioner office, and do not apply to the other example you mentioned.
 
Election Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 6 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

6. All government officials, with the exception of members of the Security Council, must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly while in office. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of nominations and throughout the election.
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2. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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3. Chapter 4, Section 4.2, Clause 4 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

4. "Candidates" are those Regional Assembly members who declare themselves, or have accepted a nomination by another Regional Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
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4. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 1 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

12. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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5. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.

Updated draft. I made an addition (clause 3) which amends the definition of "Candidates" in the Legal Code to remove the mention of "citizens". This is not strictly necessary, given that the amended Constitution will also require that candidates be citizens. But there is no reason to allow the discrepancy to remain, and as we saw in this election it can be problematic should the constitutional clause be removed.

Note also that I have changed the name of the bill, but I don't appear to be able to edit the topic title.
 
Sometimes I worry that people think I say things in the RA just to be difficult.

I hope that's not the case.

I want to understand, but it's hard.

r3naissanc3r:
I agree that the constitutional clause amendment would be better if split into two; I kept it in a single clause because that was the original form. In that case, as you say, the split helps prevent a similar accident in the future. I have made that change.
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You say you have split a constitutional clause into two, but I cannot find such a split in your posts here nor in the Officials Amendment.
 
My apologies Chas. I said I would do it, then had to leave, and later neglected it. Thanks for double checking.

Here is the amended draft.

Election Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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2. Article 7, Clauses 10 to 12 of the Constitution of The North Pacified are hereby renumbered 11 to 13, respectively.

3. The following is inserted in Article 7 6 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,

10. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of nominations and throughout the election.
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4. Chapter 4, Section 4.2, Clause 4 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

4. "Candidates" are those Regional Assembly members who declare themselves, or have accepted a nomination by another Regional Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
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5. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 1 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,

12. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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6. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.
 
I support this bill greatly. The first part of the bill, however, states that all election candidates have had membership in the RA for fifteen days prior. This has been a rule since my first arrival here in TNP. But as you said, you put a bill in action which removed this clause. I was just wondering, as a history question, why 15 days? Why the founders or RA members thought 15 days was a substantial amount and then after you may run? Was it that after 15 days they felt that the newcomer knew enough about the region to serve in public office or was it just standard precautions. Just a fact I've been pondering for a while. Other than that I think this bill definitely clears some of the ambiguities we have in the TNP election process and hopefully it will passed.
 
Minor suggestion:

10. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of nominations and throughout the election.
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4. "Candidates" are those Regional Assembly members who declare themselves, or have accepted a nomination by another Regional Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
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The second piece combines a definition of Candidate with a restriction on candidates - might it make more sense to split the restriction (on standing for offices) out? Perhaps add it to the time-restriction in the first quote?
 
Thank You Chas, I've been wondering why fifteen days.

I also agreed with Silly string, that adding that except about the validity of a candidate provides a coherent view of who can part take in an election. It would be wise to include that piece of information in the prevised amendment.
 
My original intent with this bill was to swiftly fix the two major issues currently in electoral law (citizens being eligible candidates, and the EC appointment incompatibilities). I also had in mind a list of other corrections needed to our electoral law, and a few members have made some suggestions of their own, here or in IRC. Given that this bill can't pass before the end of this election anyway, I decided to make this an omnibus and include all of these fixes.

Here is the amended draft:

Election Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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2. Clauses 10 to 12 of Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 11 to 13, respectively.

3. The following is inserted in Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,
10. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of candidacy declarations and throughout the election.
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4. Clauses 8 to 17 of Chapter 4 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 9 to 18, respectively.

5. Chapter 4, Section 4.2 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
3. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
4. "Candidates" are those Regional Assembly members who declare themselves during the period of the Election Cycle designated for candidacy declarations as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that Election Cycle.
5. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated to supervise a given election. No Election Commissioner may run in the election they are overseeing.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which candidacy declarations can be made and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election.
8. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the holder of it resigns, is removed, or abandons it. An office is abandoned when its holder does not log onto the regional forums for two weeks without prior notice, or when an election winner or appointee fails to post the Oath of Office. Pending an election, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, this Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.
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6. Chapter 4, Section 4.3, Clause 11 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
11. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within one day of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
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7. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 13 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
13. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the candidacy declaration and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Vice Delegate shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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8. Chapter 4, Section 4.5, Clause 17 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
17. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Vice Delegate, or if the Delegate and Vice Delegate are not available, the Speaker, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
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9. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.
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And here is a version with the changes highlighted and inline comments:


Election Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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2. Clauses 10 to 12 of Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 11 to 13, respectively.

3. The following is inserted in Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,
10. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of candidacy declarations and throughout the election.
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N.B. Note that there are clauses in the Legal Code that the bill must both amend and renumber. For this reason, I do the renumbering first, then I post the amendments with reference to the already renumbered clauses.

4. Clauses 8 to 17 of Chapter 4 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 9 to 18, respectively.

N.B. There are a few changes to the following section. First, there is the correction of the citizenship issue. Second, the previous "All your laws are belong to us" bill partially removed mentions of "nominations" from the law. Several such mentions are still left in the Legal Code, however, and all of those are now being replaced by "declarations of candidacy". Third, the provision for candidates only standing for one office is moved to its own, separate clause. Fourth, the redundant requirement for the Delegate to announce the date of Election Cycles is removed. Firth, since we're at it, an erroneous space is being removed.

5. Chapter 4, Section 4.2 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
3. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
4. "Candidates" are those citizens Regional Assembly members who declare themselves , or have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, during the period of the Election Cycle designated for candidacy declarations as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that election Election Cycle. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
5. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated to supervise a given election. No Election Commissioner may run in the election they are overseeing.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made candidacy declarations can be made and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The dates for the Election Cycle will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate .
8. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the holder of it resigns, is removed, or abandons it . An office is abandoned when its holder does not log onto the regional forums for two weeks without prior notice, or when an election winner or appointee fails to post the Oath of Office. Pending an election, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, this Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.
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N.B. As I pointed out earlier, notice that the text below references clauses by assuming they have already been renumbered.

N.B. Fixing typo.

6. Chapter 4, Section 4.3, Clause 11 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
[/i]
11. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within one days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
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N.B. In the next two clauses, I am removing Justices from being involved in the running of elections (i.e., appointing or serving as ECs). The reason is that the same Justices may need later on to rule on some election-related review, or case of electoral fraud. If they were involved in the running of elections, they may need to recuse themselves from such cases, which is impractical. In the amended version, they are replaced by the Vice Delegate.

7. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 13 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
13. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination candidacy declaration and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice Vice Delegate shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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8. Chapter 4, Section 4.5, Clause 17 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
17. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker the Vice Delegate, or if the Delegate and the Speaker Vice Delegate are not available, any Court Justice the Speaker, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
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9. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.
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Leekem, you'll need to ask the original authors about why they picked 15 days. To me it seems like a reasonable amount of time which is also not too long to dissuade members from staying in the region.
 
There is a unresolved problem in the following language:
8. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the holder of it resigns, is removed, or abandons it. An office is abandoned when its holder does not log onto the regional forums for two weeks without prior notice, or when an election winner or appointee fails to post the Oath of Office. Pending an election, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, this Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.
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There is no time frame stated as to how long an election winner or appointee has to post their Oath of Office before the office or position is deemed abandoned. The "two weeks" clearly applies only to the failure to log onto the forums without prior notice, the way the entire sentence is worded, that time frame can't be read as providing a time limit to post an oath of office.

I would suggest that it might be better to have the failure to post an oath of office (with a specific time frame) as a separate sentence or numbered clause.

As to Leekem's question, the prior activity requirement to be a candidate was originally 30 days. 15 days was a compromised change made at some point. There continues to be skepticism as to having such a short period of R.A. membership to be a candidate for election because of the legitimate concern that such a candidate would be poorly prepared to serve due to the short length of activity before the election. In other words, some of us believe 15 days is too short.
 
Grosse, the vacancy issue is addressed earlier in the chapter:
Legal Code:
2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of the certification of election results by the Election Commissioner, or if appointed, within one week of their appointment being announced. The taking of the Oath constitutes assumption of the office. Failure to post the oath within the allotted time will result in the office being considered vacant, to be filled in accordance with all laws governing elections or appointments, as is appropriate for the office in question.
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I now have two problems with this omnibus:

1. Nominations have been removed from election procedure. So if somebody accepts a nomination, how do we know if that counts as a declaration of candidacy? Some people run having been nominated. Removing the formal structure of nominations may reduce the number of nominations, which may in turn affect the candidates running.

This affects me personally because I often nominate other nations. With this change there is no legal reason for me to state a nomination. Conversely, I take confidence if somebody nominates my nation, because I take it at face value and not a troll-nomination.

I would argue, the proposed change in the law undermines nations such as mine. I would prefer nominations be included explicitly. Does anyone agree or disagree?

2. This text isn't highlighted in green as an addition, yet I cannot find it in the legal code:
Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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Then a cross-reference or other rewording should be included. Even repeating the one week limit would provide clarity that isn't there now.

And Chasmanthe, I happen to agree with you that both the nomination procedure and the declaration procedure should co-exist. That was the intent when the declaration proceedure was introduced as an alternative to nominations; both represent different poltical strategies as to seeking elected office in TNP.
 
Nominations have no legal weight, and reference to them should be removed.

r3n, I also suggest striking 4.2.5 - there's no reason to legally restrict people from running for more than one office at once.
 
I agree with Chasmanthe and Grosseschnauzer regarding nominations. I don't see why that part was removed and I regret giving this bill my early support.

I also disagree with SillyString. - I don't think we should allow people to run for more than one office at a time.
 
Mcm: Why not?

As for nominations, they have never had any legal bearing - it makes no sense to include them in the law unless they are somehow required for the process. Removing reference to them will not prevent people from nominating others they wish to see run, providing exactly the same social impact, and it will also enhance the clarity of the law and remove extraneous elements.
 
I don't expect to have time to respond to these comments for the next couple of days. To prevent this from going to vote prematurely, and make sure the bill in its increased scope is discussed properly, I would like to ask the Speaker to take it out of formal debate for now.
 
I was thinking this over last night before bed, and I wouldn't mind including a clause saying that accepting a nomination within the declaration period of an election is equivalent to declaring one's candidacy - just to avoid the possible interpretation that they are distinct, and that someone who posts that they accept a nomination has failed to declare their candidacy. But as nominations themselves represent only peer pressure, and are not a legal requirement, they should not be otherwise referenced.
 
r3naissanc3r:
I don't expect to have time to respond to these comments for the next couple of days. To prevent this from going to vote prematurely, and make sure the bill in its increased scope is discussed properly, I would like to ask the Speaker to take it out of formal debate for now.
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Seeing that the motion to vote has been withdrawn, the bill is no longer in formal debate.
 
Why not?

Edit: That is, there may be more positive ways to refer to it, such as "encouraging someone to run" and "demonstrating one's support for a candidate", but those are, at the end of the day, peer pressure. It's not inherently a bad thing, but it is solely a social, not a legal, thing.
 
Time for a history lesson, I'm afraid.

Under the earliest TNP constitutions as those were originally drafted, the only way one could become a candidate was by nomination by others. It precluded both self-nomination (thought at the time to be unseemly) or declarations of candidacy.

While I had no problem at the time with that sort of approach, it tended to ignore the possibility that qualified people who weren't necessarily the most visible might want to be a candidate, so I supported the introduction of self-nomination through the device of declaration of candidacy, and thus, allowed people to stand for an office without needing a second or a third, which was the practice of the nomination system in order to accept the nomination.
That dual track was kept in order not to minimize the accessibility to be able to run for office, no matter how popular or not a person might be.
In RL by the way there are jurisdictions that require nomination petitions in order for a candidate to get on the ballot for a party nomination, and other states where no such process exist. So having a system here that uses both is a reflection of how it is done in places as alternative to one another. I fail to see how keeping both processes impairs our elections in any way, at a minimum, it encourages candidates to run who might not run if we only have one system or the other.
I support leaving that dual system in place as the fairest way of maximizing access to the ballot, especially since the traditional 7 day period for nominations and for voting have been done away with; a consequence that will eventual show a reduction in turnout if the five day period does not overlap both the workweek and the weekend, knowing that there are citizens in TNP who have access mostly for one or the other of the time periods. But the R.A. can revisit that issue in another bill.
 
Nominations have no legal weight, Grosse, as has already been said multiple times, and their inclusion does not maximize access to the ballot. It doesn't matter that they used to be required, except to explain why the reference to them stayed in the document. They are not currently required for one to run for office. All that matters is for one to state one's own intention.

People are free to continue making nominations, and accepting them, and this is why I support the inclusion of a sentence that establishes accepting a nomination as equivalent to declaring one's candidacy, but people are free to do all kinds of things that we should not be mentioning in law - DD's exploratory committee, for example, or political parties. Not everything needs regulation, particularly not things with no legal bearing.
 
And I and others, apparently disagree with you on this issue in a fundamental way. the mere strength of this disagreement should demonstrate the need to see the political reality on the issue. Is it worth it to you to have the bill voted down on this one point?

The other thing you are missing is that the two track approach has worked. There's been no evidence in all the time we've had this in TNP that this approach has created problems in the election process. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And this system ain't broke.
 
If it ain't broke don't fix it is a pragmatic saying, not a crap one. this is legislation without reason. One thing that HAS worked without problems in the region recently is the nomination/election system.

Grosse is quite right on this issue.
 
I didn't deny that the process is working, after a fashion. My point is that just because something is working doesn't mean there is no better option. That is the fundamental falacy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." There are plenty of things that aren't broken that can still work much better than they are.

The saying prizes inertia as the highest good, and stifles legislative innovation.
 
Apologies for dropping the ball on this bill. As a few of you know I had an RL deadline till the 20th, then catching up with the various RL and NS issues that had been left behind took a lot longer than I expected. (Same applies to the Court Jurisdiction Amendment Bill, I should have the time to address things there in the next day or so.)

I would like to address the issue of the "removal" of nominations---the use of quotes here is intentional. There are two misunderstandings here:

1) It is not the intention of the bill to remove nominations from the electoral process, and the removal of mentions to nominations will not have that effect. There are indeed many aspects of our electoral process that are not stipulated in our electoral law and yet we use them consistently, e.g., the use of the Voting Booth account, the use of an electoral forum, etc. Likewise, it is not necessary for the electoral law to explicitly mention nominations for RA members to be able to make them: every RA member is free to make a post in the candidacy thread nominating someone for candidate for an office.

2) The altering of the language of electoral law to replace mentions of "nominations" with mentions of "candidacies" is not an innovation of this bill. This process was started with the All your election law are belong to us Act. The execution of the change there was imperfect though, meaning that we were left with inconsistent use of terminology, which this bill addresses.

As I said earlier, it is neither the intention nor the effect of this bill that nominations are removed from the electoral process. Nominations are a useful part of the process, and by this time enshrined into TNP electoral traditions.

However, there is good reason for shifting emphasis of what is legally regulated from nominations to the actual candidacy submissions. The reason is that, in the end, what has a hard effect on the electoral outcome is the candidacies and not the nominations. The following examples should illustrate this: An election can be held if nobody nominations anyone, but some candidates come forth on their own; however, an election cannot be held if there have been nominations but nobody has actually submitted a candidacy. Likewise, whether a nomination is made during or outside the period prescribed by electoral law has no effect on the final electoral outcome; however, whether a candidacy is submitted during or outside the prescribed period prescribed makes a big difference, as in the first case the candidate will appear on the ballot and in the second they will not. And finally, while the procedure in which a nomination is made does not matter (anyone can nominate anyone else at any time and place on the forum, without any influence to the electoral outcome), it is important for the electoral outcome that a member submits their candidacy in the way prescribed by law and the ECs.

As I mentioned above, as of the passage of the previous comprehensive electoral bill, our electoral law is inconsistent, talking about nominations in some places (e.g., Legal Code 4.2.6 and 4.4.12), and candidacies in other (e.g., Legal Code 4.3.8 and 4.3.9). It is important that this be addressed, and that terminology is used consistently. This can be done by consistently referring everywhere to either nominations (i.e., undoing the respective changes of the All your election law are belong to us Act) or candidacies (i.e., completing what was started by that Act). For the reasons I stated in the previous paragraph, I believe that it is better to do the latter.

Having said these, I agree with the suggestion made by SillyString in a previous post, that the clause mentioning acceptance of a nomination as a valid means of declaring a candidacy should be preserved. This is a case where a nomination can have (albeit indirectly) a hard effect in the electoral outcome, and therefore should be regulated. Furthermore, this proposed change has the additional effect that a mention of nominations is preserved in the electoral law. This should help, I hope, alleviate concerns that the changes of this bill will remove nominations entirely from the electoral process, and ensure that nominations and candidacy declarations continue to co-exist during elections.

With this in mind, here is the edited proposed draft (first a clean version, and second a version with annotated changes). The change compared to the previous draft is in how clause 5 of the bill amends clause 4.2.4 of the Legal Code.

Election Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
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2. Clauses 10 to 12 of Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 11 to 13, respectively.

3. The following is inserted in Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,
10. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of candidacy declarations and throughout the election.
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4. Clauses 8 to 17 of Chapter 4 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 9 to 18, respectively.

5. Chapter 4, Section 4.2 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
3. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
4. "Candidates" are those Regional Assembly members who, during the period of the Election Cycle designated for candidacy declarations, declare themselves or accept a nomination by another Regional Assembly member as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that Election Cycle.
5. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated to supervise a given election. No Election Commissioner may run in the election they are overseeing.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which candidacy declarations can be made and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election.
8. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the holder of it resigns, is removed, or abandons it. An office is abandoned when its holder does not log onto the regional forums for two weeks without prior notice, or when an election winner or appointee fails to post the Oath of Office. Pending an election, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, this Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.
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6. Chapter 4, Section 4.3, Clause 11 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
11. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within one day of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
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7. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 13 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
13. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the candidacy declaration and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Vice Delegate shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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8. Chapter 4, Section 4.5, Clause 17 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
17. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Vice Delegate, or if the Delegate and Vice Delegate are not available, the Speaker, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
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9. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.
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Annotated version (including inline comments of previous draft):

Election Provisions Amendment Bill

1. Article 7, Clause 9 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
9. No person may simultaneously serve in government official positions in more than one of the executive, legislative, or judicial categories. Exceptions to this provision may be established by law.
Click to expand...

2. Clauses 10 to 12 of Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 11 to 13, respectively.

3. The following is inserted in Article 7 of the Constitution of The North Pacific,
10. Candidates in any election must maintain membership in the Regional Assembly for the fifteen days before the opening of candidacy declarations and throughout the election.
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N.B. Note that there are clauses in the Legal Code that the bill must both amend and renumber. For this reason, I do the renumbering first, then I post the amendments with reference to the already renumbered clauses.

4. Clauses 8 to 17 of Chapter 4 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific are hereby renumbered 9 to 18, respectively.

N.B. There are a few changes to the following section. First, there is the correction of the citizenship issue. Second, the previous "All your laws are belong to us" bill partially removed mentions of "nominations" from the law. Several such mentions are still left in the Legal Code, however, and all of those are now being replaced by "declarations of candidacy". Third, the provision for candidates only standing for one office is moved to its own, separate clause. Fourth, the redundant requirement for the Delegate to announce the date of Election Cycles is removed. Firth, since we're at it, an erroneous space is being removed.

Compared to the previous draft, note the changed 4.2.4, which now explicitly mentions and takes into account nominations.

5. Chapter 4, Section 4.2 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
3. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
4. "Candidates" are those citizens Regional Assembly members members who, during the period of the Election Cycle designated for candidacy declarations, declare themselves or have accepted accept a nomination by another Regional Assembly member as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that election Election Cycle. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
5. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated to supervise a given election. No Election Commissioner may run in the election they are overseeing.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made candidacy declarations can be made and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The dates for the Election Cycle will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate .
8. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the holder of it resigns, is removed, or abandons it . An office is abandoned when its holder does not log onto the regional forums for two weeks without prior notice, or when an election winner or appointee fails to post the Oath of Office. Pending an election, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, this Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.
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N.B. As I pointed out earlier, notice that the text below references clauses by assuming they have already been renumbered.

N.B. Fixing typo.

6. Chapter 4, Section 4.3, Clause 11 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
11. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within one days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
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N.B. In the next two clauses, I am removing Justices from being involved in the running of elections (i.e., appointing or serving as ECs). The reason is that the same Justices may need later on to rule on some election-related review, or case of electoral fraud. If they were involved in the running of elections, they may need to recuse themselves from such cases, which is impractical. In the amended version, they are replaced by the Vice Delegate.

7. Chapter 4, Section 4.4, Clause 13 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
13. Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination candidacy declaration and election processes at least one week before the beginning of the month in which the election is to be held. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice Vice Delegate shall promptly make the appointment. Regional Assembly members serving as government officials are not excluded from appointments under this clause.
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8. Chapter 4, Section 4.5, Clause 17 of the Codified Law of The North Pacific is hereby amended to read as follows,
17. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker the Vice Delegate, or if the Delegate and the Speaker Vice Delegate are not available, any Court Justice the Speaker, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
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9. No part of this bill shall take effect unless all parts take effect.
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I hate bumping this bill when I had originally myself let it stall for weeks, but it's been another 10 days without any comments.

I would move this to vote, but I am currently waiting for another vote on a bill amending the same section of the Legal Code to conclude. If that bill passes, then I will edit this draft as necessary to account for the changes that bill introduces.

Until then, any more comments on this, and in particular on the changes I mentioned in my previous post, would be appreciated.
 
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