Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2018 18:53:35 GMT
(Incorporating the Electoral Procedures Amendment (Preferential Voting) Act 2015 and the Electoral Procedures Amendment (Cabinet Term) Act 2015)
Category: Procedures
Author: South Jarvis
An Act to reform the electoral provisions of the Democratic Socialist Assembly to remedy issues in its
implementation.
Whereas the Democratic Socialist Assembly (‘the DSA’) supports the core value of democracy, as stated in the Preamble to the Charter of the DSA (‘the Charter’):
And whereas Article III, Section I of the Charter aims to protect this core value by creating standards for the democratic election of Cabinet Members:
And whereas the implementation of elections in the Charter is problematic:
And whereas it is expedient that these issues be rectified:
Be it therefore enacted by the Members of the Congress of the Democratic Socialist Assembly, as required by the Charter, as follows:
Chapter 1: Preliminary
1 Short Title. This Act may be cited as the Electoral Procedures Act 2014.
2 Effective Date. This Act shall come into force upon its passage.
Chapter 2: Voting Procedures
1a. All votes shall be conducted by a Returning Officer, who shall be either the Secretary-General, or another Member of Congress appointed by the Secretary-General as a Cabinet Aide to the Secretary-General.
1b. At all votes but elections, voters shall have the right to cast a vote in the form FOR, AGAINST, or ABSTAIN.
2. If an there is an election for a position with one candidate, the Returning Officer shall declare that candidate to be elected.
3. Elections with more than one candidate shall be conducted by instant-runoff voting, as given in Chapter 4 of this Act.
4. All votes that are specifically reserved for Charter Members, including elections and referendums, shall be conducted in the Congressional Elections and Votes sub-forum on the main DSA forum (http://s1.zetaboards.com/DemocraticSocialist/forum/1706758/) unless the vote is to be conducted through instant-runoff voting as per Clause 2.3 of this Chapter, and technical limitations of the Forum prevent this from being implemented, in which case the vote is to be conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 of this Act.
Chapter 3: Cabinet Elections
1. The Cabinet Election process shall begin at 0:00 GMT on the fourteenth (14th) day before the end of each Cabinet's term, and it shall last for fourteen (14) days. This day is referred to herein as Day 1, and designations of other Days are relative to this day.
2. Nominations for government positions shall begin at 00:00 GMT on Day 1 and close at 00:00 GMT on Day 8, thereby lasting seven (7) days. After a Member of Congress is nominated, the Returning Officer shall contact that nation in regard to accepting the nomination. Nations shall have the right to accept or decline any nomination. The final candidates shall then be posted by the Returning Officer prior to the start of voting.
3. Voting shall begin at 00:00 GMT on Day 9 and close at 00:00 GMT on Day 14, thereby lasting seven (7) full days. Votes shall then be tallied and the elected officers announced by the Returning Officer before 23:59 GMT on Day 14. The elected Cabinet assume their positions at 0:00 GMT that night.
4. If a Charter Member is elected to more than one office, they will be required to declare what office they wish to take up at the start of the new term. That Charter Member shall then be eliminated from the vote counts for the other offices and votes he/she did not choose, and those elections shall be recounted.
5. If a Cabinet position is vacated for any reason, the President shall either take up the role or hold a special election for the position. While the special election is taking place, the President must choose an interim minister within 2 days of the position being vacated.
6. The procedures for a special election are the same as regular cabinet election procedures, but nominations and voting shall only last four (4) days each to ensure that a new minister is elected quickly, beginning the day that the first nomination is received. The new minister will join the cabinet as soon as the voting ends.
Chapter 4: Instant-Runoff Voting
1. For each position in an instant-runoff election, each voter may choose which candidate they would like to vote for as their first choice, second choice, and so on up to the total number of candidates for a given position.
2. At the end of the voting period, the first preference votes are tallied. If one candidate has received a majority of the first-choice votes, he or she is elected.
3. If no candidate holds a majority of votes, the candidate holding the fewest votes is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate holding the fewest votes, the candidate with the fewest votes in the previous round is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate with the fewest votes in the previous round, the candidate with the fewest first preference votes is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate with the fewest preference votes, all candidates tied for the fewest first preference votes are eliminated.
4. Ballots whose first choice was assigned to the eliminated candidate or candidates are reassigned to their second-choice vote and added to that candidate's total number of votes. If this results in one candidate having a majority of votes, that candidates is elected.
5. This procedure is repeated until one candidate has achieved a majority.
6. Ballots which have exhausted all of their candidates are discarded in future rounds.
Chapter 5: Offsite Elections
1. Should technical limitations prevent a poll being conducted on the Forum, the Returning Officer shall organize for the poll to be conducted on a separate, capable system.
2. The system used for the poll must meet the following criteria:
a) the system must authenticate voters using their NationStates or Forum logins and ensure that they are eligible to vote in the poll,
b) the system must prevent any voter from voting more times than they are eligible to do so,
c) the system must be anonymous, in that it must not allow for votes recorded by it to be tied to individual voters, and
d) unless it is existing, well-established proprietary software, the system's source code must be open to scrutiny.
3. Following the election, the Returning Officer must make public the details of all ballots in a suitable comprehensible format.
Category: Procedures
Author: South Jarvis
An Act to reform the electoral provisions of the Democratic Socialist Assembly to remedy issues in its
implementation.
Whereas the Democratic Socialist Assembly (‘the DSA’) supports the core value of democracy, as stated in the Preamble to the Charter of the DSA (‘the Charter’):
And whereas Article III, Section I of the Charter aims to protect this core value by creating standards for the democratic election of Cabinet Members:
And whereas the implementation of elections in the Charter is problematic:
And whereas it is expedient that these issues be rectified:
Be it therefore enacted by the Members of the Congress of the Democratic Socialist Assembly, as required by the Charter, as follows:
Chapter 1: Preliminary
1 Short Title. This Act may be cited as the Electoral Procedures Act 2014.
2 Effective Date. This Act shall come into force upon its passage.
Chapter 2: Voting Procedures
1a. All votes shall be conducted by a Returning Officer, who shall be either the Secretary-General, or another Member of Congress appointed by the Secretary-General as a Cabinet Aide to the Secretary-General.
1b. At all votes but elections, voters shall have the right to cast a vote in the form FOR, AGAINST, or ABSTAIN.
2. If an there is an election for a position with one candidate, the Returning Officer shall declare that candidate to be elected.
3. Elections with more than one candidate shall be conducted by instant-runoff voting, as given in Chapter 4 of this Act.
4. All votes that are specifically reserved for Charter Members, including elections and referendums, shall be conducted in the Congressional Elections and Votes sub-forum on the main DSA forum (http://s1.zetaboards.com/DemocraticSocialist/forum/1706758/) unless the vote is to be conducted through instant-runoff voting as per Clause 2.3 of this Chapter, and technical limitations of the Forum prevent this from being implemented, in which case the vote is to be conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 of this Act.
Chapter 3: Cabinet Elections
1. The Cabinet Election process shall begin at 0:00 GMT on the fourteenth (14th) day before the end of each Cabinet's term, and it shall last for fourteen (14) days. This day is referred to herein as Day 1, and designations of other Days are relative to this day.
2. Nominations for government positions shall begin at 00:00 GMT on Day 1 and close at 00:00 GMT on Day 8, thereby lasting seven (7) days. After a Member of Congress is nominated, the Returning Officer shall contact that nation in regard to accepting the nomination. Nations shall have the right to accept or decline any nomination. The final candidates shall then be posted by the Returning Officer prior to the start of voting.
3. Voting shall begin at 00:00 GMT on Day 9 and close at 00:00 GMT on Day 14, thereby lasting seven (7) full days. Votes shall then be tallied and the elected officers announced by the Returning Officer before 23:59 GMT on Day 14. The elected Cabinet assume their positions at 0:00 GMT that night.
4. If a Charter Member is elected to more than one office, they will be required to declare what office they wish to take up at the start of the new term. That Charter Member shall then be eliminated from the vote counts for the other offices and votes he/she did not choose, and those elections shall be recounted.
5. If a Cabinet position is vacated for any reason, the President shall either take up the role or hold a special election for the position. While the special election is taking place, the President must choose an interim minister within 2 days of the position being vacated.
6. The procedures for a special election are the same as regular cabinet election procedures, but nominations and voting shall only last four (4) days each to ensure that a new minister is elected quickly, beginning the day that the first nomination is received. The new minister will join the cabinet as soon as the voting ends.
Chapter 4: Instant-Runoff Voting
1. For each position in an instant-runoff election, each voter may choose which candidate they would like to vote for as their first choice, second choice, and so on up to the total number of candidates for a given position.
2. At the end of the voting period, the first preference votes are tallied. If one candidate has received a majority of the first-choice votes, he or she is elected.
3. If no candidate holds a majority of votes, the candidate holding the fewest votes is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate holding the fewest votes, the candidate with the fewest votes in the previous round is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate with the fewest votes in the previous round, the candidate with the fewest first preference votes is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate with the fewest preference votes, all candidates tied for the fewest first preference votes are eliminated.
4. Ballots whose first choice was assigned to the eliminated candidate or candidates are reassigned to their second-choice vote and added to that candidate's total number of votes. If this results in one candidate having a majority of votes, that candidates is elected.
5. This procedure is repeated until one candidate has achieved a majority.
6. Ballots which have exhausted all of their candidates are discarded in future rounds.
Chapter 5: Offsite Elections
1. Should technical limitations prevent a poll being conducted on the Forum, the Returning Officer shall organize for the poll to be conducted on a separate, capable system.
2. The system used for the poll must meet the following criteria:
a) the system must authenticate voters using their NationStates or Forum logins and ensure that they are eligible to vote in the poll,
b) the system must prevent any voter from voting more times than they are eligible to do so,
c) the system must be anonymous, in that it must not allow for votes recorded by it to be tied to individual voters, and
d) unless it is existing, well-established proprietary software, the system's source code must be open to scrutiny.
3. Following the election, the Returning Officer must make public the details of all ballots in a suitable comprehensible format.