Constitutional Amendment to Allow a Secret Ballot

[Emsworth]

A sidenote: The Voting System Reform Commission produced a report on secret balloting (see here).

[Emsworth]

Senator MasterJedi has made the motion to replace the current amendment with the amendment created by the comission.

Hmm, if I recall correctly, that's just the text of the Secret Ballot Bill. The text that the Commission recommended for the amendment (rather than the bill) was, I believe:

1. The requirement that elections to the Senate and the Presidency be by public post is repealed.
2. Under no circumstances shall a polling method which allows a person to anonymously vote be used in any election or vote mandated under this Constitution. This clause shall not be construed to require that a person's vote is publicly disclosed to all citizens.
3. This Amendment shall only become operative if ratified within one calendar year from the date of its submission to the Regions by the Senate.

[Emsworth]

This amendment seems awfully wordy; I don't immediately see what it covers that my amendment doesn't, although that may be because I'm not really sure what section 2 is saying, exactly.

Section 2 forbids the usage of anonymous polls. For example, if we adopt this version, it would be unconstitutional to use the polling feature of the Atlas Forum to determine presidential elections.

I think that forbidding the use of polls is a very good idea. Anyone--even those who are not qualified--could potentially vote in a poll. There must be some system to check that only registered voters are actually voting, but this is impossible if we have an anonymous poll.

[Emsworth]

YES, this is finally passed!

6 Aye
2 Nay
1 Abstain

You need seven votes to pass a constitutional amendment.

[Emsworth]

Wouldn't we only need 6 because MAS abstained?

According to the recent Supreme Court ruling, the amendment would need 2/3 of the full Senate (i.e., 2/3 of 10).

[Emsworth]

Can I change MAS's vote or is that set in stone? I'm rather sure that I cannot change it as it was made by a prior Senator but I just want to be sure.

Presumably, his vote is erased by the fact that he has left the Senate.