MA: Mideast Electoral Reform Act (Statute)

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

I'm fine with this, although I don't like I.8.e.,

It was intended as a compromise towards party strategists.
I agree it's not absolutely necessary to put exit-poll links in the booth though, I'm fine with removing it if that's what the rest of you want.

and II.2. doesn't make sense, as a citizen cannot prosecute someone; that'd be something the Governor has to do.

Well, it was meant to be a replacement of this:

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I'm not sure exactly what your suggestion would be, but I'm open to ideas.
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a Person, I support both your bills, but on the first one, what do you mean by saving a copy of your ballot in your outbox?  And also, would extraneous posts include campaigning in the voting booth?  I think that that should be listed separately.

When you send a PM, there's a checkbox at the bottom labeled "Save a copy in my outbox" which saves a copy in your outbox.
Campaigning in the voting booth does count as an extraneous post; the MSC would have the discretion to punish it more thoroughly than more 'harmless' posts.
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Incidentally, this bill would resolve the issue of questionable write-ins eg "pretty boring but both good people", as nobody would see these until the vote is over, so they would be harmless.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Oh, okay. Again, though, I'm not sure how to fix that. Would "at the originator's request" be better?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

That should be left up to the Governor.

Well, that's what the 'may' is there for.

Anyways, we'll see what Gass, shua, and Oldiesfreak have to say, and then we can put up any necessary amendments.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Why is a secret ballot necessary or desirable?

To end manipulation of the vote, basically. Mostly I am talking about parties posting/sending stuff like "wxyz already has enough votes to be elected regardless, so any remaining [party members] should vote for hijk and pqrs instead." But it's not just about the big blocs. Last March, I probably would've voted for Gass based on pure preference. However, since I was keeping a count and noticed that one vote would put LvR in over shua, I went for LvR, because I preferred him. (no offence, shua )

Point is, our votes should be based on which candidates we actually prefer.

Why is a secret ballot necessary or desirable?

Apparently a Person wants a permanent Federalist majority.

No, y'all'd've had a majority this time around (without a secret ballot) if you had been paying attention.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Leadership was paying attention.  Voters chose to vote a different way then was suggested - that's a personal thing, not the party's fault.  I welcome this bill.

Did you suggest to ZuWo that he should vote for Miles? Because that would've put all three Federalists over.

On another note, are you willing to accept my changes as friendly amendments?

The first one, yeah (pending input from Gass/shua/Oldiesfreak)
The second one I still don't agree with. Why should prosecution be solely up to the Governor if the Governor is the most "dangerous" in this regard? I'd be willing to accept

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as friendly though.

What are thoughts on the administrator periodically posting who has voted so far?

Against, and that shouldn't be posted at the end of the vote either.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Does this bill prevent the administrator and deputy administrator from campaigning (i.e. sending PMs calling for votes) during the election period? I don't think it's fair if the administrator and deputy administrator are the only ones seeing the votes cast, yet still allowed to influence outstanding voters during that period.

Some other nitpicks-
-You should clarify that the deputy administrator must still remain a registered voter of the Mideast region.
-The maximum penalty should not be life; that's ridiculous for an internet game.

This is exactly the kind of input I was looking for. -- these will be changed, then.

Here are my observations on this bille:

1. Include an express prohibition on campaigning in the voting booth.
2. As for exit polls, shouldn't the election trackers (e.g. Inside Nyman) be the ones who report on those?
3. I honestly can take or leave the secret ballot, but how would that work?

1. 'k
2. I'm not sure what you're saying here. By "links to exit polls", I meant links to the polls themselves (to notify voters, basically), not to the results. Regardless, it's not an essential part of the bill; it's removed now.
3. Secret ballot is kinda the whole point of the bill, dude
As to how it works, I/3a should give you the idea -- instead of being posted publicly, ballots are sent to the voting booth administrator and the deputy voting booth administrator.

Is the primary voting booth operator already prohibited from being someone who is a candidate in the election?  If not, it would make sense to change that as well if we are moving to a secret ballot - since a candidate is generally the most likely person one would want to keep a ballot secret from.

Definitely. At first I didn't do that because I thought it would require a Constitutional amendment -- I have a better idea now, though. (see below)
The Constitution never defines "unavailable", after all. Thoughts?

I am generally supportive of this proposal since I think that the secrecy of the ballot should be a key component in a modern democracy.

Well said.

That being said, are we sure that this bill does not clash with any federal statutes or constitutional clauses?

I'm pretty sure it doesn't contradict the Atlasian Constitution or the CESRA. Are there other relevant laws?

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I'll offer a new version, then:

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[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

We still need some way for a voting administrator to be chosen if the governor is "unavailable."

Nah, the Constitution has that covered.

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Fixed.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

We still need some way for a voting administrator to be chosen if the governor is "unavailable."

Nah, the Constitution has that covered.

only so long as the Gov, Lt Gov, Speaker and Judge aren't all up for election 

True. Amended again.

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Nah, it fits the precedent of the Transition to PR-STV Act. The way I think we should do this is: pass this bill now, and in four months (ie an entire election cycle), consider adding the right to a secret ballot to the Bill of Rights.

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I'm glad y'all are pointing out the flaws, btw.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Alright, new (probably final) version, amended from Inks's proposal:

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(explanation of changes:
I.1/2 simplification; defining whether two people are of the same party
I.3 this is still necessary, as the Constitution doesn't provide a fallback
I.4 notification requirement to address Gass's concerns
II.2/3 see below)

I still don't think there is any way to prevent voting administrators from passing on voting information to outside sources. I unfortunately don't think I can support this. In a perfect situation I'd love to see a secret ballot for the game, but I don't think it's possible.

I think that Inks's amendment plus the notification requirement fixes that.

The court can't choose to upgrade something to be prosecuted.  It's not up to the court to decide who should and should not be prosecuted.  Prosecution is an execution of the laws--i.e. an executive power.  Leaving this up to the court's discretion to upgrade to prosecution would make the bill unconstitutional.

The reasoning was that the person in the best position to be committing electoral crimes is the governor, and having that same person being the only possible prosecutor is dangerous. Would you accept the new version?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Good. Inks, if you can introduce an amendment for the absentee-voting thing, I'll accept it as friendly and we can go to a final vote.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

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I question the wisdom of including "Failure of the governor to prosecute him- or herself for electoral crimes given reasonable cause may be considered grounds for impeachment."  A Governor prosecuting himself for electoral crimes is a conflict of interest.  I'd be more comfortable just saying that a Governor who commits electoral crimes can be impeached.

Well, if nobody can prosecute the Governor, it'll never be clear that they committed electoral crimes. How's this version?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

I still don't see how this bill prevents either voting administrator from passing on the voting information they are receiving to a third party that would then use that information to engaged in more informed campaigning. As long as all involved stay quiet, there is no way to know that this law is being violated and certain candidates would have a distinct advantage.     

Once again, you're free to introduce an amendment.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

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Gass?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Thanks, accepted as friendly.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

What is "Clause 1d/g"?

1d and 1g. Is there a better way of putting that?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

aye

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Nay

I just realized the part about the voting booth administrator not being someone up for election is no longer in this.  I can't support it in this case.

Inks is right, that only works with a distorted interpretation of the constitution. I think we have enough safety mechanisms in place to prevent that being an issue.