Northeast Election Law Codification Commission

[cinyc]

Does everyone agree that this should be the final language of those provisions:

"iv) In the event that the polls shall not have been opened by 7:00 am Eastern Standard Time on the day appointed for the election to begin, any member of the Atlasian Supreme Court, the Registrar General, Secretary of Federal Elections, Governor or the Lieutenant Governor of the Northeast has the authority to open the polls and conduct the vote."

and

"B) Validity Rules
i) A voter's ballot is valid only if the voter -
   a) is registered with the Registrar General as a voter of a Northeastern state 7 days prior to the day appointed for the election to begin;"?

If so, I will remove the brackets from the provision deleting the None of the Above option, change those two provisions to reflect the above changes, and post the final language of the proposed law and explanation of changes for a formal vote.  Then, we'll forward our report to the Assembly for their consideration.

[Poirot]

I'm fine with the text in the previous post.

I have a minor point. In the declaration of candidate section:
ii) Valid declarations of candidacy for special Northeast elections must be posted in the Candidate Declaration Thread after the election's announcement but at least one day before the election is set to begin.

Is "after election's announcement" an official post by the CJO or after the vacancy occurs? If a citizen sees a vacancy he/she would probably declare and not wait for an official announcement.


In the explanantion for removal of supremacy clause, maybe we could add it doesn't stop the region to have to meet minimum standards set by federal legislation.
If there is a conflict between federal and regional law that will be the courts who will have to interpret the minimum standard. For example, if the region doesn't allow editing of vote, is it breaking a law. 

[cinyc]

I'm fine with the text in the previous post.

I have a minor point. In the declaration of candidate section:
ii) Valid declarations of candidacy for special Northeast elections must be posted in the Candidate Declaration Thread after the election's announcement but at least one day before the election is set to begin.

Is "after election's announcement" an official post by the CJO or after the vacancy occurs? If a citizen sees a vacancy he/she would probably declare and not wait for an official announcement.


In the explanantion for removal of supremacy clause, maybe we could add it doesn't stop the region to have to meet minimum standards set by federal legislation.
If there is a conflict between federal and regional law that will be the courts who will have to interpret the minimum standard. For example, if the region doesn't allow editing of vote, is it breaking a law. 

The law doesn't seem to specify whether it is after an official post by the CJO or whatever.  Should we change it to after the vacancy occurs, instead?

The problem with the Supremacy clause is that if our counting or tie breaking rules differ, federal law could arguably apply instead of regional law.  We should be able to have our own counting rules, for example.

[Clyde1998]

I'm fine with the text in the previous post.

I have a minor point. In the declaration of candidate section:
ii) Valid declarations of candidacy for special Northeast elections must be posted in the Candidate Declaration Thread after the election's announcement but at least one day before the election is set to begin.

Is "after election's announcement" an official post by the CJO or after the vacancy occurs? If a citizen sees a vacancy he/she would probably declare and not wait for an official announcement.


In the explanantion for removal of supremacy clause, maybe we could add it doesn't stop the region to have to meet minimum standards set by federal legislation.
If there is a conflict between federal and regional law that will be the courts who will have to interpret the minimum standard. For example, if the region doesn't allow editing of vote, is it breaking a law. 

The law doesn't seem to specify whether it is after an official post by the CJO or whatever.  Should we change it to after the vacancy occurs, instead?

The problem with the Supremacy clause is that if our counting or tie breaking rules differ, federal law could arguably apply instead of regional law.  We should be able to have our own counting rules, for example.

I think we should change it to when after the vacancy occurs.

I think that the supremacy clause shouldn't be relevant in a regional election, as it would be Regional Law dictating the rules of the election. I believe that we can set tougher standards than Federal Law, on all issues, but not weaker standards than Federal Law.

[cinyc]

I think we should change it to when after the vacancy occurs.

I think that the supremacy clause shouldn't be relevant in a regional election, as it would be Regional Law dictating the rules of the election. I believe that we can set tougher standards than Federal Law, on all issues, but not weaker standards than Federal Law.

I've made those changes.  I think federal law would require we follow things like the inactivity requirements regardless of whether we have a Supremacy Act, anyway.  That's why I support adding a provision revoking the Supremacy Act to the extent it impacts northeast election law and would require us to apply federal law to things like tiebreakers.

I'm going to post the full text of the proposed law and the explanation of changes in the next three posts.  We need to formally approve it before Wednesday night.  If you approve of the text, please say Aye.

[cinyc]

Consolidated Northeastern Election Law
1) Filling vacancies
 A) Assembly
  i) When a vacancy arises in the Assembly three or more weeks before the next regularly scheduled Assembly election, the vacancy shall be filled by a special election.
  ii) The special election shall be held in the same manner and procedure as a regular election for the whole Assembly.
  iii) If the date of the vacancy is two days or less before a Friday, the election shall be held on the next weekend.
  iv) Upon the certification of the results by the appropriate election administrator, the elected candidate shall be eligible to assume their seat.
  v) The governor may appoint a person to fill the vacated seat.  The term of the appointed representative shall expire on the swearing-in of the newly elected representative.
  vi)  When a vacancy arises in the Assembly less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled Assembly election, the vacancy shall be filled by gubernatorial appointment.
 B) Regional Senator
  i) If a vacancy should arise for the Northeast Senate seat, a special election shall take place to fill the vacancy. The polling booth shall be opened at 12:00:00AM Eastern Standard Time on the Friday after the vacancy occurs, unless the date of the vacancy is two days or less before that Friday, in which case, the polling booth shall be opened at 12:00:00AM Eastern Standard time the following Friday.  The polling booth shall close at 11:59:59PM the following Sunday.  The victor shall be seated immediately. The Governor may appoint an interim Senator to fill the seat in the time between the arising of the vacancy and election of a new Senator.
  ii) If there are less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled regional Senate election when the vacancy occurs, the Governor may forgo the special election and appoint a Senator subject to confirmation by the Legislative Assembly.
 C) Governor
  i) Northeast Governor vacancies shall be filled in the manner described in Article III, Sections 6-7 of the Northeast Constitution.  As of the time of this law, those provisions state:
"6. If the office of Governor is to become vacant at some point while he or she is in office, the Lieutenant Governor shall assume the role of Acting Governor until a special election may be held. During this time, the Acting Governor shall retain their position as Lieutenant Governor and Representative. However, they shall not be able to exercise any of their duties as Lieutenant or as Representative during this time. If the vacancy occurs less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled election, the Lieutenant Governor shall immediately become the Governor and serve for the remainder of the term - vacating their other offices.

7. In the event that the office of Governor falls vacant three or more weeks before the next scheduled gubernatorial election, a special election shall be held to fill the remainder of the term. The election shall be held on the first Friday following the vacancy, except where the Friday falls within two days of the position becoming vacant, in which case the election will take place the following Friday, and be held in the same manner as a regular gubernatorial election. Upon certification of the results, the Governor-elect shall immediately assume office upon swearing in."
2) Voting Booth
 A) Text of Voting Booth
  Section i.
   a. The voting guideline outlined in Section ii of this act applies to all regional elections held within the Northeast, but not those conducted by the Northeast for the federal government, such as constitutional amendments.
   b. The relevant administrator of the election shall be charged with posting the guideline outlined in Section ii in the voting booth.
   c. The provision allowing for the None of the Above option is repealed.
  Section ii.
   a. The voting guideline shall appear as follows:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

b. When a referendum is placed on the ballot, the following language shall be inserted:

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 B) Voting Booth Rules
  i)  Once a ballot has been posted in the voting booth thread, the voter shall have 20 minutes from the posting of the ballot to edit his post as necessary; but no ballot shall be counted as valid which has been edited more than 20 minutes after being posted in the voting booth thread.
  ii) No voter may make any post in the voting booth that is not the voter's ballot, nor make multiple posts in the voting booth. Such action will result in the invalidation of any applicable ballots.
  iii)  For a ballot to be counted in a regional election, it must be cast in the same language by which it was presented to the voter.
  iv) In the event that the polls shall not have been opened by 7:00 am Eastern Standard Time on the day appointed for the election to begin, any member of the Atlasian Supreme Court, the Registrar General, Secretary of Federal Elections, Governor or the Lieutenant Governor of the Northeast has the authority to open the polls and conduct the vote.
  v) In referendums and proposed constitutional amendment votes, voters shall vote either Aye or Nay.

[cinyc]

(Continued)

3) Vote Counting
 A) Counting Rules
  i) After the close of polls, the ‘total valid poll’ shall be calculated, this being the total number of valid votes cast in the election.
  ii) The ‘quota’ (i.e. the number of votes required to be deemed elected) shall then be calculated as the whole number (disregarding any attached fraction) resulting from the following equation:
[Total Valid Poll/(Number of seats to be filled + 1)] + 1
  iii) A first count shall then be made quantifying the total number of first preferences each valid candidate did receive. Any candidates receiving more than or equal to the quota shall be deemed elected.
  iv) A surplus shall be re-allocated from each elected candidate to their preferences in order. The amount that each vote shall be worth for allocation shall be calculated as the number resulting from the following equation: {[(Total Value of Candidate's Votes - Quota) / (Total Value of Candidate's Vote)] x Value of each vote
  v) Steps 3 and 4 shall be repeated until the amount of candidates needed are elected. Should no candidates receive more than the quota, the candidate with the least amount of votes shall be eliminated.
  vi) Should any tie-breaking be necessary, the tie shall be broken by the number of second preference votes. If further tie-breaking is needed, the tie shall be broken by a Condorcet Count.
 vii)  A candidate only needs to meet the quota, rather than exceed it, in order to be considered elected.
 viii) Write-in votes are only counted for a candidate if he or she publicly declares a willingness to receive write-in votes for the relevant office before the polls close in the Candidate Declaration Thread or writes in his or her own name on the ballot for the said office.
 B) Validity Rules
  i) A voter's ballot is valid only if the voter -
   a) is registered with the Registrar General as a voter of a Northeastern state 7 days prior to the day appointed for the election to begin;
   b) does not edit or delete a vote more than 20 minutes after it is originally cast; and
   c) does not write anything other than their vote in the voting booth.
  ii) Posts made by an election official in an election thread to administer that election must be separate from a post used to cast that official's ballot and does not count as posts for the purposes of subsection (i)(c).
 C) Vote Counting and Disputes
  i) As soon as possible after a vote has concluded, an official count shall be posted in the same thread as the vote by the official conducting the vote.  Any attempts to vote that are disallowed shall be listed in that same post along with the reason for the disallowal. In the event that that two or more candidates shall have received the largest number of approvals in a non-runoff gubernatorial election, then a runoff shall be held in a separate thread.
  ii) Only a person who voted or attempted to vote in an election has standing to dispute the determination of the official conducting that vote. The  Chief Judicial Officer of the region shall make a determination of both fact and law. Appeals to the Supreme Court of Atlasia are allowed only if there is a question of federal law involved.
 D)  Special Election With No Winner
  i) In the event of a special election in which no candidate declares in the candidacy declaration thread or accepts write-in votes, the Governor shall have two weeks time to appoint a replacement after voting closes
  ii) The replacement shall be agreed to by the majority of Assembly, which shall have its presiding officer declare an immediate swearing in as soon as possible after the Assembly votes.
  iii) The replacement appointed will thereafter be considered a member of the body. As such, no duties nor respect allowed other members of the body shall be denied to the appointed one.
 D) Candidate Declaration Rules
  i)   Valid declarations of candidacy for scheduled Northeast elections must be posted in the Candidate Declaration Thread no more than two months prior to the scheduled election.
  ii) Valid declarations of candidacy for special Northeast elections must be posted in the Candidate Declaration Thread after the vacancy occurs but at least one day before the election is set to begin.
  iii)  Only valid declarations of candidacy will be listed on the ballot.
4) Campaigning for Invalidation of Votes
 A) Definition of Crime
  i) It shall be a crime against the Northeast Region for any Northeast citizen to instruct or encourage a voter who has already cast his or her ballot in an election for a regional office to take an action that would have the effect of invalidating the ballot.
  ii) The above provision applies to any election for Northeast Governor or Lieutenant Governor, any vote on a Proposition, Initiative, Recall, Regional Constitutional Amendment or other regional referendum, election or plebiscite.
  iii) The instruction or encouragement of a voter shall be interpreted to include any action which indicates the possibility of invalidating a vote to affect a Northeast election.
 B) Trial and Punishment
  i) Trial of this crime shall be by the Chief Judicial Officer of the Northeast region.
  ii) The Judge may admit evidence of the crime at his own discretion.
  iii) Sentencing of the crime shall be by the Judge; He may impose the following as punishment, depending upon the severity of the offense:
Up to a two month ban from holding any office under the Northeast Region.
  iv) Appeals to a Federal Court shall only be allowed where there is a matter of federal law involved.
5) All prior Northeast election laws, including but not limited to the Assembly Special Elections Act 2015, Amendment to the Senate Vacancy Act, Regional Voting Regulations Act 2014 (Revised), Constitutional Amendment Explanation Act, Northeast Electoral Clarity Act, Vote Sanctity Act, Candidacy Declaration Act, Northeastern Voting Regulations, Official Ballot Language Act, Preferential Voting Act and Campaigning for Invalidation of Votes Initiative, are repealed.  The Supremacy Act and Report of the Statutory Review Commission are repealed to the extent those laws impact Northeast election law.

[cinyc]

Explanation of proposed changes to existing Northeast election law:

1) We have harmonized the election dates and times for Senate special elections so that they always run Friday-Monday instead of on random days 7 days after the vacancy occurs.  It makes little sense to use a different standard for special Senate elections than special Assembly or Gubernatorial elections.

2) We have harmonized the number of weeks an Assembly or Senate vacancy must occur before the Governor can make an appointment to reflect the time period in the Constitution before the Lieutenant Governor permanently becomes Governor without a special election.  The old standard for Assembly was two weeks before the expiry of the present term.  The old standard for Senate was 4 weeks before the expiry of the present term.  Under the proposed change, no election need to be held if the vacancy occurs less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled election.  The change from date of expiry to date of election mitigates the chances that a special Assembly election need to be held at the same time as the regularly scheduled Assembly election, which makes no sense.

3) We have given voters the opportunity to edit their ballots up to 20 minutes after they have been cast.  Current law does not allow voters to edit their ballot at all.  This conforms Northeast voting regulations to federal voting regulations.  The lack of the ability to edit votes in the Northeast has been a source of confusion in the past, leading voters to unintentionally spoil their ballots.

4) We have made technical amendments to the ancient but still partially valid Northeast Voting Regulations to, among other things, give the Secretary of Federal Elections and others the ability to open up Northeast Voting Booths if not properly opened on time, and conform to the Aye-Nay language used in the voting booth instructions for constitutional amendment votes.

5) We have modified the voting booth instructions to reflect our other proposed changes to Northeast Election law.

6) We have deleted the Constitutional Amendment Explanation Act.  Assemblies have not been following its mandate to formally explain why a proposed Northeast constitutional amendment is or is not desirable.  We feel that a law that hasn't been followed should be taken off the books.

7) We made a technical amendment to further qualify that a candidate only needs to equal a quota to be elected.  The old rules were contradictory.  Since a quota equals more than half the vote, equaling the quota should be sufficient to be elected, as was probably intended.

8) We formalized the previously unwritten rule that write-ins are only counted if a candidate formally declares that he or she will accept write-ins in the Candidate Declaration Thread or writes himself or herself in the ballot box.

9) We changed the declaration deadline for special elections to be after the vacancy occurs but at least one day before the date of the election.  This conforms with the constitutional deadline to declare for regularly scheduled elections.  The Chief Judicial Officer needs time to formalize a final ballot.  Declaring in the minutes before the election begins hampers the CJO's ability to do so.  Previously, the law required that a declaration occur after an election was declared, but it was unclear who was required to declare or how.  Now, once a vacancy occurs, a candidate can formally declare.

10) We changed the sentencing options for violations of the Campaigning for Invalidation of Votes Act.  Under prior law, the CJO could have sentenced a violator to up to a 4 month ban from voting in Northeast elections.  Such a sentence would violate the Atlasian Constitution, as only the Secretary of Federal Elections can maintain a voter list.  It makes no sense to give the CJO the option to impose an unconstitutional sentence.

11) We have decided to repeal the Supremacy Act to the extent it applies to election laws.  We think that that law is virtually impossible to apply to Northeastern voting laws, as when an actual conflict between Northeastern and Atlasian statutory voting laws actually occurs isn't clear.  It potentially calls into question all of our Northeastern voting regulations, which makes little sense.  It does not, however, allow the Northeast to ignore basic federal election laws that are applicable to the Northeast under the Atlasian Constitution.

[cinyc]

Aye

[Poirot]

I'll keep it short.
I agree with the change to "after vacancy occurs" because it seems less restrictive than "after announcement".
I brought the explanationh to surpemacy clause to reassure the assembly by removing it we could become renegade. It doesn't remove the fact the region is requires to follow the basic federal electoral laws, like we could not decideto let new citizens vote after being registered 2 days.

[cinyc]

I'll keep it short.
I agree with the change to "after vacancy occurs" because it seems less restrictive than "after announcement".
I brought the explanationh to surpemacy clause to reassure the assembly by removing it we could become renegade. It doesn't remove the fact the region is requires to follow the basic federal electoral laws, like we could not decideto let new citizens vote after being registered 2 days.

I added the following sentence to the Supremacy Act discussion:

It does not, however, allow the Northeast to ignore basic federal election laws that are applicable to the Northeast under the Atlasian Constitution.

Does that work?

[Poirot]

Does that work?

Yes

[cinyc]

Okay.  Let's hold a formal vote to approve the law and explanation as drafted.  All those who approve shall say Aye.  Those opposed, Nay.

[cinyc]

Aye

[Poirot]

Aye

(About how to fill vacancies I take into account uniformity and the sentiment of dislike of special elections by many. I have always prefered voters decide rather than a single person. For Northeast Senator I find the period long, a replacement could be on the job for a month.)  

[Clyde1998]

Aye

[cinyc]

With a vote of 3-0, the commission passes the proposed legislation and explanation.  I will submit our report to the full Assembly later today.