Rules of the Election Commission
Section One: Administration
1. Whenever the position is vacant, the Election Commissioner with the longest tenure who is willing and not absent will become the Senior Election Commissioner.
2. When the Senior Election Commissioner is absent, the Election Commissioner with the longest tenure who is willing and not absent will serve as a temporary replacement until the Senior Election Commissioner is no longer absent.
3. The Senior Election Commissioner will administer these rules, and use their discretion where no rules exist.
4. By default, votes to amend these rules will last five days, and can only be held when an election is not in progress. Other votes will last three days by default.
5. If the outcome of any vote is no longer in doubt, the Senior Election Commissioner may end the vote early at their discretion.
6. When temporary Election Commissioners are needed, the non-absent commissioners will come to a consensus regarding who to appoint. If no consensus can be reached, the Senior Election Commissioner will create a list of all suggested appointees, and hold a vote in which each Election Commissioner may vote for as many or as few as they wish. Those with the most votes will be appointed.
7. The Senior Election Commissioner will maintain a roster of current Election Commissioners and the date of their oath of office.
8. At least one week before any general or judicial election, the Senior Election Commissioner will designate two willing Election Commissioners to supervise the election. Whenever a special election is called for, the Senior Election Commissioner will promptly designate two willing Election Commissioners to supervise the election. Election Commissioners so designated will hereafter be referred to as “Election Supervisors” though this role is not distinct from their position as Election Commissioners, and is considered part of the regular duties of an Election Commissioner.
9. Election Commissioners who expect to be absent, or are unwilling to supervise a regularly scheduled election should endeavor to inform the Senior Election Commissioner at least two weeks in advance of the election.
10. The Senior Election Commissioner will control access to forum accounts for the purpose of supervising elections, including The Voting Booth, The Polling Place, and The Ballot Box. The password to one of these accounts will be given to the Election Supervisors before an election, who will promptly change the password, and share it only between themselves. After the final results of the election are certified, they will give the password to the Senior Election Commissioner, who will promptly change the password again.
Section Two: Election Procedures
1. In advance of any regularly scheduled election, Election Supervisors will obtain lists from the Speaker’s office of all citizens who are eligible to run for office. In the case of a special election, such a list must be obtained before the close of candidacy declarations.
2. After voting begins, Election Supervisors will promptly obtain a list from the Speaker’s office of all citizens who are eligible to vote.
3. During candidacy declarations, Election Supervisors are obligated to include a list of declared candidates in the opening post of the thread for candidacy declarations. They are encouraged, but not required, to include lists of those who have been nominated, those who have declined nominations, and those who were nominated, but not eligible to run. In some circumstances, such as when all citizens have been nominated for office, it would be appropriate to omit such lists, or put them inside spoiler tags.
4. During voting, private ballots will be announced in separate posts. If a private ballot is changed, the corresponding post will be edited accordingly.
5. Public ballots may be changed by the voter either by editing the original ballot directly or by making a new post in the voting thread. Any time a voter posts more than one ballot in the voting thread, only the most recent one will be counted.
6. Election Supervisors will endeavor to keep an up to date tally of votes available to the Election Commission at-large, with private ballots anonymized. The Election Supervisors may modify how each ballot is counted until the final results are certified.
7. Any time during the voting period, or six hours thereafter, any Election Commissioner may challenge a particular ballot by private message, and submit an alternate interpretation of how it should be counted. The Election Supervisors may accept or deny any challenge.
8. If a ballot is modified by the voter, any prior challenge of that ballot will be null and void.
9. If the results of challenged ballots could change the outcome of the election, the results must be certified by the Election Commission at large. Otherwise, the Election Supervisors will promptly certify the results after the voting period ends.
10. To certify the results at large, the Election Supervisors will promptly present the results of the election to the Election Commission for certification by majority vote. Simultaneously, the Election Commission will also vote on the outcome of each challenged ballot. If the vote to certify the results fails, then each challenged ballot will be counted according to the outcome of their respective votes. The results will then be considered certified.
Section Three: Irregular Ballots
1. If a voter does not vote Yes or No to a question to re-open nominations for a given office, their vote for that office will not be counted.
2. In all other cases, any portion of a ballot that is properly completed will be counted, even if other portions of the ballot are left blank.
3. If a voter selects more candidates for a given office than are allowed, their vote for that office will not be counted.
4. If a voter selects fewer candidates for a given office than are allowed, their unused selections will be treated as abstentions, and their votes for that office will be counted.
5. If a voter misspells the name of a candidate on their ballot, their vote will be counted unless it is unclear which candidate they intended to vote for.
6. Any time a voter is at risk of having a portion of their ballot go uncounted, they must be immediately contacted by the Election Supervisors by private message and telegram.
Section Four: Citizen Petitions
1. If a citizen petitions for a decision of the Election Supervisors to be reviewed, the Election Commission at large will promptly vote between the following options:
a. Uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors
c. Reverse the decision and continue the election
d. Overrule the decision and restart the voting period
e. 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 Senior Election Commissioner will endeavor to efficiently determine a course of action that has majority support of the election commission, and put it to vote.
