LC 10.4 Lincoln Election Law Act Amendment of 2021

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

It is not fair to disenfranchise currently eligible voters so close to the election, as this bill would do. I am not opposed to passing this after the election, however for the immediate future I am a No.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Amendment:

AN ACT
To contain and adequately regulate off-site recruitment

Section 1; Title
1. This act may be cited as the Lincoln Election Law Act Amendment of 2021
Section 2; Amendment
1. The following section is added to of the Consolidated Lincoln Election Law Act-
"[New section]-Validity requirements
1. A registered voter shall only be eligible to vote in elections and referendums within Lincoln if their account was established at least six hundred and seventy-two hours (four weeks) prior to the opening of voting, along with the voter having met all other federal validity requirements."
Section 3; Implementation
1. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage into law. on March 1, 2021.

Sponsor please advocate

This will bring the effective date in line with the South reform.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I insist on my amendment. Retroactive legislation like this, which would make existing voters that are valid as of today suddenly invalid, has long been taboo in Atlasia and should remain so. Existing validity requirements take effect tomorrow at midnight anyways so the offsite streams are largely already over, this bill simply serves to retroactively disenfranchise people who are already registered.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Not supporting any form of retroactive requirements on final passage of the bill, however I accept the S019 Amendment (still want a vote on mine).

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Not supporting any form of retroactive requirements on final passage of the bill, however I accept the S019 Amendment (still want a vote on mine).

Would still ask for a formal vote on the S019 amendment

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Aye

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Before we proceed too far into this process, I must make the Council aware of a  potential constitutional issue. In addition to the Lincoln Election Law act, procedure is also set out in the Lincoln Constitution:

Article V. Elections[edit]

The right to vote in all elections and referendums called according to the provisions of this Constitution shall be exclusive to those persons being eligible to vote in elections for President of the Republic of Atlasia who have been registered to vote in one of the states of this Region for a period of at least seven (7) days prior to the commencement of the election.

Under the provisions of this bill, we are denying voting rights to some of those who are in the group laid out by this Constitution, namely (under the Chancellor's amendment) those who registered more than one week but fewer than 3.5 weeks before the election who have posted fewer than 75 times. That is, there would be people who are eligible to vote under the constitution but are not eligible under contradictory statute.

Since any effective date would eventually invalidate voters who are given validity under the constitution, the issue arises regardless of the result on my amendment.

While one might argue the constitution is merely saying who we cannot allow to vote (i.e. no allowing southerners to vote or allowing people who registered the day of the election to vote), the section was construed as actually granting rights to the group in the arguments of the successful prosecution in S019 vs R2D2, et al. Further, post-reset Supreme Court Precedent in Blair vs Rpryor threw cold water on the idea of legislatures tacking on additional requirements in areas where the constitution does not grant leave to do so.

This Council has shyed away from approving constitutionally suspect legislation in the past, and should be consistent in that practice. Therefore, I believe we must make this into a constitutional amendment to avoid scrutiny. Further, as constitutional amendments require a 2/3 vote on final passage and 3/5 is not >= 2/3, it will be eventually necessary to get either my vote or IBNU's vote. I will not vote for this in any form unless the Council changes its mind on the later effective date that I have proposed.

If the Council does pass this under constitutionally suspect statute form, myself and other DA members will be forced to bring this to a Court of Law.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Aye on the S019 amendment

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I will not be supporting any legislation that applies to the February 19-21 Elections.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Section 3; Implementation
1. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage into law.with respect to votes cast on February 22nd or later.

This is the earliest we can have the effective date without it affecting this current election and retroactively disenfranchising voters, something which is very constitutionally suspect and something which neither the Southern bill nor the Federal Bill (according to anticipated amendments) do. I hope this amendment can win the Council's support. If this is adopted I will vote for the bill, withdraw the no confidence motion, and not be part of any lawsuit related to the Article V provision I referenced earlier.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

If the Speaker was truly fair to on site voters he would oppose this bill, which will impact on siters in any form if applied to this election. Both parties frequently tell forum recruits who have not been active for some time that all they have to do is make 8 posts and then vote. Now those same forum recruits will need to post a far greater number of times.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Going to put this forth as well:

Section 2; Amendment
1. The following section is added to of the Consolidated Lincoln Election Law Act-
"[New section]-Validity requirements
1. A registered voter shall only be eligible to vote in elections and referendums within Lincoln if their account was established at least five hundred and eighty-eight hours (3.5 weeks) prior to the opening of voting, along with the voter having met all other federal validity requirements."
2. This regulation shall not apply to posters with over 75 30 posts or more, provided that they meet the federal requirements for voting

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

The Amendment will be considered at the same time of the previous one, further Amendments will also be considered at that time.

Understood.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Moving to a vote on Wulfric's Amendment

1. Moving implementation post election AYE

2. Reducing post threshold to 30 AYE

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I move to declare a motion for a final vote following the conclusion of the 24 hours of voting on these amendments (so in essence, the vote would begin 48 hours after this statement, or slightly less than 48 hours)

No Objection.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I still think this has serious constitutional issues and may be struck down by the courts, but that being said, I do respect the sponsor of this bill for being open to multiple changes, and acknowledge this bill is far fairer than what it started out as. In recognition of this, and considering my position as the conservative candidate for Senate, I will abstain from the final passage vote if my vote is not decisive.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

AN ACT
To contain and adequately regulate off-site recruitment

Section 1; Title
1. This act may be cited as the Lincoln Election Law Act Amendment of 2021
Section 2; Amendment
1. The following section is added to of the Consolidated Lincoln Election Law Act-
"[New section]-Validity requirements
1. A registered voter shall only be eligible to vote in elections and referendums within Lincoln if their account was established at least five hundred and eighty-eight hours (3.5 weeks) prior to the opening of voting, along with the voter having met all other federal validity requirements."
2. This regulation shall not apply to posters with over 30 posts or more, provided that they meet the federal requirements for voting
Section 3; Implementation
1. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage into law.

Without objection let's move to a final vote. Unless there are further amendments (which I don't reject, but we should get an up-down vote on this soon)?

My passed amendment as proposed here eliminated the word "over" above: https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=429348.msg7949452#msg7949452

with the word over, it would be a 31 post requirement which isn't what the Council just approved.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

One Last Amendment, and then we can have an immediate up or down vote:

AN ACT
To contain and adequately regulate off-site recruitment

Section 1; Title
1. This act may be cited as the Lincoln Election Law Act Amendment of 2021
Section 2; Amendment
1. The following section is added to of the Consolidated Lincoln Election Law Act-
"[New section]-Validity requirements
1. A registered voter shall only be eligible to vote in elections and referendums within Lincoln if their account was established at least five hundred and eighty-eight four hundred and twenty hours (3.52.5 weeks) prior to the opening of voting, along with the voter having met all other federal validity requirements."
2. This regulation shall not apply to posters with 30 posts or more, provided that they meet the federal requirements for voting
Section 3; Implementation
1. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage into law.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Let's proceed with the vote then

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Abstain