A-Bob Research Center: Secret Ballot Proposal (Mideast)

[ZuWo]

In light of a concrete proposal that is being debated in the Mideast Assembly A-Bob Research Center has decided to conduct a poll among Mideasterners.

This is a poll for Mideasterners and runs for four days.

[ZuWo]

One more day for this poll!

[ZuWo]

The last thing this proposal was supposed to be was a Federalist power grab or anything like that.

[ZuWo]

So what were people's reasons for voting against this?  What can the Assembly do to make a better bill that y'all would support?

Honestly, nothing.  This seems like an unnecessary and generally awful bill, IMO.

Why?  What specifically is wrong with it?

What specifically is wrong with our current system? You've admitted that the potential for manipulation exists with this bill in a way that it does not with the current system, so why are we changing it? This is most certainly a Federalist power-grab, and your weak attempts to defend this bill have only proven as much.

A Federalist power grab? The bill was a Person's idea ...

[ZuWo]

A few points:

1. I never said that this proposal would ensure the Federalist Party a permanent majority.

2. It's not true that the proposal is wholeheartedly supported by my party; in fact, several Federalists voted against it (e.g. TJ, A-Bob, Spiral, Bmotley ...)

3. I don't care who the voting booth administrators will be in future elections if this proposal passes. Indeed, I expect that they will count all votes in a fair way. If the proposal gets a majority (unlikely at this point), I will handle the election in a correct, fair and flawless manner.

4. I support the bill because I consider it important in a democracy that voters can cast their ballots in secrecy.

5. Are you insinuating that we in the Federalist Party would try to rig future elections if there was a secret ballot in place? If that's your assumption I must say I am baffled.

[ZuWo]

Lol, now you two are trying to play victim and make it seem as if I accused ZuWo of planning to rig the votes? I never said anything of that sort, so that insinuation is not even worth replying to. I trust all of these people, but I don't trust that this system is safe from manipulation in a way which our current one definitely is, whether it stifles secret voting or not. Public voting has worked in Atlasia for 9 years, and I see no reason to remove it as it ACTUALLY LEAVES A PAPER TRAIL so it can be verified.

In the Assembly, it was, I meant, so it's not a load of crap. And once again, Inks, why don't you actually reply to my question instead of making immature attacks like "grow up"? This bill was defeated by the people (if the current vote holds), yet you have the temerity to reintroduce it session after session because it didn't go your way.

This is not a "democracy". This is an internet game and our current system works fine. There's no reason to change the way we've been doing it for years and years.

So what did you mean by "Federalist power grab", then? How can an electoral reform which cannot be said to favor a particular political group be a "power grab" unless a certain group is trying to rig the system in its favor?

Yes, this is an internet game. But it's a game which simulates a democracy and which we try to make as real as possible. Voter intimidation has been a serious problem in Atlasia for a long time, and this proposal could prevent that. Also, it's an open secret that many voters may feel some pressure to vote for fellow party members/mates and might vote in a different way under a secret ballot system. That's the value of this proposal.