SENATE BILL: Fair Deregistration Rights Act (Law'd)

[HagridOfTheDeep]

It's interesting though. As any good GOTV operative knows, people who don't want to vote can still be convinced to vote if you work hard enough.

I fear that people who have "soft" involvement with Atlasia may end up just deregistering even if there's a spot for them in the game. Usually you can tell who's totally done with Atlasia, and these "soft participants" don't fit into that category. The people who are actively against participating can make that very clear if they're serious about it. I guess I don't see the need for institutional change.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Don't try and make it out that I'm the only person who benefits from zombie voters, Marokai. The fact is, they're a part of the game, and everyone needs them. My fear is, we'll have new members join up, sit on their asses for a month or two, complain that they've had nothing to do because they've sat on their asses, and then up and leave because it'll just be that easy. I'll be transparent—I want their votes. So do you. But I think it's also important to realize that people can and will leave for avoidable reasons. Had someone actually engaged those new players and led them around, things might have turned out differently. They could have been active and contributing members. Unfortunately, not everyone has the time to reach out like that, and I think it would be unfortunate to have people deregister "just cuz."

Of course I understand cases like Paul Kemp—and now that he's made himself clear, I'd hope people will not PM him. That said, Atlasia is a commitment. It's not difficult to ignore PMs (I do it all the time ), so if someone wants to leave, they should go through the process. And you know? If they can be convinced to break their vow halfway through this process and vote, then maybe they weren't really good candidates for deregistration in the first place.

Plus, has anyone given thought to the unintended consequences of this measure? How easy will it be for Laborites to shoot messages off to ghost Federalists and encourage them to "deregister" days before an election? If these voters' level of apathy is such that their only involvement in Atlasia is voting, I can't say I think it would be hard to encourage them to completely deregister instead.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

You can't really police things like that, Marokai. Seatown got off, for example. Has anyone looked into why Freefair invalidated his vote? I am sure he was instructed to by a higher up in his party. That's unrealistic.

Anyway, the best way to deal with so-called zombies is to find ways to incorporate them into the game. For example, if I am retained as Internal Affairs chair, we will hold hearings on these drug bills and many people will be invited to share their opinions on the subject. There's no reason to encourage downsizing Atlasia when the focus should actually be on finding ways to increase participation.

If people want to remove themselves from the voter rolls, it is psychotic and controlling to refuse to let them because you think you know better. That is the only thing this entire debate boils down to.

There will be no massive flood of deregistration, there isn't going to be any serious incidents of weird deregistration encouragement (of which I can't imagine anyone falling for), and participation is not a matter which can be forced. This isn't a pro-deregistration ad campaign, this is a bill allowing for the option of removing yourself from the voter rolls if that is your decision, an idea that has never actually been controversial, ever. All the arguments being presented against this idea are perverse and astonishing in how plain and matter-of-factly you're just laying out the pro voter-harassment stuff as if it is a part of the game that is at all desirable. This bill should be passed, and people should be free to make their own decisions free from the harassment of anyone, left, right, and corrupt center.

Im not in the business of harassing voters- maybe Hagrid is, I don't know- but we already have a reregistration system for those who truly do not want to participate in Atlasia- stop participating in Atlasia. All this does is enable the crybabies and make a system needlessly more complex. Its not like were trapping people here forever- they choose to remain a member everytime they vote. Is there anyone who wants to deregister? If so, I haven't heard from them but I would recommend that person refrain from voting in future elections.

I'll tell you how I run my GOTV operation right now, if it's so concerning. I try to contact everyone who I think could be convinced to vote for me about a week before the election to tell them that I'm running, encourage them to follow the campaign, and ultimately vote for me. When voting is open, I send those same people a link to the voting booth. I try to be online for as much time as possible during the election, and if I see my registered voters actually online and not voting, I send them another reminder. If that is "harassment," then boy are you folks ever a bunch of softies.

All in all though, I agree with Napoleon. It's not about winning elections, even if that's how you guys are seeing it. It's not like any one of us disporportionately benefits from zombie voters. I just think there is a very straightforward de-registration process in place. If we are interested in keeping Atlasians engaged, this measure is counterproductive. I don't want people leaving before they've actually gotten a taste of what this game is. And if those inactives deregister just because they think it's easy, we've all lost what could have been a great contributor. I say again: If people can be convinced to keep voting rather than go through the current de-registration process, they're not serious about leaving. Sorry.

Anyhow, I don't think I'll be saying anything else here unless an interesting point comes up. I'm really tired of being accused of stuff.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Nay.

A little unsure why Ben is voting in favour of the amendment he objected to...

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Ah, okay. I completely missed that post... both times.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I would've voted against it. Apologize for missing things. Internet fell through at my condo, so I'm currently posting using the wifi at Target. Forgive me for my short responses.