The Politburo (Headquarters of the Labor Party)

PARTY BYLAWS

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I. CREATION & AMENDMENT OF PARTY BY-LAWS

1. The Chair, along with two Party Members appointed by the Chair, will have the initial task of creating any proposed changes to the By-laws and will be in charge of initial changes in subsequent Conventions. By-laws are then presented to the Members at the Convention, with Members allowed to make objections and suggest changes to the By-laws.
a. If there are no objections within 24 hours, the By-laws will be automatically approved.
b. If there are objections, 24 hours will be given for the Members to discuss and make changes as a group; more time can be given by the Politburo if necessary.
c. Following that, a 72 hour vote will take place to approve or reject the By-laws.

2. The Chair may, in circumstances and times outside the Convention, place on a caucus ballot any revisions, retractions, and/or additions to the Labor Party By-laws assuming the motion receives verbal support from at least one-quarter (25%) of the caucus. If said threshold is attained, a voting booth will be opened immediately to either approve or reject the changes.

II. CREATION & AMENDMENT OF PARTY PLATFORM

1. The Vice Chair, along with two Party Members appointed by the Vice Chair, will have the initial task of creating the Party Platform and will be in charge of initial changes in subsequent Conventions. The Platform is then presented to the Members, who will then be allowed to make objections and suggest changes to the platform.
a. If there are no objections within 24 hours, the Platform will be automatically approved.
b. If there are objections, 24 hours will be given for the Members to discuss and make changes as a group; more time can be given by the Politburo if necessary.
c. Following that, a 72 hour vote will take place to approve or reject the Platform.

2. The Vice-Chair may, in circumstances and times outside the Convention, place on a caucus ballot any revisions, retractions, and/or additions to the Labor Party Platform assuming the motion receives verbal support from at least one-quarter (25%) of the caucus. If said threshold is attained, a voting booth will be opened immediately to either approve or reject the changes.

III. ESTABLISHMENT & MANAGEMENT OF CONVENTIONS

1. The Labor Party Convention will start one month before the Atlasia Presidential Election, with the location of the Convention rotating among the three regions of Atlasia in alphabetical order.

2. Establishing the next Labor Party Convention shall employ the following process: Each Member is given 24 hours to nominate one city in the given region assigned for the next Convention, with the top three (3) nominations being placed on the ballot. Members will be given 24 hours to select their choice.

3. Each Labor Party Convention will have the following agenda:
   a. Updates and amendments of the Party by-laws
b. Updates and amendments of the Party platform
   c. Endorsements for the upcoming Atlasia Federal Elections
   d. Special and irregular business put forward by the Politburo
   e. Establishment of the date and city for the upcoming Convention

IV. ELECTION OF THE POLITBURO

1. Members will have 48 hours to declare that they wish to seek the following positions, beginning on the fourth Friday of February, June and October: Chair, Vice Chair, & General Secretary. There will then be 72 hours for campaigning, followed by a 48 hour election.

2. In the event of resignation or vacancy of the Chair position, the Vice Chair shall immediately assume the role on an interim basis. A special declaration period, campaigning period & subsequent election shall be held beginning on the first Friday at least 168 hours from the time of the Chair vacancy, with the same time-frames for each period as outlined in IV-1.

3. In the event of resignation or vacancy of the Vice Chair or General Secretary positions, the Chair shall appoint Labor Party Members to these offices for the remainder of their terms.

V. ROLES OF THE POLITBURO

1. Chair
a. The official leader of the Labor Party, unless there is a Labor Party President
   b. Is in charge of the Convention process
   c. Officiates Party voting
d. Gives the Vice Chair and the General Secretary goals and objectives for their given jobs
   e. Is in charge of Party political strategy
f. Is allowed to create and/or appoint other Party officials as he or she sees fit
g. Is in charge of creating and updating the by-laws at the Party Convention with the assistance of a personally-appointed committee
h. Ensures insubordination by other Members of the Politburo is handled within the caucus

2. Vice Chair
a. Takes over for the Chair temporarily if the Chair requests a leave of absence or has been absent for 72 hours
   b. Is in charge of Party recruitment in order to grow the Party
c. Responsible for keeping up with business at the Federal and regional levels, and makes sure that the Labor Party has an official stance on each issue; this will be done in collaboration with the rest of the Politburo and the advice of the Party
d. Deals with logistics and personnel
e. Is in charge of creating and updating the platform at the Party Convention with the assistance of a personally-appointed committee

3. General Secretary
a. Takes over for the Chairman or Vice Chair if either the Chair and Vice Chair both have requested a leave of absence or both have been absent for 72 hours
   b. Is in charge of candidate recruitment for all levels of government
c. Is in charge of GOTV operations for both the Party and allied factions, which includes supporters not officially registered with the Party
d. Serves as a Congressional Whip, working with Members of Congress to find common ground and support for bills proposed by the Party

VI. ENDORSEMENT PROCEDURE

1. Endorsement elections will take place two (2) weeks before the respective election. Voting will last 72 hours.

2. All Labor Party candidates in compliance with Sections VII-2a, VII-2b, & VII-2c are automatically endorsed by the Party.

3. If there are not enough Labor Party Members running in a given election, the Party may then endorse candidates from other parties who agree with the Party's principles and values, allowing our Party to endorse a maximum number of candidates, equivalent to the number of open seats in an election.

4. In order to be eligible to receive the Endorsement of the Labor Party, the non-Party candidate(s) must declare that he or she wishes to receive our Party’s Endorsement during the Endorsement suggestion period, which begins three weeks before the election and ends two weeks before the election. The candidate must also have a Laborite second the Endorsement nomination in order to be placed on the Endorsement Ballot.

5. Endorsement voting will begin immediately following the Endorsement Suggestion Period and will last for 72 hours. Votes for each non-Party candidate shall be cast and counted either as an affirmative, negative, or abstention. An abstention ballot is counted against a candidate's affirmative percentage as it applies in Section VI-6.

6. A non-Party candidate must receive affirmative preference from at least 60% of all Endorsement Ballots cast in order to receive the Endorsement of the Party. In the event there are more candidates with 60%+ affirmative preference than available Endorsements, they will be awarded from highest percentage affirmative preference downward. In the event of a tie in affirmative preference percentages between 2 or more candidates, the candidate or candidates who declared their intent to receive the Party's Endorsement first shall receive the Endorsement.

VII. PRIMARY PROCEDURE

1. Primaries will take place two (2) weeks before the respective election for all non-presidential races, and three (3) weeks before the respective election for presidential races. Voting will last for 72 hours.

2. All Labor Party candidates are automatically endorsed by the Party, except for the following situations in which there will be a Labor Party Primary:
   a. There are multiple Labor Party Members running in a single-seat election
b. There are more than 5 Labor Party Members running for The People's House
c. A Labor Party member is a presidential or vice-presidential candidate on a cross-party ticket

3. If there are multiple presidential/vice-presidential tickets consisting of Labor Party Members, but only one ticket is led by a Labor Party member then that ticket shall be endorsed.

d. In all other situations, a Primary shall be held in concurrence with the provisions outlined in Sections VI & VII
e. In the event there is a reasonable doubt about the qualifications or intent of the preferred presidential ticket as selected via Section 3a, 3b, or 3c, the automatic Endorsement can be suspended by a unanimous vote of the Politburo, with a Primary being held to select the winner

4. The loser(s) of a Primary are strongly encouraged not to run as an independent, as doing so will result in a loss of position within the Politburo, a denial of access to Labor primaries and the Endorsement of the Party in the subsequent three (3) Federal elections.

VIII. VOTING

1. All Members of the Labor Party who were registered with the Census Bureau as such at least 168 hours before the opening of any vote in a Convention, Primary, Endorsement, Politburo election, or expulsion are eligible to vote. The 168-hour registration requirement does not apply to persons joining the game as new citizens.

2. Any elected Senator or Representative who is either (a) a registered member of the Labor Party since before the most recent election for the House of Representatives, or (b) an affiliated independent may vote in elections for Congressional Leader.

3. In order to be considered an “affiliated independent” for the purposes of Section VIII-2 of this Article, the Senator or Representative seeking that designation must publicly and explicitly pledge to support the eventual Congressional Leader of the Labor Party in the election for Speaker of the House of Representatives (if they are eligible to vote in that election) and to support the majority of the Labor program as a member of Congress.

4. Voting in a Labor Party Convention, Primary, Endorsement, Politburo election, or expulsion will proceed in the following manner:

a. Voters shall mark their ballot with an “X” in the case of single-choice elections, and shall rank their preferences in the case of multiple-choice elections
b. In the event of a tie, a runoff election shall be held 24 hours following the end of the election, and shall last for 48 hours
c. In the event there is a tie in a runoff, the first person to request an Endorsement shall be the winner (in the case of non-Party Members) and the person with the highest number of [1] preferences shall be the winner (in the case of Party Members)

IX. EXPULSION
1. Members whose actions are judged inappropriate or unbecoming of the Party may be subject to expulsion, initiated by a motion consisting of two (2) Party Members and one (1) Member of the Politburo.

2. A simple majority of those Party Members voting in favor of expulsion shall be sufficient to expel a Member, assuming the total number of Members voting in favor of and against expulsion is at least one-quarter (25%) of the Party's Membership.

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