All-Proportional Senate Constitutional Amendment (Failed)

[minionofmidas]

Constitutional Amendment to create an all-proportional Senate, Mk. II

That the following changes be made to the Atlasian Constitution:

1. Article I, Section 1, Clause 2 shall be amended to read as follows: No person shall be a Senator who has not attained a hundred or more posts.

2. Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 shall be amended to read as follows: The Senate shall be divided into two classes: Class A and Class B, both of which shall be elected by a form of proportional representation.

3. Article I, Section 4, Clause 4 shall be amended to read as follows: If a vacancy shall occur in any Senate seat, then a special election shall be called to fill the remainder of the vacant term within one week of the vacancy occurring.

4. Article I, Section 4, Clause 5 shall be amended to read as follows: However, if a vacancy shall occur less than two weeks before the end of the term in question, then no special election shall be necessary.

Sponsor: Lewis Trondheim


Same as last time.

[minionofmidas]

Wouldn't it make more sense to have all ten senators elected in the same class?

No, it would make sense to maintain 5 national senators and 5 regional senators

No, I mean, if we're going to elect every senator the same way, why not at the same time?

Greatly reduces the competitiveness of elections.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have all ten senators elected in the same class?

Ten is a lot for one STV election, and it's nice to have staggered elections so things don't get too quiet.

Nyes. I've actually thought about it once or twice too. You see part of the problem with the regional Senate seat has been (at least at times) that they were held at the same time as the Presidential elections, and running in two elections at once has always been frowned upon (though it remains perfectly legal IIRC). If the entire Senate were elected in off years, it might remove that problem actually.
I do stress might though.


The vote is on the motion to table.
Please vote aye, nay or abstain.


Nay.


Tabling rules so that noone complains afterwards: Vote lasts 48 hours. Two-thirds majority of those voting needed to table. No quorum. Should there be 7 ayes or 4 nays before the 48 hours, the vote ends early with no mandated vote-changing period.

[minionofmidas]

With five votes against and two for, the motion to table has failed.

[minionofmidas]

The truth is that I made a mistake in my vote. Confession is good for the soul.

Figured so, actually. Didn't really matter though.

[minionofmidas]

So, Bacon, you want to write something up to make all seats elected at the same time?

[minionofmidas]

It doesn't seem like there is much room for compromise, is there?

[minionofmidas]

That was hardly a compromise - it was a first step, and it was fought tooth and claw by some. I guess there's some people who voted for it as a compromise, though.

[minionofmidas]

No one's ever commented on the exact provisions of my Amendment.

[minionofmidas]

Damn. Should have posted something in here yesterday.

Moving for a final vote, please vote aye, nay or abstain.

Aye.

[minionofmidas]

Current Vote count:
Aye 3 (Lewis, Verily, Al)
Nay 2 (Sensei, Dwtl)
Abstain (voted) 0
Abstain (yet to vote) 5 (Culture, Bacon, Jas, Torie, Meeker)

[minionofmidas]

This has enough votes to fail. Senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

[minionofmidas]

The other idea I had that never went anywhere was to make all persons who are not a Senator, President, or Vice-President would be members of the lower house. But that would take the emphasis off of Senatorial Elections.

I support something like that, though only on condition of abolishing the regions - holding a popular vote on every single bill (except Senate procedural resolutions). That way, the Senate could vote on any issue (unlike today, where lots of interesting issues are either haphazardly or not at all dealt with because they're the regions'), but everything they decide needs ratification by the people. The actual drafting of bills - amending them etc - would remain the Senate's province.

I don't really get the argument that doing this would kill off the regions. As far as I can tell, Senate elections are pretty separate from the other aspects of regional government, except as a way for Governors and Lt. Governors to move up the political ladder. If there's a problem with regional activity, keeping regional Senate seats will have very little impact on it.

Actually... in very small regions, it frees one active inhabitant of the region to run for regional office and thus helps with regional activity.
If it's ever passed but the regions are never abolished, that is. But as it seems I'm almost alone in wanting to get rid of them...


Oh yeah. This Amendment has failed.

Final vote count (Culture was outside the 24 hour window):

Aye 4 (Lewis, Verily, Al, Jas)
Nay 4 (Sensei, Dwtl, Meeker, Torie)
Abstain (voted) 0
Abstain (did not vote) 2 (the Kings)

[minionofmidas]

I'm not reintroducing it right now because, as there is no other Forum Affairs or Emergency legislation in the queue, it would go back on the floor immediately, and I want to spare myself the feeling of rejection.