Amendment (...) Regarding the Role of Parties... (Failed)

[minionofmidas]

24th  Amendment to the Atlasian Constitution Regarding the Role of Parties and Its Citizens

        1. No registered person shall have a right to vote in any federal or regional election for office (“General Election”) who is a registered member of any political party (“Non Viable Party”) which has less than five registered as of the commencement of the 9th day EST prior to the date scheduled for such election to commence (“Registration Close Date”). A party which has at least five legally registered voters as of such time is hereinafter referred to as a "Viable Party,” and its registered members who are legally registered voters as of such time, “Eligible Members.” Voting events for Constitutional Amendments or referenda are not General Elections for purposes of this Amendment, and the right to vote in the same shall not be affected hereby.

     2. In a case where the number of  legally registered voters who are members of a Viable Party timely declare candidacy (“Timely Declared Candidates”) for the same office in a General Election  is in excess (“Excess Party Candidates”) of the number of seats (“Available Seats”) for which a registered voter is entitled to vote (which number as of the date of adoption of this amendment, is one such seat for region specific seats, and five such seats for at large seats), then at a time no less than one week before the earliest possible time for the commencement of voting in such General  Election, a primary election shall be conducted  for each such Viable Party with Excess Party Candidates. The polls for each such primary election shall remain open for 72 hours, and be administered by the party chair of each such Viable Party, if such party chair holds office pursuant to the rules of such Viable Party (“Party Chair”), and in cases where no such Party Chair exists, such primary election for such Viable Party without a Party Chair shall be conducted by the Secretary of Forum Affairs. Such primary election shall be conducted in a manner such that such Viable Party nominates a number of candidates for the subject office which does not exceed the number of Available Seats, with each of those so nominated, or who are Timely Declared Candidates of a Viable Party which does not have Excess Viable Party Candidates, referred to herein as a “Eligible Viable Party Candidate.” Any Eligible Member of the applicable Viable Party shall have a right to vote in such primary election. Except as otherwise specified herein, the manner of conducting such primary election shall be within the discretion of the Party Chair (or the Secretary of Forum Affairs if paragraph 3 below is applicable).

     3. If a sitting Party Chair of a Viable Party fails to commence such primary election for such Viable Party within 24 hours of the Registration Close Date, then within 24 hours thereafter, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall conduct such primary election in the manner described above.

     4. No person may appear on the ballot for office in a General Election unless such person with respect to such General Election  is either (i) an Eligible Viable Party Candidate, or (ii) as of the Registration Close Date for such General Election, not a registered member of either a Viable Party or Non Viable Party.


Sponsor: Torie

[minionofmidas]

I applaud Torie for taking the time to consider his constituents and craft this solid bill.

Introduced on behalf of PiT, actually.

[minionofmidas]

Independent registration is still allowed. However, this gives advantages to party membership.

The bill says you can't vote if you aren't registered to a viable party.  What everyone just registers as Independent?

You just can't vote if you belong to a non-viable party.

I could understand letting them not stand, but not vote?

Certain not to get any support from me.

[minionofmidas]

Hey! Jas is back!

Btw, you just prevented me from opening a final vote on this thingy. I was just about to do that, and could have done it sooner.

[minionofmidas]

I oppose this bill. If Atlasia had more participants this could be possible but the fact of the matter is that we dont and we need to accept that.

Explain?

For a complex party structure to work there would need to be a larger base in Atlasia. Also we have a large number of independents and people who are parts of small parties, if possible we should keep things as open as possible for the voters.

I don't really get what you're saying. Since we're small, we should have lots of small parties?

Since we're small, we don't need parties.

[minionofmidas]

So you expect us to keep debating the proposal til then?

[minionofmidas]

So you expect us to keep debating the proposal til then?

We could always just table the motion until then. You know, in the intended usage of the procedure.

In Atlasia, the intended usage of the term is to kill a bill quickly.

I seem to recall that "table" has exactly opposite meanings in Britain and America, but I forget which is which.

[minionofmidas]

So you expect us to keep debating the proposal til then?

We could always just table the motion until then. You know, in the intended usage of the procedure.

In Atlasia, the intended usage of the term is to kill a bill quickly.

I seem to recall that "table" has exactly opposite meanings in Britain and America, but I forget which is which.

I know that's how it's been used in Atlasia, but can't we use the table motion to lay it aside to actually pick it up again in the future?

If someone reintroduces it, it would retake the end of the cue.

[minionofmidas]

Alright, so I'll keep debate open by reading poetry from the late Peter Rühmkorf into the congressional record...

Und am Abend, bei Övelgönne
Im spitzen Gefiedel des Schilfs
Wenn einer den Himmel gewönne
Und ließe die Knochen: Was hülf's?

[minionofmidas]

Canada Sucks

That's deep and insightful.

     Indeed. Is he referring to the country, or more metaphorically, to the people? Does he mean suck in as it's not great or as in it's impressive when it comes to making vacumn cleaner-like motions? The questions are endless!

I think he's referring to the Liberal candidate in Baie James - Abitibi - whatnot, whose surname is Canada.

[minionofmidas]

I decided to improve my social station
Joined a fraternity organisation
Tucked in my shirt, signed on the line
Right away they said about to improve my mind
The car I drove, the books I read
The food I ate, the booze I drank
The girls I took out
My breath

Said kid, we don't much like the way you walk
And you gonna have to change the way you talk;
They said your dress is kind of sludgy
And your attitude is mighty grudgy;
Said you got to learn to bubble;
you got to bubble with enthusiasm; so I bubbled

said the most important thing you can't forget
Is learning the entire greek alphabet;
I never did really understand
How that's gonna make me anymore a man
But I learned it
I can whip through that son-of-a-beta backwards in five seconds

Then they hit me with some pretty bad news
Concerning the payment of monthly dues
I never did know where that money went
And I never was sure it was real well spent
But I paid it
I'm no troublecauser and besides I figured that's life
If you want good friends they're gonna cost you

Well, it finally got to be party time
I got a great big old jug of wine
I went back to the house in about an hour
where the boys were drinking whiskey sours
Brandy alexanders
Frozen daiquiris
Reciting the greek alphabet to one another

I could see I was gonna have to do my very best
To get myself out of that fraternity mess
I stood right there outside the door
And I chugged that wine like never before
Walked inside and bubbled
All over a couple of their dates

So now everything's back to normal again
But there's still lots of room for improvement my friend
'cause that fraternity stuff is too much for me
Next time I'm gonna join a sorority
That'll really give me something to bubble about

[minionofmidas]

Fraternity Blues, by TVZ.

[minionofmidas]

Torie, please get to your proposals, or tell us to scrap it. I'm not going to post anymore unrelated tidbits.

[minionofmidas]

People have 24 hours to object to that self-amendment being accepted as friendly.

[minionofmidas]

Meh. Shoulda done this earlier.


We're moving to a final vote.
Please vote aye, nay or abstain.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Nay.

[minionofmidas]

Vote count:

Aye 2 (Torie, Dwtl)
Nay 5 (Lewis, Al, Culture, Sensei, Jas)
abstain (voted) 0
abstain (yet to vote) 3 (Verily, Bacon, Meeker)

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

[minionofmidas]

Final Vote count:

Aye 3 (Torie, Dwtl, Meeker)
Nay 6 (Lewis, Al, Culture, Sensei, Jas, Bacon)
abstain (voted) 0
abstain (did not vote) 1 (Verily)

This Constitutional Amendment has failed.