[2351.AP] Elections Act Reform

Assembly
, ,
1

There has been a great deal of discussion over the past few months about reforms to various aspects of the Elections Act. With so many proposed changes floating around, it might make sense to consider and draft a comprehensive set of amendments. Below I have listed the changes that I currently have in mind and the brief rationales therefor. Some of these are my own proposals but most I have drawn from the numerous ongoing discussions about the Act.

This thread is intended to begin debate, rather than serve as anything close to a final proposal. I look forward to hearing folks thoughts, additions, objections, alterations, etc. to the below. Once we have some alignment on the changes to be made, we can begin work on actually drafting legislative language.

  1. Standardize the voting method of all forum-based elections to IRV. This would eliminate the troublesome system of approval voting entirely, and it would retain majority voting for the on-site Delegate election only.

  2. Standardize the election calendar / timeline for all forum-based elections. This would reduce the confusion associated with counting backwards from the first of every month to figure out when the election starts, having the Chair and PM / Delegate on different timelines, etc. I would tentatively propose starting all elections on the 15th of the relevant month, with a four day nomination / campaign period, a four day voting period, and new terms starting on the first of the following month. That would leave roughly a one week transition period after the results are announced. I know a four day voting period is one day longer than discussed in the previous thread about this, but given that voting in elections is now tied so directly to citizenship, I thought giving folks another day to get in their ballot was reasonable.

  3. Standardize voting to secret ballot. I recognize that this creates some additional work for the EC, but I find Australian ballot far superior to public voting, especially where appointed positions hang in the balance.

  4. Clarify that the Chair “election” counts as an Assembly vote for purposes of maintaining legislator status, rather than an election for purposes of maintaining citizenship under the Citizenship Act.

  5. Clarify who will exercise the powers of Prime Minister in the event the PM office becomes vacant. Currently, a special election is to be held to fill the PM position, but that takes at least nine days (eight if proposition 2 above becomes law). During that time, it strikes me that the Cabinet could collectively exercise the PM’s powers in a caretaker role. But planning for such an important contingency should be codified rather than left to chance.

  6. Clarify the line of succession for Delegate, specifically the odd provision that, in the event of a vacancy, “[i]f no person qualifies for the office, then a special election will be held.” That suggests that the in-game Delegate spot could be vacant during the pendency of a special election, which is of course physically impossible. And it suggests that the entire line of succession might be unable to take office, which is extraordinarily unlikely. I would propose deleting that provision and replacing it with one that mandates a special election only if more than half of the Delegate’s term remains.

  7. Move the “Separation of Powers” section to the Charter. Though this specific section does mention elections, the separation of powers seems a fundamental part of our constitutional order, not a detail of election administration. And fundamental parts of our constitutional order would seem to belong in the Charter.

  8. Clarify how RON would work were it to “win” an election. Currently, if RON wins, “the election process for the exact position won by it shall restart.” But the Act also provides that “[t]he term for the incoming Prime Minister will begin the week after elections, on the first of the month . . . The outgoing Prime Minister and any appointed Cabinet ministers will maintain their offices until then,” i.e., until the first of the month only. Given that the election process for Prime Minister is currently nine days long, it is physically impossible to redo the election process before the first of the month, meaning, apparently, that we would be without a Prime Minister or PM-elect for at least two days if not longer given the logistical delay involved in running an election. I would clarify that the PM’s term will begin on the first of the month unless RON is selected, at which point it will begin at the first feasible date when a candidate is elected. The question then becomes what to do after the previous Cabinet’s term ends and before the next one begins. I would offer two proposals for consideration: (A) leave the PM and Cabinet offices vacant for the 2-3 day additional transition period or (B) extend the current PM and Cabinet in a caretaker role until their successors are confirmed.

  9. Generally simplify and clarify language throughout the Act

2

Agreed. For Delegate elections, we can do that system where the first two people to cross 50%+1 support make it to round 2.

Agreed. I’d rather keep the start of the term on the first of the month, vice moving the start of the election to the 15th, as a note. Makes for nicer start/stop dates for future historians.

Agreed.

Iffy. An idea that @Pronoun had in #legislator-lounge was to just use a resolution adopting a Chair, which I think is an excellent idea, but it would require some additional buy-in from the Assembly to start using resolutions/legislative powers in a more ceremonial way.

There’s. . . a lot of discussion to be had regarding this point, I think. I’m not sure where I stand on it, but I’ll get back to this soon, after seeing some additional discussion.

Picking this part out to just “lol” for a bit. Otherwise, agreed.

Agreed. I’m sure there’s other parts of our laws that could also be moved to the Charter, and vice versa, but this is a good start.

I’d accept this proposal as a means to ensure continuity of government and the presence of at least some leadership while we figure out the next head honcho. Also worth clarifying that it’s the PM and their appointed ministers, since the advisory councils don’t completely turn over in every new term.

3

I can write the changes about it, just give me some time.

4

As promised:

5

I have to say, I really like this idea. This might also make the whole competing bills part of the Legislative Procedure Act actually relevant again if there’s multiple people standing :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m opposed to this. The voting systems we use are each chosen because they fit the specific positions they elect ‒ with IRV for the more political office of PM focusing on majoritarianism, and AV for the Delegate/Chair relying on consensuality more ‒ and I think those are distinctions worth keeping.

But, I think the “troublesome” part of AV ‒ assuming that’s the confusion over and subsequently spoiling of the ballots ‒ could be taken care of by instead using the Expanding Approvals method. It’s sort of a ranked approval vote, using ranked ballots and rounds like IRV, but counting preferences in an AV-style ‒ until a candidate (or two, in case of the Delegate election) has majority approval, ballots are considered to continually approve the next-preferred candidate in addition to all before them (so a ballot 1. A, 2. B, 3. C would count as having approved only A in the first, A and B in the second, and all three in the third round).

This could eliminate the spoiling of ballots by confused voters and standardize ranked-ballot voting on the forums, all while keeping the consensus-oriented approach to the Delegate election that AV provides. Would this be something that people here could support? I know I sometimes get carried away when talking about electoral systems :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
6

I’ve always been opposed to secret ballots in NS, as we’re not random members of the public voting in a national election - we are a small group of active participants in the government voting on one of our own to hold an executive post, much more similar to the elections for the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Votes of legislatures should (IMO) always be public so that the general public can know if members say one thing and do another.

7

Could someone walk me through exactly how they envision this idea working? Is it that the Elections Act would specify the length of the Chair’s term and that the Assembly shall select a Chair by resolution, and then it would be up to the Assembly to put forward resolutions in a timely fashion before the Chair’s term expires? Or would this change go further and remove any temporal term for the Chair, simply providing that the Assembly shall select a Chair by resolution? In the latter case, I gather the Chair would serve until they resigned or the Assembly adopted a resolution electing a new Chair. Or is it neither of those alternatives, and I am completely missing the point?

I’ll hold off on commenting on the other points that have been raised; I’m curious to hear other folks’ thoughts first (and I need to write two briefs for the Court this evening!). But I wanted to make sure I understood this idea, since since there seems to be some positive momentum behind it.

8

Since separating the legislature from voting for executive posts, it’s no longer a vote of the legislature for the Prime Minister, it’s a vote of the citizen body. As a result, those votes cast as a private citizen can (and I will maintain should) be private. You’re not voting as a legislator.

The Speaker isn’t an executive post, and secret ballots would not apply to whatever system we end up deciding on for the Chair’s election, since that would be a vote of the legislature.

What’s the difference to compute this new system for the EC from the current one?

The Assembly could debate and vote on a Resolution Appointing a Chair or something similarly titled, with the name of the Legislator serving as Chair and the length of the term they will serve for. In the absence of a defined term length, they could just serve in perpetuity (or until recall/resignation/loss of legislator/citizen status).

9

There is nothing “troublesome” about approval voting. It isn’t the voting system’s fault that people fail to read clearly written instructions.

10

The problem is not the Approval Vote, but using it on certain occasions that makes no sense, while IRV is used for others, since we could simply unify and use a single system.
This will mitigate future errors, because if we use the same system for all elections, it makes everything clearer. In fact, why does the Approval Vote for Chair elections exist? What benefit or advantage does this bring? In my opinion, none. Nothing but confusion.

11

The difference to tabulating IRV votes is that for Expanding Approvals, knowing the total number of 1st, 2nd, etc. rankings for each candidate fully suffices to calculate the election winner, since approval counts are not dependent on higher preferences being eliminated.

The EC would have to sum the number of 1st-, 2nd-, etc. place-preferences for each of the candidates (the Election Management Portal seems to already collect this information), and then add the approvals from previous rounds and the new approvals from the ranking corresponding to the current round for each candidate in each round. In the spoiler below, I’ll explain it with a concrete example, if this is a bit too abstract :sweat_smile:

Example

(These are the real numbers from the July 2022 MoC Special Election, which was the only multi-candidate election that didn’t end after the 1st round that I’ve found)

Candidate First-preference Second Third Fourth Fifth
Comfed 3 6 7 1 1
Murelia 3 7 4 2 2
ProfessorHenn 7 4 1 6 1
maluhia 7 2 5 3 0
RON 0 1 1 5 8

From the numbers alone, it’s not possible to deduce the IRV winner, since there’s no indication which of the second-place preferences represent e.g. the three Comfed voters’ second choices - each round will need a renewed examination of the relevant ballots to know where the votes will ultimately transfer to.

Under Expanding Approvals however, it doesn’t matter who a voter’s higher preferences are when tabulating a round’s totals - a voter approves all their top preferences for the respective round, independently of any condition like a higher preference being eliminated. This makes it relatively quick to calculate. For the above example, we’d get the following approval totals:

Candidate Round 1 Approvals + 2nd-place preferences = Round 2 Approvals + 3rd-place preferences = Round 3 Approvals
Comfed 3 6 9 7 16
Murelia 3 7 10 4 14
ProfessorHenn 7 4 11 (1) (12)
maluhia 7 2 9 5 14
RON 0 1 1 1 2

Since we have 20 voters, the election threshold would be 11 approvals. For a two-winner election like the Delegate one, this would mean that Henn (I swear this is just a coincidence :stuck_out_tongue:) would win the first spot in the second round, and Comfed would win the second spot in the third round (theoretically, Murelia and maluhia were above 11 too, but I’ve broken the tie in Comfed’s favour since they received more approvals overall).

12

We removed a regular schedule for Chair elections before — Henn proposed that change in September 2022 and then proposed undoing that change in May 2023. To be honest, I still have no clue what’s up with all that, but I do know that we never ran into any problems without a regular schedule. Why not just let the Assembly decide when it wants a new Chair by passing a resolution saying as much?

13

It’s easy to both ask the question and in the same post conclude all by yourself that the system has no use. You should look into the particulars of why approval vote was adopted, consider those arguments, and only then decide if they still hold water.

14

Hey, you never asked. :stuck_out_tongue:

I originally proposed the removal of the regular cycle since we had just started an election for Chair a month and change late, and nobody noticed in that time frame, so why bother with them? Definitely a proposal more based in trying to get my footing in the Assembly again after so long away, but it was reasonable enough anyways.

I wanted to bring it back since I had been going back and forth in my head on whether it was still worth it to keep some regular cycle on the books, so there’s not a greater sense of pressure on the currently serving Chair to remain in the post until the “opportune time” to have an election, whether it could be. Pretty minuscule reasoning, but I also wanted to have the quarterly PM election balanced with another election, alternating Delegate and Chair.

15

The points I disagree with:
3. This region has had open voting for a long time, as do a lot of other large regions in the game. Nowhere in your post do you explain why secret ballots are needed other than your personal preference. Remember that we are running a region on NS, not a real-world country.
4. I mean, it shouldn’t count. Being a legislator is separate from being a citizen.

16

I’m coming around quickly to this idea. That said, I do think it is worth considering some wide outer bound on how long an Assembly resolution can set a Chair term. Perhaps 12 months? I realize that the Assembly could resolve to replace the Chair at any point, but it seems like there would be a higher bar (at least subconsciously) to affirmatively voting someone out of office than not voting for their reelection. That type of inertia could well keep a Chair in office long beyond when they would normally be removed if they had to face an election.

Perhaps “troublesome” was a poor choice of words. But if I am interpreting Bel’s comments correctly, this isn’t the first election in which some voters have made mistakes using this system?

In my mind, open voting is most appropriate in a representative body, where constituents need to be able to see how their representative voted in order to hold them to account. Though our Assembly isn’t quite a representative body, it is close enough that I think it makes sense to continue with open voting. But when voting as a citizen, which is what PM elections now entail, I don’t really see the need for public votes. There is no need to hold citizens to account for their votes; indeed, the opposite is almost true, as it can put pressure on individuals to vote for the candidate they feel is most likely to win (and hence control appointments) rather than for the candidate they think is most qualified.

I think we agree on this one? All I am proposing is that we clarify this point, as it’s currently somewhat ambiguous whether the Chair election would count for citizenship. And I’m suggesting that it should not.

17

Biggest takeaways from the argument so far:

I think we are making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to “who occupies the PM spot when the PM is gone”:

  • The region will not collapse in the course of a week (or less) if we do not have a PM; if the region is facing such a crisis, the CRS can declare a state of emergency and, as needed, issue orders to the Delegate if it proves to be a regional sovereignty threat.
  • I do not think a Vice/Deputy PM would solve the issue as they would be “in the room,” presumably giving advice on whatever triggered the resignation/crisis - and it adds an unnecessary position that is only relevant for a couple of days.
  • I think we can trust the Assembly, (or as Kris said) a Justice, (or as Pronoun said), the Delegate, or even the CoA to run the region for a few days as needed. I would much rather leave the temporary governance in the hands of the Assembly than anything else because it will give a PM candidate a chance to let us know their position before we are stuck with it.
  • We could have the remaining Cabinet ministers operate under collective authority in a caretaker capacity. A caretaker government doesn’t really need to make decisions, and if it absolutely has to, I would think that a PM chose competent enough people to, at very least, not mess things up more than they already are. Further, the advisory body supporting the Cabinet/PM should still be in place, so they can advise the Cabinet if a decision must be made.
  • We could also, as part of the confirmation process for Cabinet ministers, have the PM designate one of their appointed ministers as the successor PM in the event of this coming to pass.

Like I said, I think we are making a mountain out of a molehill, but some solutions are definitely much better, imo.

19

I’d be curious to know who is included in “we”, since I had started the discussion with the intent of debating solutions to the identified problem, not whether the problem exists at all.

This might as well just be implemented with a joint ticket, since you at least know what you’re getting from the start.

20

Is there really a problem though?

21

Alright, based on the discussion thus far, I have produced a draft set of amendments. These generally track the proposals I outlined in my initial post, with a few key changes:

  • I have incorporated Anjo’s proposal for Expanding Approval Voting for the Delegate election (or at least I tried to). I like the method quite a bit, but it can be complicated to describe in legislative language. I would greatly appreciate everyone carefully reviewing that portion of the proposal to make sure if have captured it accurately and comprehensibly.
  • I have included the election timing changes as amendments, as they have not yet passed. Once they do (barring some miraculous change in votes), I will edit this proposal accordingly.
  • You will notice that one of the new provisions of the Legislative Procedure Act refers to Article 3, Section 3 of the Legislator Act, which does not yet exist. That is a portion of the proposed Legislator Act reform that is currently being debated. I will update that provision accordingly should that bill fail to pass.
  • As for vacancies in the office of PM, this draft envisions the CRS appointing a caretaker PM until the special election is completed. This would seem to assure the appointment of a trustworthy individual, and avoids the potential necessity of other officers (e.g., Chief Justice, Chair) resigning their positions to serve as caretaker PM.
Amendments to the Elections Act

Elections Act

An act establishing elections for office

1. Election Commissioner

(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security to administer all forum elections.

(2) The Commissioner will be responsible for the creation of election notices, the organization of election forums, the verification of candidate eligibility, the distribution and collection of ballots, and counting and verifying cast ballots.

(3) The Commissioner may not run for or hold an elected office during their tenure as Commissioner.

  1. This does not prohibit the Commissioner from resigning to seek office via an election or finding an accepted surrogate to oversee the election in their place.

(4) The Commissioner will be a permanent position and shall be replaced as needed due to inactivity or ineligibility by the Council on Regional Security. The Assembly may recall a Commissioner for abuse of power or neglect of responsibilities through regular order.

(5) Any election-related disputes will be arbitrated by the Commissioner; should the dispute be on a matter of law, the Commissioner shall refer it to the High Court. The Commissioner will not finalize any election until all disputes have been settled.

2. Electoral Basics

(1) For forum-based voting, voters have the option to cast either a public or a shall vote by secret ballot., and may not alter it once cast.

  1. The method of casting secret ballots will be selected by the Election Commissioner. The chosen method must utilize an unaffiliated account or server, with the method and all votes remaining available for audit.
  2. Voters may not alter their votes once cast via the method selected by the Election Commissioner.
  3. Named ballots are not to shall not be released by the Election Commissioner under any circumstances.

(2) In each election, voters can, subject to limitations set for the specific voting method, vote for the Re-Open Nominations option, which shall function like a normal candidate in the election. If, under the voting method used, the option to Re-Open Nominations is a winner, the election process for the exact position won by it shall restart.

(3) To be eligible to be included on a ballot, a candidate must post a campaign in an area designated by the Election Commissioner. The campaign must prominently include a truthful declaration of all potential conflicts of interest the candidate may have within and outside of the South Pacific.

(4) To be eligible to vote in, or stand for, a forum-based election, a citizen must have been accepted by the Citizenship Committee before the period for nominations began for that particular election.

(5) If the voting method used in an election ties candidates, whether for elimination or winning, the Election Commissioner will select a method of arbitration, unless the tie can be resolved by special provisions set for the election in law. If the method chosen involves chance, an unaffiliated Discord bot will be used to generate a result in a public channel randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.

(6) Under Instant-Runoff Voting, the sole winner is determined as follows;

  1. As their ballot, a voter lists any candidates they wish in descending order of preference.
  2. Until a candidate has received an absolute majority of first-place preferences and thus becomes the winner, the candidate with the fewest first-place preferences is eliminated and the ballots get retallied, ignoring any eliminated candidates and discounting ballots solely listing eliminated candidates.
  3. If candidates tie for elimination, all those receiving the fewest second-place preferences among them are eliminated.

(7) Under Expanding Approval Voting, winners ‒ as many as specified for the respective position ‒ are determined as follows;

  1. As their ballot, a voter either indicates all candidates they approve of, or the option to Re-Open Nominations.
  2. Until enough winners have been found, the most-approved candidate among the non-winners becomes a winner.
  3. The option to Re-Open Nominations wins in place of the winners who have been approved on less than half of all ballots.
  1. As their ballot, a voter lists any candidates of whom they approve in descending order of preference.
  2. In the first round of the election, the first-preference approvals shall be tallied. If a candidate’s first-preference approvals constitute an absolute majority of ballots cast, then that candidate becomes a winner. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of ballots cast, or if more than one winner is specified for the given election and there is more than one candidate running, then the election shall proceed to a second round.
  3. In the second round of the election, the first- and second-preference approvals shall be tallied. If, ignoring any candidate declared a winner in the first round, a candidate’s total first- and second-preference approvals constitute an absolute majority of ballots cast, then that candidate becomes a winner. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of ballots cast, or if more winners are specified for the given election, then the election shall proceed to additional rounds until the requisite number of winners is elected.
  4. Any necessary additional rounds shall follow the same tallying method as the first and second rounds.
  5. If more candidates obtain an absolute majority of ballots in a given round than winners specified for the election, then the candidate with the highest total number of approvals in that round shall become a winner.

(8) Under Majority Voting, the sole winner is determined as follows;

  1. As their ballot, a voter indicates the candidate their vote shall go towards.
  2. If a candidate has received an absolute majority of votes, they are the winner; otherwise, the two candidates who have received the most votes advance to a runoff, held under the same rules as this round of voting. Should this runoff result in a tie, then the tie shall be broken according to the general tie-breaking procedure.

3. Office of the Delegate

(1) The Delegate will be elected in a two-round process constituting a single election, with the citizens voting on a slate of nominees on the forums, and candidates advancing from that process being voted on by regional poll on-site.

(2) On the 15th of January and July, the citizens will convene for the first round of Delegate Elections.

  1. Any eligible citizen wishing to run for Delegate may declare their candidacy, and the citizens will debate the merits of their platform. Any player who has been banned from World Assembly membership will be considered ineligible and any candidate who is later discovered to be banned from World Assembly membership will be immediately disqualified. Citizens wishing to run for Delegate must hold a number of endorsements equal to at least 80% of the existing general endorsement cap at the commencement of the election period.
  2. The campaign and debate period will last one weekfour days, after which the citizens will vote for threefour days.
  3. This round of voting for Delegate will use Expanding Approval Voting to determine two winners of positions as candidates in the second round. If candidates tie for being a winner, all of those tied candidates shall be considered winners.

(3) After the winners of the first round have been determined, the second round will commence with them those winners as candidates.

  1. The Election Commissioner will create a six-day-long regional poll through which eligible members may cast their ballots. The poll must provide instructions for them on how to do so, and may only allow Native World Assembly members to participate.
  2. A Dispatch containing the campaigns of all candidates will be created to aid voters in their choice.
  3. Members of the South Pacific Special Forces who are on deployment at the conclusion of the regional poll are eligible to cast a ballot. The Prime Minister shall provide a list of deployed personnel to the Election Commissioner. Members on the list can cast their ballot through a public post on the Regional Message Board which tags the Election Commissioner.
  4. The winner of this round, as decided using Majority Voting, will be declared the Delegate-elect.

(4) The Delegate-elect will be considered formally inaugurated upon achieving the most endorsements. Prior to inauguration, the sole responsibility of the Delegate-elect is to gather endorsements, in coordination with the incumbent Delegate and in cooperation with the Council on Regional Security. The incumbent will continue to hold the office of the Delegate and will remain responsible for all responsibilities of that office, serving out the remainder of their term, until the inauguration of the Delegate-elect.

4. Office of the Prime Minister

(1) On the 15th of January, April, July, and October, the citizens will convene to elect the Prime Minister.

  1. The election period will be organized into three phases:
  1. A four-day declaration of candidacy and campaign period.
  2. A two-day campaign-only period where candidates may campaign, and the citizens will debate the merits of their platforms.
  3. A three-day voting period.
  1. The respective winner, as decided using Instant-Runoff Voting, will be declared the Prime Minister-elect by the Election Commissioner.
    [/remove]
  1. Any eligible citizen wishing to run for Prime Minister may declare their candidacy, and the citizens will debate the merits of their platform.
  2. The campaign and debate period will last four days, after which the citizens will vote for four days.
  3. The election will be conducted using Instant-Runoff Voting.
  4. The winner of the election will be declared the Prime Minister-elect by the Election Commissioner.

(2) The term for the incoming Prime Minister will begin the week after elections, on the first of the month. Before this inauguration, any and all election-related disputes must be settled. The outgoing Prime Minister and any appointed Cabinet ministers will maintain their offices until then. Provided that a candidate other than Re-Open Nominations wins the election, the term for the Prime Minister-elect shall begin on the first day of the month immediately following the election period. Any and all election-related disputes must be resolved prior to this inauguration date.


(3) If Re-Open Nominations wins the election, then the term for the Prime Minister-elect shall begin on the day immediately following the date on which the Election Commissioner finalizes the results of the repeated election process. If the repeated election process extends beyond the inauguration date specified in Article 4, Section 2 of this Act, then the outgoing Prime Minister and any appointed Cabinet ministers shall remain in office in a caretaker capacity until the Prime-Minister elect takes office.

5. Office of the Chair

(1) On the 15th of April and October, the Assembly will convene to elect the Chair of the Assembly.

  1. Any legislator wishing to run for Chair may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform.
  2. The campaign and debate period will last five days, after which the Assembly will vote for three days.
  3. The sole winner, as decided using Approval Voting, will be declared Chair of the Assembly by the Election Commissioner.

(2) The term for the incoming Chair will begin immediately following the conclusion of the election.

(1) The Assembly shall choose the Chair of the Assembly pursuant to the procedures set forth in Article 2 of the Legislative Procedure Act.

(2) A resolution adopting a Chair shall not constitute an election for purposes of Article 2, Section 2 of the Citizenship Act.

6. Vacancies of Office

(1) Should the office of Prime Minister become vacant, the Council on Regional Security shall promptly designate a citizen to serve as caretaker Prime Minister. The caretaker Prime Minister shall hold office until the day after the date on which the Election Commissioner finalizes the results of the special election provided for in Article 6, Section 2 of this Act.

(12) A special election will be held for a vacancy in the office of the Prime Minister. If at least half of the term remains as of the date on which the office becomes vacant, the elected Prime Minister elected in the special election will serve until the next regularly scheduled election. If less than half of the term remains, the elected Prime Minister will serve the remainder of the scheduled term and the additional subsequent full term.

(23) Should the office of Delegate become vacant, the next person in the line of succession will become interim Delegate until the next regularly scheduled election or special election, if one is required by Article 6, Section 4 of this Act. If no person qualifies for the office, then a special election will be held.


(4) If at least half of the Delegate’s term remains as of the date on which the office becomes vacant, then a special election will be held to fill the vacancy.

(3) In the event that the Chair of the Assembly office is vacant, the senior-most Deputy Chair of the Assembly, by order of appointment and availability, shall become Acting Chair of the Assembly. subject to the restrictions and regulations of the Chair of the Assembly. The Acting Chair may opt to call for a special election for the Chair or serve out the remainder of the unexpired term.

7. Separation of Powers

(1) Offices of the Coalition are the Delegate, the Prime Minister, appointed Cabinet ministers, the Chair of the Assembly, the Chief Justice, and any of their appointed deputies.

(2) It is not permitted for any individual to hold more than one office within the Coalition’s government.

(3) It is permitted to seek election or appointment to a new office while holding an existing office.

(4) Election or appointment to a new office constitutes explicit resignation of an existing office.

(5) No person occupying the Office of Prime Minister, an appointed Cabinet minister position, or the office of the Delegate may hold any equivalent office in a foreign region or organisation.

87. Constitutional Law

(1) The Elections Act is a constitutional law, and further amendments to it must meet constitutional amendment requirements.

Amendments to the Legislative Procedure Act

Legislative Procedure Act

An act to define the procedural rules of the Assembly

1. Legislative Rules

(1) Any legislator may propose a bill, resolution, or appointment, which will be debated and refined collectively in the Assembly under the guidance of the Chair.

(2) To be brought to a vote, a specific draft of a bill, resolution, or appointment must

  1. receive a motion to vote by a legislator,
  2. receive a second by another legislator,
  3. be affirmed to be in proper formatting by the Chair, and
  4. have been at debate for a minimum period of time equivalent to the length of its voting period.

(3) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and appointments will remain at vote for three days. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law, and treaties will remain at vote for five days.

(4) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and treaties require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Appointments, unless otherwise specified, require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, and resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law require a three-fifths supermajority of those voting to pass.

(5) Should a debate lead to multiple competing bills or resolutions on the same matter, the Chair will separately and simultaneously bring the competing bills or resolutions to vote, in the same manner as regular business is done. The bill or resolution that receives the most votes in favor and meets minimum threshold requirements for passage will become law.

(6) Any bill, resolution or amendment which has been inactive for more than one month may be considered defunct and archived at the discretion of the Chair.

(7) Any legislator may motion to cancel voting and withdraw a bill that has been brought to a vote so revisions can be made. The Chair may cancel voting on the bill, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded. Should the motion and seconding be made within the final 24 hours of voting, the legislation shall not pass or fail until the Chair makes a ruling on the motion.

(8) Should any bill, resolution or amendment fail to become law, any proposal which is judged by the Chair as being substantially similar to that failed legislation shall be prevented from going to vote for two weeks after the closure of the vote. The Chair may waive this restriction should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded.

(9) Should any bill, resolution or amendment become law, the document itself, its debate thread, and its voting thread and results shall all be archived.

2. Election of the Chair

(1) Only legislators shall be eligible to serve as Chair of the Assembly.

(2) The Assembly shall choose the Chair by resolution.

  1. Every resolution to adopt a Chair shall identify the legislator who shall serve as Chair and the length of the term for which that legislator shall serve as Chair.
  2. In no event shall any resolution to adopt a Chair provide for a term of service longer than twelve months.
  3. A resolution adopting a Chair shall constitute an Assembly vote for purposes of Article 3, Section 3 of the Legislator Act.

(3) The Chair shall serve until the expiration of the term specified in the motion adopting them as Chair, adoption by the Assembly of a resolution to vacate the chair, resignation, recall, loss of citizenship, or loss of legislator status.

23. Powers and Responsibilities of the Chair

(1) The Chair is responsible for creating voting threads and recording votes. In the event that the Chair does not perform these duties in a reasonable time frame, any legislator may create voting threads and record votes.

(2) The legislative history of each law will be recorded by the Chair. Legislative history will include reference to debate threads, voting results, and amendment history.

(3) The Chair must document the use of their discretionary powers including a rationale for using those powers in the relevant debate thread.

(4) The Chair may correct typographical errors, grammatical errors, naming or formatting inconsistencies at any time, as long as these corrections do not alter the original intent of the law, following a three day period in which the corrections are presented to the Assembly for comments. Any such corrections must be recorded with the legislative history of each law.

(5) The Chair may delay votes for a reasonable time frame if done for the purposes of vote scheduling or to avoid preemption of active debate by a vote.

(6) The Chair may freely appoint any number of deputies, who will be authorized to perform those legislative duties of the Chair that the Chair permits. Any changes in the roster of deputies must be posted publicly.

(7) The Chair may waive the mandatory debate period remaining on a particular piece of legislation should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded.

34. Constitutional Law

(1) The Legislative Procedure Act is a constitutional law, and further amendments to it must meet constitutional amendment requirements.

Amendments to the Charter

VIII. SEPARATION OF POWERS

(1) Offices of the Coalition are the Delegate, the Prime Minister, appointed Cabinet ministers, the Chair of the Assembly, the Chief Justice, and any of their appointed deputies.

(2) No individual may hold more than one Office of the Coalition at any time.

(3) It is permitted to seek election or appointment to a new office while holding an existing office.

(4) Election, appointment, or appointment and Assembly confirmation to a new office constitutes explicit resignation of an existing office.

(5) No person occupying the Office of Prime Minister, an appointed Cabinet minister position, or the office of the Delegate may hold any equivalent office in a foreign region or organisation.

The number of each ensuing Article should also be increased to account for this new Article.