L.C. 7.15: You Should Not be Penalized for Missing Votes that Everyone Else did Amendment

[S019]

You Should Not be Penalized for Missing Votes that Everyone Else did Constitutional Amendment

Section 8 of Article I of the Lincoln Constitution shall be amended as follows:

8. Whenever a vacancy should occur in the composition of the Council, a new councilor shall be chosen by means of a by-election to fill the vacated seat. A seat on the council shall be considered vacated upon the resignation, recall, impeachment of the previous occupant; failure of the elected councilor to swear in within one week of the opening of the legislative session; failure of the councilor to vote on six consecutive pieces of legislation without publicly declaring absence. Failure of a Councilor to vote on a bill that all other Councilors did not vote on, shall not count towards missing a vote on these six consecutive pieces of legislation.

Sponsor: S019

Debate on this has begun and shall last for at least 72 hours

[Joseph Cao]

While I generally agree that councilors shouldn't be penalized for missing one or two votes of this nature, what happens if the entire Council collectively stops posting for whatever reason and accumulates missed vote after missed vote, none of which count towards the six votes required for their offices to be declared vacant? It would certainly be grounds for a citizens' recall, but then this ought to be clearly enunciated as part of the amendment. Alternatively, there could be some hard limit on the number of collective missed votes that are constitutionally allowed to slide in this fashion.

[S019]

While I generally agree that councilors shouldn't be penalized for missing one or two votes of this nature, what happens if the entire Council collectively stops posting for whatever reason and accumulates missed vote after missed vote, none of which count towards the six votes required for their offices to be declared vacant? It would certainly be grounds for a citizens' recall, but then this ought to be clearly enunciated as part of the amendment. Alternatively, there could be some hard limit on the number of collective missed votes that are constitutionally allowed to slide in this fashion.

Citizens can also initiate recalls via signatures, as far as I know. I reminder that's how then-Councillor Lakigigar was recalled, let me check if that provision is still in the Constitution, but again I should specify this isn't an excuse for people to just collectively forget to not vote.

EDIT: This provision still exists: The people of the Region of Lincoln may initiate the recall of any officer of this Region, except the Associate Justice of the Circuit Court, the Minister of Regional Elections or the Chancellor from that office-though they may still be recalled in their capacities as councilors—, by delivering to the Minister of Regional Elections a petition stating the reason for recall and signed by one tenth of the total population of the Region.

Lincoln currently has a total of 90 people, so if the whole Council went inactive then you could surely find 9 people willing to recall. Though in such a case, the Governor would probably just call a snap election, and just elect an entirely new Council.

[S019]

So, I think that covers the issue of the whole Council just disappearing, so any further objections to this?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

No objections.

[CookieDamage]

I feel like the issue is that we forget about pieces of legislation and then when we realize such it's too late. Perhaps extending the time we have for debates and voting could help, as well as having the speaker or other councilor be more proactive in sending reminders. Maybe we shall have a whip?

[S019]

Going to motion for a final vote, so we can get this on next weekend's ballot. 24 hours to object

[S019]

Final vote is open and will remain open for 48 hours, please vote AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN


AYE

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Aye

[n1240]

Aye

[Joe Biden 2024]

Aye

[CookieDamage]

Aye

[S019]

Vote closed, this passes 5-0-0-0


AYE: S019, 20RP12, n1240, Gorguf, cookiedamage
NAY:
ABSTAIN:
NOT VOING: