Atlasian Observer (Relaunched!)

[TomC]

I'm beginning to get a sense for why I'm the only one who is even attempting to do anything with electoral reform.

Your fight is important and needed. It's unfortunate that you feel alone on this vital reform. It is unacceptable that in the months since the Oct. election that no meaningful reform has taken place. This is certainly not your fault, though I'm not sure anyone else can be exempt from blame.

Other officeholders have ample authority to propose amendments and alternate bills.

And a characterization from the Chief Justice's editorial about pending legislation before the Senate:
"quite literally causing the sky to fall."

I'm afraid we might need a little reminder of what I consider the equivilent of the sky falling:

I am certifying the Presidential results at:

Emsworth 44
Supersoulty 38

I am pretty sure about this total, but if there is an error, I can correct the certification, I believe.  Emsworth definitely won, though.

OK, I've checked and checked and checked (well, maybe only checking once or twice, but there were many intermediate level checks too), and I have come up with the following totals:

President
Final Round
Joe Republic/Defarge-43
Emsworth/Q-38
Exhausted-7
NOTA-1

Discounted Votes
Umengus- activity requirements

Disputed Votes
thefactor- ballot counted as 1) Joe Republic/No VP
Nation- ballot counted as 1) Supersoulty/No VP 2) Joe Republic/No VP
...
Am I forgetting something?

Congratulations to the winners, and good luck to others (or the winners, if they feel like it) for the lawsuits

ILV

I have not seen anything within the federal government so far but simple declarations and suggestions.  Why is Emsworth not doing anything, why is ILikeVerin not doing anything, why is congress not doing anything, and why is SIEGE not here?  If we want to avoid any more rediculous secessions, I suggest the government get it together!  The only people I feel like I can stand behind are my local officials and MAS.  It's starting to feel like every region for itself.

So why is nothing happening?  And if something is happening, why aren't we seeing anything?

So people are solving this problem by _seceding_?  Yes, now Atlasia is in shambles, because the Midwest won't have any Senators and we have a bunch of one-person states in the middle of the country claiming to no longer belong to the Republic.  I hope you people realize this will only make the situation worse.

I think we're seeing the end of Atlasia's run right here. I think for the good of the country that we should simply end the controversy declare someone, (Joe or Emsworth, I don't care) President and be done with it. The Presidency is not worth destroying the game over and I know both candidates know that.

And what's been done to avoid this again?

Gabu, keep up the fight and let me know how I can help.

[The Duke]

I support the principles in Gabu's bill, and hope any kinks can be worked out.  We have eighteen days to get this done.

I hope this is mere coincidence, but in the film Armageddon, NASA has eighteen days to prevent a Texas-sized asteroid from hitting the Earth.

Talk about the sky falling.

[jokerman]

So...If we don't get forum affairs reform through Congress in 18 days....

Earth is destroyed by an asteroid?

[The Duke]

So...If we don't get forum affairs reform through Congress in 18 days....

Earth is destroyed by an asteroid?

No, I was just pointing out that its a weird coincidence that Peter said the sky would fall if we didn't fix the voting reform bill before the election in 18 days, which is exactly the time frame NASA had to stop the asteroid in that movie.  I just think its a weird coincidence is all.

[Gabu]

And I totally agree - that you attempted wholesale reform without consultation is amazing. When I presented reform packages to the Senate, it was not solely under my authorship, many others had been consulted and asked for input. Forum affairs reform is not like anything else here - we actually have to see how it all pans out, as opposed to relying on the GM to wave a magic wand and make everything work.

The bill that I posted a long time ago was mainly intended to be a first draft.  I had expected that more people would give me input, but basically nobody ever did.  In retrospect, I could have publicized this fact better, but I wasn't really intending to do it all myself.  It just sort of happened that way because nobody ever gave me input after I posted it.

I guess I could have actively gone out to seek critical input, but what's done is done.

I've got to say that I have plenty more that I would like to think about as regards this bill. I, personally, would like to open the bill up to a wider consultation so that obvious problems like the one I have pointed out can be rectified. We are presently at a little over 18 days until the Presidential election takes place - bottom line, I wouldn't bet on passage before the election.

I've never intended to get this passed before the February elections, really.  It would have been nice, but we've survived worse elections under our current system.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "wider consultation".  Can you clarify on that point?

We have eighteen days to get this done.

Sort of.  The current electoral system isn't perfect, but it won't be the demise of Atlasia if we don't get this new one in place before the next election.  We've survived with our current one through more bitter elections in the past.

[ilikeverin]

Well, seeing that this election hasn't occured yet, we can't know whether this election will be the epitome of bitterness

[TomC]

My quoting that was to point out that it's disingenuous to say "quite literally..." and then insert something clearly figurative.

[Gabu]

Well, seeing that this election hasn't occured yet, we can't know whether this election will be the epitome of bitterness

I suppose, but I don't currently predict such an outcome.  I do not discount the capacity of Atlasians to be petty, however.

[2952-0-0]

If this next election is botched, the Midwest might seceed again...

Hey!! It should be our turn!!

[jokerman]

Hell, I'll move for the SE to seceed if the Senate pulls some kind of dictatorial stunt like they did last time.

[TomC]

Hell, I'll move for the SE to seceed if the Senate pulls some kind of dictatorial stunt like they did last time.

Might be better to provoke diuscussion of Gabu's bill, so the criticism that it lacks consultation can be dismissed.

[TomC]

One criticism seems to be the provision that allows a voter who has neglected to mark an "X" next to the chosen candidate's name to, without deleting the vote in question, post a new ballot with the appropriate "X." I see little problem with this. In our system of voting, with public posts visible to all, that a voter whose intent is not clear, is given an opportunity to clarify what the vote is. In Oct, Ben Meyers marked an "X" next to his chosen candidate but neglected to delete the other candidate's name from the quoted ballot. In discussion he clearly stated the intent of his vote. Yet the SoFA said his intent was indecipherable (he went back and forth on this ruling IIRC). Why can we not use the public nature of our system as an advantage and clarify if our intent as voter  is not clear?

[Peter]

Relaunched!!!!

If only to give Ebowed something to compete with - hit image above to read articles.

[Hatman 🍁]

Well, I wouldn't say I haven't had to prompt people- except I like to call them "invitations"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Excellent news

[Colin]

Good to see this paper relaunching. Good to see some media around in Atlasia again.

[Јas]

Good to see the Observer back in business.

[Peter]

OOOOhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Another update - a rather depressing look at the Senate races.

[Sensei]

I'm thinking of moving to the Mideast and running for Senate if this Primary thing fails to pan out.

[Joe Republic]

Reading this thread through again reminds me of just how goddamn depressing and frustrating the office of Atlasian president really is.

[minionofmidas]

OOOOhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Another update - a rather depressing look at the Senate races.

One more person to call it the Seanad, and I can claim to have started a tradition!

[Sensei]

OOOOhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Another update - a rather depressing look at the Senate races.

One more person to call it the Seanad, and I can claim to have started a tradition!

Seanad

[Јas]

OOOOhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Another update - a rather depressing look at the Senate races.

Depressing indeed. Just one contested seat so far.

[Colin]

Reading this thread through again reminds me of just how goddamn depressing and frustrating the office of Atlasian president really is.

Oh yes, yes it is. You can only run for a second term if you are a complete masochist.

[Ebowed]

Oh yes, yes it is. You can only run for a second term if you are a complete masochist.

I would prefer you not tell them about our secret, erm, orientation.