Constitutional Laws
- Elections Act
Text
ELECTIONS ACT
An act to regulate the conduction of regional elections
1. General Provisions
(1) This law applies to all elections of government officials.
(2) This law is a constitutional law and has precedence over all general laws and regulations.
(3) This law considers the following terms:
- Election - the process through which a voter accedes to an office via suffrage, from the opening of declarations of candidacy until the certification of the result.
- Voter - a voter as defined in the Voter Registration Act, who additionally meets any added qualifications within this law.
- Office - any government position with the exception of voters.
- Conflict of Interest Disclosure - a list of all current and past aliases, affiliations, and offices held across NationStates by a candidate.
- Participation - the ability to declare one's candidacy and cast votes in a given election.
- Candidate - an individual who is listed on the ballot for an election or the option to re-open nominations.
2. Election Commissioner
(1) The Election Commissioner is a voter appointed by the Security Council to administer elections.
(2) The Commissioner is responsible for the publication of election notices and information, the organisation and moderation of the venues where the election is conducted, the verification of candidate eligibility, the tallying of votes, the certification of election results, and the resolution of election-related disputes or, when applicable, their referral to the relevant authorities.
(3) The Commissioner cannot hold the offices of Chair of the Assembly, Delegate, Prime Minister, Minister of the Cabinet, or any office that is subject to election, nor can they run for the office whose election they administer.
3. Election Methods
(1) Instant Runoff Vote is conducted with voters listing however many candidates they prefer, including an option to re-open nominations, in descending order of preference. Until a candidate has received a simple majority of first preferences, the candidate with the fewest first preferences is eliminated and the ballots are tallied again, ignoring any preferences for them.
(2) Approval Vote is conducted with voters listing however many candidates they approve or, alternatively, an option to re-open nominations, in no particular order of preference. Candidates with a simple majority of approvals are winners, in descending order of approvals obtained and ignoring the option to re-open nominations, until the required number of winners is reached or no winning candidates remain, whichever happens first.
(3) Majority Vote is conducted when voters list a single candidate whom they prefer or, alternatively, an option to re-open nominations. The candidate with a simple majority of votes is the winner. If no candidate obtains a simple majority and no tie has occurred, a runoff round of voting will be held with the two candidates who obtained the highest numbers of votes and without the option to re-open nominations unless it already qualifies for inclusion.
(4) Ties in elections under instant runoff vote are broken with the candidate with the fewest next level preferences being eliminated, until all levels of preference are exhausted. Ties in all other elections or in cases where other tie-breaking methods have been exhausted, will be resolved by mutual agreement between the candidates or via a method of chance determined by the Commissioner, provided that such a method must be publicly observable and use resources not controlled by either candidate or the Commissioner.
(5) If the option to re-open nominations wins, the election shall revert to declarations to elect the number of winners that remained unelected.
(6) Voters in offsite elections must have the option of casting public or private ballots, but ballots cannot be altered once cast. Ballots cast in private must be sent to a group inbox accessible only to the Commissioner, which should remain available for audit. The identity of private voters cannot be revealed.
3. Election Procedures
(1) Elections for all offices, unless otherwise provided within this law, are conducted in such a manner that declarations of candidacy extend for four days and voting extends for three days from the end of declarations or the previous round of voting, as may be the case. Candidates must submit an accurate conflicts of interest disclosure before the end of declarations under penalty of disqualification. Voting, unless otherwise provided within this law, is limited to voters who were admitted before the start of declarations and is conducted via instant runoff vote.
(2) Elections for all offices, unless otherwise provided within this law, must begin no latter than seven days after the occurrence of a vacancy unless the same occurred when less than half of the term remains, in which case the vacancy is filled in the following manner:
- For the Chair of the Assembly, the most senior Deputy Chair of the Assembly becomes Chair for the remainder of the term. If none is available or willing, the most senior legislator by date of admission who is willing acts as Chair for the remainder of the term.
- For the Delegate, the next in line, according to the line of succession set by the Security Council, becomes Delegate for the remainder of the term.
- For the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Cabinet select one of their own to become Prime Minister for the remainder of the term, subject to approval from the Assembly.
- For other offices, the Prime Minister selects a successor, provided that such individual should be otherwise eligible to stand for election, subject to approval from the Assembly.
(2) Elections for the Chair of the Assembly begin on the first of January and July and are conducted via approval vote with a single winner. Participation is limited to voters who were admitted to the Assembly before the start of declarations.
(3) Elections for the Delegate begin on the first of January and July and are conducted via a first round of approval vote with two winners and a second round via of majority vote, without a period for declarations of candidacy and without an option to re-open nominations provided that voting for the second round is held via a regional poll limited to Native World Assembly Residents and posting on the Message Board with a tag to the Commissioner limited to members of the Special Forces identified by the Minister of Defence as being deployed during voting. Candidates in the first round will be all incumbent members of the Security Council and the Coral Guard who are not impeded due to conflicts of interest or have explicitly required to not be considered must have a number of endorsements no lower than 80% of the general endorsement cap at the start of the election. Candidates in the second round will be are the winners from of the first round.
(4) Elections for the Prime Minister begin on the first of January, April, July, and October.
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Appointments Act
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Regional Security Act
- States of Emergency
- Proscriptions
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Legislative Procedure Act
- Debate Times (minimum of 3 days across the board)
- Required Majorities (60% for the Charter and constitutional laws, 50% for all other votes)
- Committees (established by the Chair)
- Absence of the Chair
- Drafting Standards (formatting standards)
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Voter Registration Act
- Requirements (open to legislators, government staff, and RP map users)
- Activity Requirements (minimum requirements so institutions can’t make requirements too liberal)
- Authorities (LegCom successor, individual institution leaders)
General Laws
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Accountability Act
- Periodic Government Reports
- Sunshine Provisions
- Legal Deadlines (time conversion)
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Foreign Affairs Act
- Diplomats (role of the PM and the MoFA as chief diplomats)
- Treaties (negotiation, passage, repeal, place in the hierarchy of laws)
- World Assembly (decision of votes on proposals and resolutions)
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Defence Act
- Special Forces (establishment, civilian and operational leadership)
- Defending (principles, forbidden actions in operations)
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Gameside Powers Act
- Regional Officers (appointment, removal, use of powers)
- Communications (mass telegrams, WFE, dispatch pins, misuse of public resources)
- Border Control
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Criminal Code
- Crimes
- Sentences (ejection and ban for treason, at the discretion of the Court for all other crimes)
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Judicial Procedure Act
- Justices (appointment process, Chief Justice, oath of office)
- Cases (standing, justiciability, scope of rulings)
- Injunctions