Vivanco's Petition to the Election Commission

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@Vivanco has petitioned the Election Commission to review the decision by January 2023 Special Judicial Election Supervisors @Pallaith and @Sil Dorsett not to consider @Rae's self-nomination as a declaration of candidacy.

The relevant rules of the Election Commission governing citizen petitions are as follows:
Section Six: Citizen Petitions
1. Citizens may petition the Election Commission at large to review a decision of the Election Supervisors in a thread in the Elections forum.
2. When such a petition is submitted, the Election Commission at large will promptly vote between the following options:
a. Uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors
b. Overrule the decision and continue the election
c. Overrule the decision and restart the voting period
d. Overrule the decision and restart the election
2. During this process, if three or more Election Commissioners move that the election should be halted, the Election Supervisors will immediately halt the election.
3. Election Commissioners can only vote for one option, and if an option gains a majority, it will be put into effect.
4. If no option gains a majority, the election will be halted (if it has not been already) while the commission deliberates.
5. The Chief Election Commissioner will endeavor to efficiently determine a course of action that has majority support of the election commission, and put it to vote.
As Chief Election Commissioner, I am opening this thread for the Election Commission to discuss the decision of the Election Supervisors and vote on a course of action provided for by the rules.
 
Look - if someone puts "I want to restart nominations" instead of reopen nominations, do you accept it as a vote for RoN, or even filling in the RoN question? My answer for that question would be the same as this one.
 
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I initially added Rae’s name to the list of candidates seeing they nominated themself. This is obviously a reasonable conclusion to make. However, when I talked it over with Sil, I pointed out to him that we’ve seen people nominate themselves and make a show of accepting that nomination (Mall has done this on occasion for example). We have also seen people be extra obnoxious and nominate every eligible citizen, something that would include themselves, and yet no one actually considered those people to be candidates by virtue of doing that. Someone could be having fun by nominating themself - that in itself is not actually a commitment. I can easily see how someone will joke around, throw out a nomination and let it dangle without ever addressing it - after all, that’s what happens with many nominations.

When there are several possibilities, and we’re trying to run a fair election for everyone, we cannot rely on guesswork and gut checks when there are clear rules to follow. If there’s any doubt, or reason to doubt, a course that we take, we should avoid that doubt by relying on rules that are clear for everyone. And giving these rules a clear reading, there is only one correct conclusion: a nomination of one self is not a declaration of candidacy. Observe our rules, which are posted in every declarations thread:

To run, one must either accept a nomination or declare candidacy in this thread. To withdraw from running, one must post a withdrawal of candidacy in this thread.

Acceptances of nominations, declarations of candidacy, and withdrawals of candidacy posted outside this thread will be discounted. Acceptance of a nomination is understood to also constitute declaration of candidacy even if no nomination has been made. Acceptances of nominations, declarations of candidacy, and withdrawals of candidacy must be posted during the candidacy declaration period to be valid

There are two choices: accept a nomination or declare candidacy. Nominating yourself is not either of those choices. And we know that these distinctions matter because the next paragraph takes time to point out that accepting a nomination is the same as declaring candidacy even if no nomination was made. So accepting an invisible nomination is seen as a cute way to declare your candidacy. Given how many scenarios this contemplates, it could easily contemplate nominating oneself - but it doesn’t. Maybe it should. But right now it doesn’t. Right now we have all the scenarios laid out and how they work.

Rae probably meant to be a candidate. But I don’t know Rae. This could have been deliberate, a fun little why not without fully committing to a run. Only Rae can answer definitively, and the fact that there is an alternative possibility should be enough for us to stick with rules as written.

Rae needs to accept their self-nomination or just outright declare candidacy. I also suggest that the EC clarify the rules to explicitly warn people of the need to accept self-nominations, or to warn them that self-nominations will be considered declarations of candidacy.
 
Look - if someone puts "I want to restart nominations" instead of reopen nominations, do you accept it as a vote for RoN, or even filling in the RoN question? My answer for that question would be the same as this one.
I don't know...what's your answer to that question?
 
Fair enough. I think Ghost's explanation makes sense and the suggestion to clarify the rules around self-nominations is a good one.
 
We should vote on this. The rules say we need to promptly make a decision.
Alright, Election Commissioners please vote for one of the following options:
a. Uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors
b. Overrule the decision and continue the election
c. Overrule the decision and restart the voting period
d. Overrule the decision and restart the election
I vote for option A - Uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors.
 
According to Section 6.3 of the Rules of the Election Commissioner, "if an option gains a majority, it will be put into effect". With all but one Election Commissioner having voted, there are six votes to uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors and none for any other option. Thus there is a majority to uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors, and the matter is decided.
 
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