Proposed Election Code

Grosseschnauzer

Grosseschnauzer

TNPer
A Bill to amend and revise Law 26 respecting elections:

Law 26 is hereby amended and revised to provide as follows:
TNP LAW 26
Election Dates and Procedures

This law is hereby enacted to enable anprovides for the election schedule and procedure for the offices and elections prescribed in Article I, Section Three of the Constitution of The North Pacific.

“Candidates” are those individual members of the Assembly who either declare themselves, or who are nominated by at least two other Assembly members, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.

“Election Commissioner” is the individual designated by the Delegate to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election. More than one Commissioner may be designated.

“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, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle shall not include any legal holidays provided in Law 23, and those dates shall be designated at least 30 days in advance by The Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.

SECTION ONE. General Elections.

1. The election cycle for the 4-month terms of The Delegate, The Vice Delegate, The Speaker of the Assembly, and CLO members, shall begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
2. The Delegate must select one or more Election Commissioners to oversee the nomination and election processes, at least one week before the month in which the Election Cycle begins.
3. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
4. Voting shall begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed. Voting shall last for seven days.
5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seek endorsements during the election cycle.

SECTION TWO. Judicial Elections.

1. The election cycle for the 6-month terms of The Judiciary, including the Chief Justice, shall begin on the first day of the months of April and October.
2. The Delegate must select one or more Election Commissioners to oversee the nomination and election processes, at least one week before the month in which the Election Cycle begins.
3. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
4. Voting shall begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed. Voting shall last for seven days.

SECTION THREE

This Act shall take immediate effect.
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Editing to make minor fixes.
 
I'll jump right into the constructive criticism.

1. procudure is wrong, it should be procedure

2. The first paragraph is LOOONG. Do you mean it to allow someone to be forced onto the ballot against their will?

3. "5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seeking endorsements during the election cycle." if it's even necessary, which I doubt, should be "5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seek endorsements during the election cycle."

4. Can't you have the nomination and voting times specified once for both?
 
Eluvatar:
1. procudure is wrong, it should be procedure.
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Amazing I use a spelling check plus eyeballing, and sometimes I just can't read the screen. It'll be fixed.

2. The first paragraph is LOOONG. Do you mean it to allow someone to be forced onto the ballot against their will?
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They're two methods of becoming a candidate. It is shorter, however, than the language used under the last Constitution for the same concept. Would you find this as clear, without possibility of ambiguity?

“Candidates” are those members of the Assembly who either declare themselves, or who are nominated by at least two other members, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
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As to the question you asked, isn't that what happened in the current election? As far as I know, neither Roman nor Namyeknom accepted their nominations. Depending on how we want to treat this new precident, we may need an additional sentence. Nothing in the sentence, however, prevents a candidate from declining a nomination, or refusing to take office.

3. "5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seeking endorsements during the election cycle." if it's even necessary, which I doubt, should be "5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seek endorsements during the election cycle."
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I reworded the sentence in redrafting and missed that. It'll be fixed.

4. Can't you have the nomination and voting times specified once for both?
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I'm not exactly sure what you're asking for here; I can read the question two different ways. If you're asking why items 2, 3, and 4 are identical in language, my response is that there hasn't been a real consensus on how to handle the procedures for judicial elections, and we need to try and address it before April. By listing those items separately, we can alter the proposal as to judicial elections without forcng a complete re-write now or in the future.

If you're asking for specific dates for nominations and voting, the definition of "election cycle" covers that. We all overlooked the fact that there were two legal holidays (December 23 and January 1) under Law 23 that were not taken into account for the election cycle this time around. And I think we need to allow the Delegate the authority to adjust the dates for the election calendar to reflect OOC/RL considerations so we can maximize candidate and voter participation.
 
My biggest concern from an initial reading is this part:

5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seek endorsements during the election cycle.
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At a minimum, this prevents those candidates to endorsements for 17 days (7 day nomination, 3 day gap, 7 day voting), and if the commissioners take any longer to officially announce the results, then they just have to sit on their hands. What if the current delegate is running for re-election? What if it's abundantly clear who the winner will be, or there's only one candidate? Even if there is a heavily contested election for one or both of those positions, then both should still be seeking endorsements during the election cycle so that whoever does win can have as smooth and quick a transition as possible.

Obviously common sense dictates that until they are elected they cannot surpass the current officials but that is something that I feel is best left to common sense and the legal code should not govern that so explicitly.
 
That sentence was included based upon the lack of stated objection to it in the discussion of earlier proposals for an Election Law over the last six months.

In drafting this bill, I wanted to include those provisions that appeared to have generated a consensus, as well as include those provisions that have generally been followed as part of election procedures generally going back four years.
 
My aim is to have a sufficient consensus so that we gcan get an election law passed. As I said before, there were no objections stated to it in the recent attempts to pass an election law. If someone can demonstrate that a majority of the RA would not support that provision, then I have no problem dropping it.
 
So far, the following is the only clause in the bill that seems to raise concern.

5. Candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not actively seek endorsements during the election cycle.
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It was included only because it has appears in the earlier recent attempts to pass an election code, and there had been no comments about it. Should it stay or should it go?

If I can't get a vote held on my procedural motion that would effectively affirm the new rule on absentions, then I may add a clause here. Likewise I'm also willing to add a clause that defines the constitutional language on the majority requirement for elections of Delegate and Vice Delegate to mean a majority of the votes cast in the Assembly.

I would like to steer away from proposals to amend the Constitution, where the same result can be accomplished by legislation affecting the Legal Code -- it being far easier to achieve a simple majority (with the Delegate's approval) or a three-fifths majority that to obtain a three-quarters majority.
 
I propose this instead:

5. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement count greater than the incumbent delegate during the election cycle.
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Falconias:
5. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement count greater than the incumbent delegate during the election cycle.
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I agree with Heft that it should refer to the Vice Delegate's level, or even the endorsement levels contained in Law 30, Section One, Paragraph 2, regarding the Security Council.
2. Members of the Council shall maintain at least 130 endorsements and no more than 180.
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I don't want to just use that number, since the required endorsement level could change from month-to-month under the enacted provisions governing the Security Council.

Would the following be acceptable if we use the Law 30 limits?

5. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Law 30.
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Since we're still in limbo on an RA vote concerning absentions, I'm prepared to all the following in the definitional statements preceeding Section 1:

"Absentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
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No one has stated an objection to the two suggestions I offered in my last post, so I am going to include them in the final version of the bill so it can go to a vote. I'm also going to include a reference in section two to the Attorney Generalassuming that the bill for an elected Attorney General passes.

Here's the final draft of the bill:

A Bill to amend and revise Law 26 respecting elections:

Law 26 is hereby amended and revised to provide as follows:
TNP LAW 26
Election Dates and Procedures

This law is hereby enacted to enable anprovides for the election schedule and procedure for the offices and elections prescribed in Article I, Section Three of the Constitution of The North Pacific, or other elected offices created by law.

"Absentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.

“Candidates” are those individual members of the Assembly who either declare themselves, or who are nominated by at least two other Assembly members, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.

“Election Commissioner” is the individual designated by the Delegate to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election. More than one Commissioner may be designated.

“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, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle shall not include any legal holidays provided in Law 23, and those dates shall be designated at least 30 days in advance by The Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.

SECTION ONE. General Elections.

1. The election cycle for the 4-month terms of The Delegate, The Vice Delegate, The Speaker of the Assembly, and CLO members, shall begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
2. The Delegate must select one or more Election Commissioners to oversee the nomination and election processes, at least one week before the month in which the Election Cycle begins.
3. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
4. Voting shall begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed. Voting shall last for seven days.
5. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate and Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Law 30.

SECTION TWO. Judicial Elections.

1. The election cycle for the 6-month terms of The Judiciary, including the Chief Justice, and the Attorney General, shall begin on the first day of the months of April and October.
2. The Delegate must select one or more Election Commissioners to oversee the nomination and election processes, at least one week before the month in which the Election Cycle begins.
3. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
4. Voting shall begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed. Voting shall last for seven days.

SECTION THREE

This Act shall take immediate effect.
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My hope is to move this bill and the AG bill to a simultaneous vote as soon as possible. Once this is passed, we can address what procedure to use to select the Azure Alliance Senator.
 
This will go to a vote with the proposed law on the Attorney General, the proposed procedure on absentions and the proposal on Speaker lobbying.
 
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