Southern Regional Committee Discussion/Information Thread

[tmthforu94]

Hello Southerners,

Your regional committee is moving forward with a plan to select our two senators in under a week. We will do this by holding a special election for the Class 2 seat (April-August-December) this upcoming weekend, administered by Chairman Leinad. The Class 1 seat (February-June-October) will be appointed by the committee. The individual will serve for the month of June, and at the end of June, there will be an election to serve a full term. We feel like this process is the least confusing and most efficient way to advance.

If you want to be considered for the appointed senate seat (Class 1), you need to declare your intentions by 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday (today). There are no specific rules on where you need to declare, but please limit it to either this thread, the committee thread or the candidate declaration thread. We also ask that you make a statement in the committee thread - committee members may also pose questions to you.

The appointment will be made by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Candidates wishing to run in the special election for the Class 2 seat will have until 11:00 p.m. EST on Thursday to declare. This allows those who applied for the appointed seat and weren't chosen to have the option to run in the special election. The election will begin at 12:00 a.m. EST on Friday.

This process is going to be moving very quickly. But we believe it is necessary to ensure that the South has proper representation when the new Congress convenes.

Here is a text of the resolution:

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[tmthforu94]

Candidate Tracker

Class I Seat (Appointment by committee, election to full term later this month)
Peebs
Pingvin

Class II Seat (Special Election to fill seat until August)
Peebs
Tmthforu94

[tmthforu94]

The deadline for the appointed seat will be midnight tonight, or about 6 hours from now. At their earliest convenience, I would also like to invite our two declared candidates to the Southern Regional Committee thread to make their case as to why they would be the best choice. A final decision will be made by 5:00 on Thursday.

[tmthforu94]

Regardless of party affiliation, candidates who don't respond to the questions that are posed to them typically aren't successful. I've had no problem voting across party lines in the past and will continue to do so in the future, but as Governor NeverAgain said, I couldn't vote for someone who didn't show to have "an understanding of the true issues facing the South and Atlasia."

Best of luck in the special election, Peebs. Competitive races are healthy for the region and the game.

[tmthforu94]

I have proposed a framework version of a proposed constitution here. While this committee is full of qualified individuals, it is important to get feedback from southerners throughout this process, so please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on how we should set up the region!

*hughughug*

[tmthforu94]

Southern Elections Tracker

Class II Seat (Special Election to fill seat until August)
Peebs 6 - Tim Turner, Siren, Adam Griffin, TDAS04, Steelers, NeverAgain
Tmthforu94: 13 - NC Yankee, Tmthforu94, Leinad, ModerateVAVoter, Pingvin99, Classic Conservative, TexasGurl, EdgarAllenYOLO, PiT, Haslam2020, Libertarian_Leo, MilesC56, ElectionsGuy
Invalid: 1 - Peebs

1st Constitutional Amendment:
Aye - 19

2nd Constitutional Amendment:
Aye - 19

Projection: Both constitutional amendments will pass in the South Region

Projection: Tmthforu94 will win the Class II Southern Senate Seat

[tmthforu94]

To summarize what happened last night:
- We chose not to have districts, instead elected representatives at-large. The vote was 2-3, with Leinad and Yankee voting in favor of districts and NeverAgain, Peebs and myself voting against.
- We decided not have a Lieutenant Governor. he vote was 2-3, with Leinad and Yankee voting in favor of having a Lt. Governor and NeverAgain, Peebs and myself voting against.
- By a unanimous vote, it was decided to have 5 representatives.

While I think everyone agreed that districts would add an interesting element, concerns were brought up that it would be too complicated for the startup of the region, may lead to gerrymandering and would likely lead to a split chamber in most sessions, giving a potential Lt. Governor enormous power to be able to break ties. Once it was decided not to have districts, the majority felt that the Lt. Governor can become useless and we should minimize the number of positions. I stated that I think it is better for the region to start simple and work up, rather than the other way around.

Our next order of business is to discuss the Bill of Rights, Regional Name and Regional Capitol. Once those three are determined, we will move into a styling phase to make sure the final draft has proper grammar and no inconsistencies and loopholes. Our plan is to have the the final draft approved later this week.

[tmthforu94]

You can view what the constitution currently looks like here. The section on replacing regional senators needs to be edited (I'll work on that later today), but otherwise it is pretty consistent with what the committee has agreed to.

[tmthforu94]

I just want to chime in that I don't support adding a voting age requirement to the constitution.  I understand that we're trying to be legislators and we're dealing with some make-believe constituents, but the most important constituents are Atlasian players.  There are kids that play this game, and a voting age would technically discriminate against them.  It's unnecessary and unenforceable.

I initially had that concern as well, but felt that by simply saying "voting age", per Atlasian constitution, that would just constitute as those who had a certain amount of posts and had an account that was a certain amount of days old. Do you find the proposed wording by NeverAgain to still be problematic?