S.20.4.2 - Local Voting System Reform Act [LAW'D]

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

A BILL FOR AN ACT
modifying how local elections in the Southern Region work

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOUTHERN CHAMBER RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE AND CLARIFICATIONS.
1. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Voting System Reform Act."
2. This bill shall apply to elections for all offices in the Southern Region.
3. 'First past the post' refers to an electoral system in which a candidate is selected by achievement of a plurality of voters, with each voter getting exactly one vote per office.
4. A 'majority' of votes shall consist of at least 50% of total amount of remaining votes plus one.

Section 2, TEXT.
1. No election in the Southern Region shall be permitted to use the first past the post voting system.
2. §2.1 of this Act shall be null and void if the election in question contains only two candidates with no write-in option given.
3. Unless another voting system is explicitly chosen by state law that complies with regional law, each jurisdiction in the Southern Region, including state and city governments, that holds municipal elections shall be permitted to choose from one of three voting systems mentioned in §2.3a, §2.3b, and §2.3c of this Act to use when counting a certain election.
   a. Instant-runoff voting; Voters rank the listed candidates on the ballot in order of preference, starting at 1 and then counting up to whatever number they please. If no candidate attains a majority, the lowest-placing candidate shall have their votes redistributed among the remaining candidates. This cycle shall repeat until a candidate wins a majority of the vote, where the candidate in question wins.
   b. Approval voting; A list of candidates shall be provided to the voter. The voter in question may vote for any and all candidates that they approve of. Once the votes are tallied, whoever has the most votes of approval wins the election.
   c. Proportional representation; This voting system is to be used in legislative elections. Instead of candidates, the voter is given a list of parties. The voter shall cast their ballot for a party of their choice. Parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them. It is up to the party to decide who shall fill each seat.
4. If a state's legislature is bicameral, then they are permitted to have the upper house use proportional representation, but the lower house must elect the members of its chamber via local elections in representative districts.
5. This Act shall take effect immediately after final enactment, and all elections held after this Act's passage, even if still in campaigning season, shall be affected.

Sponsor: KoopaDaQuick (Peace - Arkansas)

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

fptp is cringe and this bill offers alternatives that governments under our region's authority can use if they wish

At least 48 hours for debate.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Just to be clear, this would only play to NPC elections, not to our official regional elections?

Pretty much, yeah. Although I don't see how this would affect anything as we don't use FPTP.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Any other downballot races, though, I don't see why the regional government should be placing restrictions on what voting system they use. They should be able to make that decision without regional interference. I rather don't like options 2 and 3 at all and would be huge deviations from current systems, so this would basically be giving people one "familiar" choice. If an entity wants to use the system that elects whoever wins a plurality (which 95% of US elections do) I don't think we should restrict that.

Okay, does anyone else have any qualifications about this and how we can amend it?

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

A BILL FOR AN ACT
modifying how local elections in the Southern Region work

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOUTHERN CHAMBER RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE AND CLARIFICATIONS.
1. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Voting System Reform Act."
2. This bill shall apply to elections for all offices in the Southern Region.
3. 'First past the post' refers to an electoral system in which a candidate is selected by achievement of a plurality of voters, with each voter getting exactly one vote per office.
4. A 'majority' of votes shall consist of at least 50% of total amount of remaining votes plus one.

Section 2, TEXT.
1. No election in the Southern Region shall be permitted to use the first past the post voting system.
2. §2.1 of this Act shall be null and void if the election in question contains only two candidates with no write-in option given.
31. Unless another voting system is explicitly chosen by statewide or municipal law that complies with regional law, all elections for mayor, governor, and other executive offices on a subregional level shall be conducted using instant runoff voting.each jurisdiction in the Southern Region, including state and city governments, that holds municipal elections shall be permitted to choose from one of three voting systems mentioned in §2.3a, §2.3b, and §2.3c of this Act to use when counting a certain election.
   a. Instant-runoff voting; Voters rank the listed candidates on the ballot in order of preference, starting at 1 and then counting up to whatever number they please. If no candidate attains a majority, the lowest-placing candidate shall have their votes redistributed among the remaining candidates. This cycle shall repeat until a candidate wins a majority of the vote, where the candidate in question wins.
   b. Approval voting; A list of candidates shall be provided to the voter. The voter in question may vote for any and all candidates that they approve of. Once the votes are tallied, whoever has the most votes of approval wins the election.
   c. Proportional representation; This voting system is to be used in legislative elections. Instead of candidates, the voter is given a list of parties. The voter shall cast their ballot for a party of their choice. Parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them. It is up to the party to decide who shall fill each seat.
4. If a state's legislature is bicameral, then they are permitted to have the upper house use proportional representation, but the lower house must elect the members of its chamber via local elections in representative districts.
52. This Act shall take effect immediately after final enactment, and all elections held after this Act's passage, even if still in campaigning season, shall be affected.

Decided to get rid of some of the useless crud in this bill and focus on my true intent, making sure most subregional elections are conducted by a voting system better than FPTP, in this case IRV. I don't care about legislative elections, they can be conducted how Lumine pleases. I personally wanna copy Lincoln and do party-list proportional representation, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Anywho, 24 hours for objections.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

The amendment passes.

Current text:

A BILL FOR AN ACT
modifying how local elections in the Southern Region work

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOUTHERN CHAMBER RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE AND CLARIFICATIONS.
1. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Voting System Reform Act."
2. This bill shall apply to elections for all offices in the Southern Region.

Section 2, TEXT.
1. Unless another voting system is explicitly chosen by statewide or municipal law, all elections for mayor, governor, and other executive offices on a subregional level shall be conducted using instant runoff voting.
2. This Act shall take effect immediately after final enactment, and all elections held after this Act's passage, even if still in campaigning season, shall be affected.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

I object so I can present yet another amendment:

A BILL FOR AN ACT
modifying how local elections in the Southern Region work

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOUTHERN CHAMBER RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE AND CLARIFICATIONS.
1. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Voting System Reform Act."
2. This bill shall apply to elections for all offices in the Southern Region.

Section 2, TEXT.
1. Unless another voting system is explicitly chosen by statewide or municipal law, all elections for mayor, governor, and other executive offices on a subregional level shall be conducted using instant runoff voting.
2. This Act shall take effect immediately after final enactment, and all elections held after this Act's passage, even if still in campaigning season, shall be affected. starting with the December 2020 NPC elections.

24 hours.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

The amendment passes.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

24 hours have passed, and I'm actually surprisingly closer to the 24 hour mark than I thought I'd be. Anywho, a final vote on this bill shall commence. Please vote AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN. Voting shall end in 72 hours or whenever all delegates have voted.

A BILL FOR AN ACT
modifying how local elections in the Southern Region work

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOUTHERN CHAMBER RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE AND CLARIFICATIONS.
1. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Voting System Reform Act."
2. This bill shall apply to elections for all offices in the Southern Region.

Section 2, TEXT.
1. Unless another voting system is explicitly chosen by statewide or municipal law, all elections for mayor, governor, and other executive offices on a subregional level shall be conducted using instant runoff voting.
2. This Act shall take effect starting with the December 2020 NPC elections.

Aye

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

gosh, koops, ya gotta work on changing your thread titles lmao

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Local Voting System Reform Act
The Second Bill of the Twentieth Southern Chamber, Sponsored by Koopa D. Quick (P-AR)

	FED	PAX	D.A.	LAB	TOTAL
Aye	1	1	1	1	4
Nay	0	0	0	0	0
Abstain	0	0	0	0	0
Not Present	1	0	0	0	1

Mr. DTC of Georgia (FED/IND)
Mr. HARVEY LEE UPDYKE III of Alabama (LAB/IND)
Ms. KOOPA D. QUICK of Arkansas (PAX/STR)
Mr. REAGENTE of Missouri (FED/DPP)
Mr. TMTHFORU94 of Kansas (DA/AFP)

The bill passes.

A BILL FOR AN ACT
modifying how local elections in the Southern Region work

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOUTHERN CHAMBER RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE AND CLARIFICATIONS.
1. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Voting System Reform Act."
2. This bill shall apply to elections for all offices in the Southern Region.

Section 2, TEXT.
1. Unless another voting system is explicitly chosen by statewide or municipal law, all elections for mayor, governor, and other executive offices on a subregional level shall be conducted using instant runoff voting.
2. This Act shall take effect starting with the December 2020 NPC elections.