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Charter Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 2014 / Electoral Procedures Act 2014; An Act to reform the electoral provisions of the Democratic Socialist Assembly to remedy issues in its implementation.
Topic Started: 8 Jun 2014, 08:17 (454 Views)
South Jarvis
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Foreword
These Acts move the electoral provisions of the Charter into a separate Act, so that procedures are ‘more readily amended if something goes awry’.
It also incorporates the changes from my two Electoral Reform Amendments. See that topic for more information about specifics.
My reference implementation of a compliant voting system can be found here.

I see this topic as a consultative phase, rather than official scrutiny, and as such, edits might be made to the content of the acts.

Charter Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 2014
Category: Charter Amendment
Author: South Jarvis

An Act to amend the Charter to allow the reform of the electoral provisions of the Democratic Socialist Assembly.


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 I: Preliminary
1. Short Title
This Act may be cited as the Charter Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 2014.

2. Effective Date
This act shall come into force upon its passage.

Chapter II: Alteration of Charter
Article III, Section I of the Charter is repealed.




Electoral Procedures Act 2014
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 I: 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 II: Voting Procedures
1. 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 or two candidates, there shall only be one poll for this position, and the voters may either vote for a single candidate or abstain.
3. Elections with more than two candidate shall be conducted by poll instant-runoff voting, as given in Chapter IV 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 subforum 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 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 V of this Act.

Chapter III: Cabinet Elections
1. The Cabinet Election process shall begin at 0:00 GMT on the sixtieth (60th) day of each Cabinet’s term, and it shall last for fourteen (14) days.
2. Nominations for government positions shall begin at 00:00 GMT on the sixtieth (60th) day of each Cabinet’s term and close at 00:00 GMT on the sixty-seventh (67th) day, thereby lasting seven (7) days. After a Member of Congress is nominated, the Secretary General 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 prior to the start of voting.
3. Voting shall begin at 00:00 GMT on the sixty-eighth (68th) day of each Cabinet’s term and close at 00:00 GMT on the seventy-fifth (75th) day, thereby lasting seven (7) full days. Votes shall then be tallied and the elected officers announced before 23:59 GMT on the seventy-fifth (75th) day. 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. The total special election process should last eight (8) days, and the newly minister will join the cabinet as soon as the voting ends at 0:00 GMT of the eighth day.

Chapter IV: Instant-Runoff Voting
1. In an instant-runoff election, there will be different numbers of polls depending on the number of candidates running for a position.
2. For one position, there will be the same number polls as the number of candidates, and the each poll shall be titled first choice, second choice, and so on.
3. Each voter may choose which nation they would like to vote for as their first choice, in the first choice poll, up through the total number of choice polls for a given position.
4. At the end of the voting period, the votes in first-choice poll are tallied. If one candidate has received a majority of the first-choice votes, he or she is elected.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. This procedure is repeated until one candidate has achieved a majority.
8. Ballots which have exhausted all of their candidates are discarded in future rounds.

Chapter V: Offsite Elections
1. Should technical limitations prevent a poll being conducted on the Forum, the Secretary-General shall organize for the poll to be conducted on a separate, capable system, or appoint an Electoral Coordinator to do so.
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 Secretary-General (or, if applicable, the Electoral Coordinator) must make public the details of all ballots in a suitable comprehensible format.




Changelog
2014-07-23T17:50+0930 - Minor edit.
2014-07-14T21:37+0930 - Modify tie-breaking method. New method complies with method used by the Australian Electoral Commission.
2014-06-13T20:42+0930 - Amendment repeals rather than replaces Section, as important details are regulated elsewhere in the Charter already. Fixed spelling of ‘Asembly’.
2014-06-10T18:44+0930 - Act separated into an Act and and Amendment.
Edited by South Jarvis, 24 Jul 2014, 08:21.
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Replies:
Lemur Isles
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I already voted when you first opened it (so I can't try again), and it looked ok to me then. I think I remember someone saying that it didn't give you the option to not fill out all of your preferences. Is that possible to resolve?

I guess the thing I'm really worried about is what happens if you stopped playing the game or were running, what software would we use then? BUT on second thought it's probably ok. Even sites like Survey Monkey could probably do the job. Sooo I'll give this bill my blessing!
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South Jarvis
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Lemur Isles
7 Jul 2014, 00:19
I already voted when you first opened it (so I can't try again), and it looked ok to me then. I think I remember someone saying that it didn't give you the option to not fill out all of your preferences. Is that possible to resolve?

I guess the thing I'm really worried about is what happens if you stopped playing the game or were running, what software would we use then? BUT on second thought it's probably ok. Even sites like Survey Monkey could probably do the job. Sooo I'll give this bill my blessing!
I modified the code so that a semi-filled ballot is valid. It says ‘discussion is required on what to do’, but I think the general consensus is that it's okay (it's possible under the current system).

Also, any nation name/verification code is accepted for the purposes of testing, so if you want to test it out some more, go ahead!
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Secretary-General of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Cabinets
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South Jarvis
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Please note, I've modified the Legislative Procedures Bill to implement an alternative, simpler tie-breaking method recommended by the Australian Electoral Commission:
Chapter IV Part 5
 
5. If no candidate has received a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes, the average preference level of each candidate (the average position of the candidate on their currently held ballots) is calculated, and the candidate with the lowest (numerically greatest) average preference level is eliminated. If there is a tie for the candidate with the lowest average preference level, all candidates tied for lowest average preference level are eliminated.
5. 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.
Edited by South Jarvis, 14 Jul 2014, 12:08.
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Secretary-General of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Cabinets
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