Mideast Constitutional Convention

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I hereby call this Constitutional Convention of the Mideast region of Atlasia to order at 4:37 P.M. EST, on this 10th day of January in the year 2009 of our Lord.

The first order of business is to read to the citizens of the region the following resolution passed by the Mideast Assembly:

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The second order of business is to establish rules of order.  Any proposals for such rules will be accepted by myself, the presiding officer of this convention.

The third order of business is to open the candidacy for presiding officer.  Anybody interested in being presiding officer, please post your interest.  Elections for presiding officer will be held in 7 days.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I will be running for the position of presiding officer.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Good to have this up and running. I will express my support for Inks for presiding officer of this convention.

Until then, let's begin setting up ideas for the Constitution. Do we want to move section by section? I propose we establish the different branches first and then work on things like amendments and propositions and the more intricate pieces. Executive would probably be the best to start on.

First we must set down rules of order.

I bring the following resolution to discuss:

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Just change "matter" in Section 1 to "manner" and you're good. If you will accept that as a friendly you can start a vote on that right away.

I accepted it, but I'm going to leave it up for discussion until tomorrow.  3 hours is a little quick for a vote, especially in our region.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Alright, we're now voting on the following resolution.  This will be open for 48 hours:

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

How many voters do we have in the region?  Are we going to be able to get 50% of the voters to vote, or should we lower that?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Mideast Third Constitutional Convention Rules of Order

AYE

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Current Vote
Aye: 7
Nay: 0

We just need 3 more members to vote for this to pass. While we're at it I'll propose the following bill to be brought to a vote by Inks as soon as possible.

Amendment to the Convention Bylaws

Section D of the Mideast Constitutional Convention Bylaws shall now read "All elections and votes required by this law shall require the participation of one-third of all Mideast residents, as determined by the voter rolls posted by the Depart of Forum Affairs, at the start of the election or vote to be valid unless otherwise determined by the aforementioned rules of order. The required participation may not be determined to be any less than 25% of all Mideast residents at the start of the election or vote."


And I realized that the original law allows us to change the required number voting to be one-third, so we will only need seven votes to pass this. I edited it as well so that if we ever need to reduce it to one-fourth for quorum we can do that with less than one-third. Let's get it done.

No, we still need 10 votes to pass the lowering, since the change wouldn't go into affect until after it's passed.  If we can't get 10 votes to lower it, the Assembly could lower it by amending the original bill.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Just reread it and you're right. We will need to get a few more people in here. Looks like we are stalling at 8.

Afleitch and Al should be good for 2 more votes.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The following is brought to a vote.  The voting shall last 48 hours and requires 50% participation (10 votes minimum).  The following shall be passed by approval of a simple majority (I amended the title and body since we only have Rules of Order, not Bylaws):

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

A quick problem I am seeing. It is unclear, as everything stands now, what the Rules of Order piece is. There is the Convention bill passed by the Assembly that outlines the Rules of Order, but then a Rules of Order motion we are voting on. Probably should be phrased as the Convention Rules of Conduct. Or, if you want to keep that as the Rules of Order, we should refer to the opening document as the Rules of Conduct and, therefore, we need to change the wording of my Amendment to say Rules of Conduct.

It has to say "Rules of Order" b/c the Assembly's bill said that we have to set down "Rules of Order."

the thing passed by the Assembly is the Constitutional Convetion Bill or something like that.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

A quick problem I am seeing. It is unclear, as everything stands now, what the Rules of Order piece is. There is the Convention bill passed by the Assembly that outlines the Rules of Order, but then a Rules of Order motion we are voting on. Probably should be phrased as the Convention Rules of Conduct. Or, if you want to keep that as the Rules of Order, we should refer to the opening document as the Rules of Conduct and, therefore, we need to change the wording of my Amendment to say Rules of Conduct.

It has to say "Rules of Order" b/c the Assembly's bill said that we have to set down "Rules of Order."

the thing passed by the Assembly is the Constitutional Convetion Bill or something like that.

But because this Convention has no authority to change the Convention Bill, we can adopt the bill as our Rules of Conduct and then edit them as needed for a smoother running Convention. Or we can just pass an Amendment in the Assembly and wait three days.

But the bill gave the convention permission to change the Rules of Order.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

A quick problem I am seeing. It is unclear, as everything stands now, what the Rules of Order piece is. There is the Convention bill passed by the Assembly that outlines the Rules of Order, but then a Rules of Order motion we are voting on. Probably should be phrased as the Convention Rules of Conduct. Or, if you want to keep that as the Rules of Order, we should refer to the opening document as the Rules of Conduct and, therefore, we need to change the wording of my Amendment to say Rules of Conduct.

It has to say "Rules of Order" b/c the Assembly's bill said that we have to set down "Rules of Order."

the thing passed by the Assembly is the Constitutional Convetion Bill or something like that.

But because this Convention has no authority to change the Convention Bill, we can adopt the bill as our Rules of Conduct and then edit them as needed for a smoother running Convention. Or we can just pass an Amendment in the Assembly and wait three days.

But the bill gave the convention permission to change the Rules of Order.

I am looking at possible confusion that may arise from the Rules of Order outlined by the Constitutional Convention Bill and the title of the first of the current pieces the Convention is voting on, which is called the Mideast Third Constitutional Convention Rules of Order. We never formally titled the former as Rules of Order, but have titled the latter as such, which calls some confusion to the piece I sponsored which refers to the Rule of Order.

If that seemed confusing it is because the title situation is confusing. At least to me. If this shouldn't pose a problem we can leave it. Your call.

That's because the former is NOT the rules of order.  It's a bill passed by the Assembly that set guidelines for the convention, but it's not the rules of order.

It won't pose a problem.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I am extending the vote on the 2 following until we get 10 votes:

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Current vote status:

Mideast Third Constitutional Convention Rules of Order
Aye: 8 (benconstine, Franzl, Hashemite, Inks, Meeker, Purple State, SPC, HappyWarrior)
Nay: 0

This needs 2 more votes.


Amendment to the Convention Rules of Order
Aye: 4 (Purple State, Hashemite, HappyWarrior, Franzl)
Nay: 0

This needs 6 more votes.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Current vote status:

Mideast Third Constitutional Convention Rules of Order
Aye: 8 (benconstine, Franzl, Hashemite, Inks, Meeker, Purple State, SPC, HappyWarrior)
Nay: 0

This needs 2 more votes.


Amendment to the Convention Rules of Order
Aye: 4 (Purple State, Hashemite, HappyWarrior, Franzl)
Nay: 0

This needs 6 more votes.

BenConstine is another AYE vote for the second one.

Thanks - I missed that.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I vote Aye on the Convention rules, the amendment to the rules and the election of the presiding officer.

The presiding officer election is every 7 days, so that hasn't happened yet.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I bring the following Rules of Order to a vote:

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Aye

So now we need 5 votes to pass this? Might as well offer the other motion as well.

What other motion?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Mideast Third Constitutional Convention Rules of Order

AYE

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Motion passes unanimously. Candidates for presiding officer will have until tomorrow (or Wednesday?) at noon to declare said candidacy. Keep in mind that there is a write-in provision for the ballot, but you must accept the write-in vote before the end of the election. So, assuming it begins tomorrow at noon, you will have until Thursday at noon to accept.

It's a 48 hour vote, so it's not done yet, but yes, elections wil open tomorrow at noon.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Motion passes unanimously. Candidates for presiding officer will have until tomorrow (or Wednesday?) at noon to declare said candidacy. Keep in mind that there is a write-in provision for the ballot, but you must accept the write-in vote before the end of the election. So, assuming it begins tomorrow at noon, you will have until Thursday at noon to accept.

It's a 48 hour vote, so it's not done yet, but yes, elections wil open tomorrow at noon.

May be worth it to amend it afterwards to say "Said vote shall last for precisely 48 hours or until a simple majority has been obtained." Just to move things along.

But there's still a chance that 6 people could vote NAY in the next day.  While your idea would move things along, it sets a dangerous precedent - I could put a motion forward that's supported by some and ensure that my people vote for it first and then just close voting, and that's unnacceptable.  The vote will last for 48 hours.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Position of presiding officer of the Convention:
[  ] Inks.LWC
[  ] Write-in: ___________

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I support Peter

As of now, I WILL be counting that as a vote for Peter.  I just want to give you the opportunity to say otherwise if that's not the case.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Position of presiding officer of the Convention:
[ 2 ] Inks.LWC
[ 1 ] Write-in: Peter