Findings of the Lincoln Court:
Candidate Utah Neolib was duly elected to the Lincoln General Court during the region's February 2022 General Election to a term that began on February 23rd. However, the candidate-elect declined to perform the legally required oath of office within 72 hours, as required by the Lincoln Constitution's Article IV, Section 5. The seat has therefore been vacant since noon on February 26th.
Such vacancies are filled according to Article I, Section 6 of the Lincoln Constitution. In part, it states:
A special election for the General Court shall begin on the Friday following the creation of the vacancy; but if the vacancy shall occur on a Wednesday or Thursday, the special election shall begin on the second Friday following the creation of the vacancy.
The requisite special election should have occurred on the following Friday, on March 4th. However, this election did not occur, nor did it occur the subsequent Friday the 11th. A special election thread was finally created on Saturday the 12th; the election commenced at midnight Sunday the 13th and is scheduled to last the requisite 72 hours.
The unorthodox timing of the special election is explained by the election officiant, Lincoln Speaker ReaganClinton, within the thread itself:
Allow me to clarify, according to information given to me last night, if the elections sectetary isn't available to initiate the election, the responsibility falls to the Governor. If the Governor is unavailable to initiate it, then the Speaker can. Both S019 and Dave had more than 2 weeks to initiate it and didn't so I took the responsiblity into my own hands.
Speaker ReaganClinton began the election on Sunday (rather than on Friday as required by the regional constitution) because they were not previously aware that they had the authority to hold this election, and therefore posted the booth only when they learned they could in fact legally do so.
The Speaker's understanding is fundamentally correct: Lincoln Constitution Article IV, Section III declares the Speaker shall administer an election "whenever the governor and their designee if applicable should be unable to perform this duty". The Court agrees that the governor was unable to hold this election, as he twice failed to do so when legally required.
The only remaining questions concern the proper timing of this special election: did the Speaker err in starting the election on Sunday instead of waiting for the following Friday? If so: what remedy, if any, can this Court provide?
The Court is sympathetic to the concerns expressed by the Southern Attorney General in his amicus brief. An election can only be free and fair when it occurs within a consistent and predictable legal framework that citizens can learn and expect, so that voters can know when an election will be held. It is both irregular and unusual for an election to occur in some manner other than that which is prescribed by law.
On the other hand, however, it is also irregular and unusual to deprive citizens of fair and equal legislative representation for a needlessly lengthy period of time. Constitutionally, Utah Neolib's replacement should have been elected and sworn in a full week ago, but that did not occur. Any decision that invalidates the currently ongoing election will invariably cause a significantly longer delay.
It is the duty of this court to balance the two aforementioned concerns. How does one compare the expectation of fair representation with the expectation of predictable elections -- especially in this situation, where neither expectation has been met, and finding a balance between them must necessarily prioritize one over the other?
We can infer the proper course of actions by examining the region's constitutional provisions for special elections, quoted below. How does this framework prioritize "notifying voters about elections" compared to "swiftly filling vacancies?"
"Whenever a vacancy should occur in the composition of the General Court, the governor shall appoint a replacement. Should the vacancy have occurred fewer than 336 hours before the next general election, the deputy thus nominated shall serve the remainder of the existing term; otherwise, they shall serve only until a new deputy may be elected. If required, A special election for the General Court shall begin on the Friday following the creation of the vacancy; but if the vacancy shall occur on a Wednesday or Thursday, the special election shall begin on the second Friday following the creation of the vacancy."
Lincoln's constitution heavily prioritizes the latter, with elections to be set as soon as two days after a vacancy occurs. This process is an intrinsic component of the region's elections and therefore something its citizens know and expect. In fact, notification of the public is not mentioned at all, there is not even a designated campaign period. Lincoln voters therefore understand and expect irregular special elections will occur with little to no warning, making this election no different in that regard. In fact, the electorate was given much more advanced notice of this election than is usually otherwise possible with regional special elections,
thanks to this thread a helpful citizen posted on March 4th, alerting us that an election must be held the following weekend - and they were correct, although the voting booth thread was created a day late.
This failure to start the voting booth on the legally required day has been ReaganClinton's only error as voting booth officiant (he cannot be blamed for failure to start one the previous week, as the governor had not yet demonstrated himself unable to carry out the election). However, the court can reasonably provide no remedy for this error. While perhaps the Speaker should have sought a court order to preemptively authorize the belated election, ultimately Atlasia's judiciary routinely authorizes elections whose threads created late, so long as they also remain open late for an equivalent amount of time. This election is no exception.
Ultimately the vacancy has already lasted an unreasonably long time (especially for the standards of Lincoln), and forcing Lincoln's citizens to go yet another week without the representation to which they are legally entitled would only worsen the situation.
Petitioner's request is therefore denied. The Lincoln Court deems the currently ongoing election officiated by Speaker ReaganClinton to be lawful.
