Ballot Anonymity Act

[studentloandebt]

This act will be up for discussion until the 21st of June 2020, at which point it shall move to a vote.

Ballot Anonymity Act

Category: Procedures

Author: Student Loan Debt

Chapter I: General Provisions

1. This act may be referred to as the Ballot Anonymity Act

2. This act will come into force upon its passage.

Chapter II: Amendment

The following amendment will be made to The Rules and Procedures Act, with the text that is crossed out to be removed and the bold to be added

Neither t The returning officer nor the Forum Owner any Cabinet Minister who possesses a permissions set which allow them to see live results and/or who has voted before a poll has locked may divulge the results or list of voters to any person.

Chapter III: Forum Changes

The following changes will be made on the DSA Forum

1. Polling powers on the DSA forum will be revoked from the President of Congress, World Assembly Delegate, Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Domestic Affairs, and Minister of Role Play, as well as to any Minister in charge of future Ministries that may be created after the passage of this bill. If it is deemed essential to a future Ministry to have polling powers, this will be voted on by congress either during or after the creation of the Ministry.

[studentloandebt]

As of right now, the Cabinet can view all votes on the Forum as they happen. Whether it is a bill or an election, they can see

(1) How many votes have been cast for which option

(2) Who has voted

There are multiple problems I have with that.

Firstly, I enjoy ballot anonymity. I don't think anyone should be looking at the voting while it happens. Being able to see the votes as they happen can allow a Minister to see who voted for what. While the forum doesn't say who voted for what, it does update after a person votes. If a Minister watches the list of voters and the voting numbers then refreshes after a new person votes, that Minister can then see who voted for what. There have been a few times where Ministers have asked me if I voted yet when I had not and I didn't want to vote until sometime later because of how they can do this. This knowledge can allow Ministers to even confront MoCs about their vote if they are so opinionated. The current system allows Ministers to use intimidation. Whether or not they will depends on the Minister. However, the current system allows this and I do not like that it does. Ministers being able to see the voters and voting numbers can violate ballot anonymity and that is a bad thing we should avoid.


Second, being able to see the voting numbers gives opinionated Ministers an unfair advantage in campaigning. Since Members of Congress cannot see the voting numbers, they have no idea how the vote is going. They don't know if their choice is winning or losing or is close to either. They can only campaign in the dark and hope that their choice in the vote will win. Cabinet Ministers, however, are not in the dark and can see how their choice is working. They can know the exact number of votes they need for their choice to win and can use that to their advantage. If a vote is at something like 10 votes for and 11 votes against and they support the "For" option, they know that they just have to secure at least 2 more votes. They just have to stay 1 vote ahead of the other option. Obviously if someone supports a certain option and is campaigning for it, they should do all they can to get it ahead. However, not everyone is that motivated. If you can see the votes as they happen, you will be more motivated to get enough votes since you can guarantee your choice will win. That is an unfair advantage in campaigning that Ministers have over Members of Congress that we should get rid of.

Since I am the Forum Owner, I was able to check and see how this would have to be done. Ministers can see the voters and voting numbers because they have the ability to make polls on the forum. To make it so they cannot see it, their ability to make polls would have to be taken away. For the forum, the Secretary-General is the only one who needs Polling powers because they are the Returning Officer in all elections and legislation voting. Forum Polling powers are essential to their job

Article 3 of the Rules and Procedures document is about Ballot Security. Some may think that this is enough to prevent any breaking of the law. However, I do not believe that at all. I do think it is a deterrent, but it does not stop it. Ministers discuss the voting numbers with each other often despite Article 3. As for non-Ministers, if the Minister and the player they are talking to both agree not to tell the Minister of Justice, then they can talk with each other about the bill all they like despite the second party not being a Minister and the first party being told by law not to. I am not accusing any current minister of doing this. However, I do know of past Ministers who have, both before and after the Cabinet Crisis. I seek to reduce the number of people who can see the voting numbers from 8 people to 2 people, the 2 being the Secretary-General and the Forum Owner. I exclude the Secretary-General because Polling powers are, once again, essential to their job as Minister. The Forum Owner is excluded as well because they own the Forum and so it is physically impossible to remove their ability to see the voting. I believe that a reduction in the number of people who can see the voting numbers will greatly reduce the possibility of corruption with Ministers revealing voting numbers early for all future Cabinets.

[Gallo Republic]

I am in favor of this. Nobody is above the law and this is a great way to show it. I urge all people to vote FOR.

[finnoestonianempire]

I will also vote for.

[Dekks]

I would like to see the high judge have ballot access as well, otherwise I support this bill.

[liossalde]

I was a bit chary when it was introduced as an idea a month or so ago, but as it stands right now, is pretty explicit.

I urge you all to vote in favor of this bill.