Proposal [PROPOSAL] Lazarene Elections Act Amendment

[Clorinda]

Lazarene Elections Act Amendment
Proposed by:​

@"Clorinda"​

Preamble

This act will set forth the general procedure for holding elections within Lazarus.

Section 1. The Timing of Elections

(1) General Elections shall be held 15 days 8 prior to the end of term for an elected office.

(2) General Elections shall last for a duration of fifteen (15) eight (8) days.

(3) Special Elections shall be held as soon as reasonably possible once a vacancy in an elected office appears, when:

a. A recall or resignation has taken place prior to the first or last fifteen (15) eight (8) days of the term.

(4) Special Elections shall last for a duration of eight (8) five (5) days.

Section 2. The Composition of Elections

(1) General Elections shall be composed as follows:

a. A two (2) day standing period.
b. A two (2) day campaigning period.
c. A four (4) day voting period.

(2) Special Elections shall be composed as follows:

a. A two (2) day standing period.
b. A one (1) day campaigning period.
c. A two (2) day voting period.

Section 3. The Conduct of Elections

(1) The Assembly Speaker may officiate the election.

(2) The Delegate may appoint an officiator for the election if the Assembly Speaker declines to officiate the election.

Section 4. Candidacy and Campaigning

(1) Candidates may begin campaigning in the elections sub forum immediately once they declare their candidacy in the standing thread.

(2) After the standing period has elapsed, the standing period will be considered closed and the election officiator will close the standing thread.

a. Any candidacy declarations submitted after the standing period has elapsed will be considered invalid.

(3) Immediately after nominations are closed, the campaigning period will begin.

Section 5. Voting Period

(1) Upon the conclusion of the campaigning period, the election officiator will open the voting thread and the voting period will commence:

a. The voting thread will remain open for the full period after the election officiator opened the voting thread.
b. Any votes submitted after the voting period has passed will be considered invalid.

(2) A candidate shall be ineligible to run if:

a. They are prohibited from occupying the position for which they are running by law.
b. They rescind their candidacy.

(3) If a candidate is ineligible to run, the election officiator shall reject their candidacy or redistribute the votes for the ineligible candidate according to the ranked choices of voters and continue the election.

(4) A special election term is not to count towards any established consecutive term limits for potential candidates.

Section 6. Instant-Run Off Voting

(1) Voters shall rank any number of candidates they choose and abstinence in order of preference.

(2) During each round, each voter shall have voted for the option they put highest in order of preference that still remains.

(3) Between each round, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated.

(4) Rounds shall recur until:

a. A candidate has the required threshold of votes, in which case they will have won.
b. Enough votes are to abstain that it is impossible for any candidate to achieve the required threshold of votes, in which case the officiator will open nominations for a special election.

It's my personal opinion that elections last way too long and others have echoed that sentiment so I'm bringing this proposal forward. Feel free to edit it and suggest things, I'm not super picky about dates, just sought to split most cycles in half time-wise. Let me know what you think, obviously it needs reformatted itself.

 

[New Rogernomics]

I think the campaigning period for both the special election and General election has been made far too short.

Really three or four days should be the minimum for the campaigning period, as the standing period there is too short for someone to figure out their campaign and write one.

 

[Clorinda]

I think the campaigning period for both the special election and General election has been made far too short.

Really three or four days should be the minimum for the campaigning period, as the standing period there is too short for someone to figure out their campaign and write one.

Would we be fine with a one day standing period for both, then?

 

[New Rogernomics]

Would we be fine with a one day standing period for both, then?

I think that two days would be the minimum, 24 hours for learning of the election, and 24 hours for deciding to run.

 

[Debussy]

I'm not a big fan of making the standing or voting periods shorter.

 

[Progiraffe]

yea my problem with this is that not everyone checks discord/forums every day so it could easily take 2+ days for someone to learn of the election which under the new proposal would mean that person doesn't even have a chance to run for the position

 

[Clorinda]

yea my problem with this is that not everyone checks discord/forums every day so it could easily take 2+ days for someone to learn of the election which under the new proposal would mean that person doesn't even have a chance to run for the position

Most people that vote in the elections we hold here are just cosmos anyway, so I don't think the timeline is a problem for actual natives, more so the lack of an established onsite - offsite bridged community.

 

[Frankender]

I think campaigning periods should be at least 4 days for both - there to be some time for some back and forth

 

[Debussy]

All this does is make it harder for people to vote and run based on some assumption Clorinda has on availability of "real natives."

Against.

 

[Clorinda]

All this does is make it harder for people to vote and run based on some assumption Clorinda has on availability of "real natives."

Against.

Wasn't my entire point, 10 people voted in this election with 10 for, 0 opposed. https://nslazarus.com/forum/index.php?threads/3955/#post-27205

They voted in a span of 1 day (March 7-8), no one else voted during a 5 day voting period. I can pull up more evidence if you'd like but I'm kinda busy at the moment. Not sure if it's worth my time though since I'll be one more person stripped of that availability to vote.

 

[Debussy]

Just because that happens once, twice, three times over, isn't a reason to rob people of their opportunity to vote or run, given work, school, and whatever else real life may throw in the way. Keeping those opportunities for citizens will be far more advantageous for activity, involvement, and recruitment than limiting those rights.