SR 105-06: Simulated Elections Amendment (Rejected)

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Simulated Elections Amendment



1. The manner of election for at-large Senators shall be as follows:

i. The nine 500 at-large Senators shall be elected for a term of two months by a simulation of voters. the eligible voters of the Republic according to a method of proportional representation prescribed by the Senate. Elections for the seats shall be held in the months of February, April, June, August, October, and December.
ii. If no other method of proportional representation is prescribed by law, at-large Senate elections shall operate on single transferable vote. Elections shall be conducted by closed list proportional representation
iii. At-large Senate vacancies shall be filled through appointment by the executive of the former Senator’s Party; but should a vacancy occur as the result of the death, expulsion, or resignation of an at-large Senator not being a member of a major Party, then a special election shall be held within twenty days of the vacancy to choose a replacement to serve the remainder of the existing term. No individual may serve as a Senator, however individuals may serve as the leaders of parties vying for seats in these elections. No more than three players may join any given party

iv. The Game Moderator shall have the responsibility of determining possible vacancies, in the case of a vacancy, a by-election shall be held nationally by the method of closed lists, this election shall be conducted otherwise in the same manner as general elections prescribed above.

2. The manner of election for regional Senators shall be as follows:

i. Each region shall elect a Senator for a term of four months by popular election of the region’s residents administered by the regional government in a manner prescribed by the legislature thereof. Regional Senate elections shall be held in the months of February, June, and October.
ii. Regional Senate vacancies occurring more than thirty days prior to the end of the term shall be filled by special election of the region’s residents administered by the regional government within twenty days of the vacancy.
iii. Regional Senate vacancies occurring within thirty days of the end of the term, as well as the interim between a vacancy and a prescribed special election, may be filled in accordance with the laws of the region in question; should no such law exist then the region’s executive shall have the power to make such an appointment.

3. The manner of election for subregional Senators shall be as follows:
i. Each subregion shall elect a Senator for a term of four months by popular election of the subregion’s residents administered by its constituent regional government in a manner prescribed by the legislature thereof. Subegional Senate elections shall be held in the months of April, August, and December.
ii. Subregional Senate vacancies occurring more than thirty days prior to the end of the term shall be filled by a special election of the subregion’s residents administered by its constituent regional government within twenty days of the vacancy.
iii. Subregional Senate vacancies occurring within thirty days of the end of the term shall be filled by the subregional Senator elected for the following term immediately upon conclusion of their election.


2. Elections for President shall be held in the months of February, June, and October, in accordance with the measures prescribed by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia. Each candidate for President shall run jointly with a candidate for Vice President, with whom their name shall appear jointly on the ballot. A vote for a candidate for President shall be considered a vote for the candidate for Vice President whose name appears on the ballot with the presidential candidate, and accordingly the candidate for Vice President whose name appears on the ballot with the successful candidate for President shall be elected. Following the election, the leaders of the parties shall nominate a leader for president backed by a majority of the Senate, once a president is nominated, the president must nominate a leader of one of the parties in the coalition as vice president. Neither the President nor Vice President shall have any vote in the legislature, except for the Vice President in the case of breaking ties. The President also may not be removed by the Senate until the next general election, even if a majority of the Senate no longer wishes to support his government.

3. In the event that two candidates for President tie in the popular vote at the conclusion of a special presidential runoff election, the candidates shall be elected Co-Presidents, with each Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate serving two months of a single four-month term. Should the candidates be unable to agree on which of them becomes President first, the candidate who has been registered longest as a citizen of Atlasia shall serve with their Vice President for the first two months, followed by the newest registered candidate and their respective Vice President for the latter two months.

4. No person shall be President or Vice President who has not attained 500 or more posts, nor whose account is not at least 4,320 hours old, nor is not a citizen of the Republic of Atlasia.

Sponsor: S019

The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized.

[S019]

So, this is an ambitious proposal to totally overhaul the game. Activity in this game has been fading and there does seem to be a bit of a standstill in this game. Ultimately, there seems to be a consensus, that if left unaltered, this game will die at some point in the not so soon-future. My attempt to remedy this would be to get rid of the grueling campaigns that dominate elections and to make it into more like a simulated elections style game. To avoid a group of experienced players joining one party, there would be caps on party sizes. This is again, just one proposal for reform, and I mostly introduced this to start the discussion on reform, because it's a discussion that we do need to have.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I for one am definitely not on board with replacing 'real' fake elections with 'fake' fake elections. If people aren't campaigning, that is a problem with the candidates themselves and not the way the game is structured. Also, I think it's ironic how the bill prescribes a larger role for the GM, when we don't even have an active GM now.

The current constitution is still very new, and I'm not willing to scrap it now. I can guarantee that if we had the same system in place two years ago, activity levels would be the same. And campaigns are not meant to be "grueling"; they should be the very essence of the game.

Don't hate the game, hate the player.

[Joseph Cao]

Shifting completely to simulated elections is an excellent way to put the pillow over the head of what activity we have left and ensure it never rises again. If our current situation is like a video game player, this would force everyone away from the controllers and leave them watching the GM play from over the GM’s shoulders. Why would anyone stick around for that?

[wxtransit]

I for one am definitely not on board with replacing 'real' fake elections with 'fake' fake elections. If people aren't campaigning, that is a problem with the candidates themselves and not the way the game is structured. Also, I think it's ironic how the bill prescribes a larger role for the GM, when we don't even have an active GM now.

The current constitution is still very new, and I'm not willing to scrap it now. I can guarantee that if we had the same system in place two years ago, activity levels would be the same. And campaigns are not meant to be "grueling"; they should be the very essence of the game.

Don't hate the game, hate the player.

Not a Senator anymore, but I did want to shout from the gallery above while I'm on the way to the State Department that I fully agree with this statement. Giving more power to the GM when the GM's absence has already detrimentally impacted the game would be an unwise move.

Additionally, I for one would love to see AFE return to a solid state of activity and for campaigning to not only increase in quantity and quality but also in actually having an impact on our results. The fact that that is not already the case, in my opinion, has always been the biggest problem with Atlasia. However, I hate to dash this solution without presenting one of my own, but I do not believe that this solution will improve the game. I will recognize, though, that proposing a solution to generate discussion is certainly a very valiant effort, one that is much needed in our current state of malaise.

[Continential]

We could have the SOFE simulate it seeing as this bill makes the position of SOFE useless.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This game was built up around the parties and campaigning first and foremost. Their were parties before there was even a constitution if what I recall bgwah saying to be correct. Completing abandoning the campaigning and voting model as such I think would basically kill what is left of the game at this point.

Also considering what happened with the NPC system, what happens when the SoFE isn't able to simulate such an massive task. It is already one set of difficulties to administer an election but it is a short burst, it is relatively straight forward and there are people who can calculate the results for the SoFE when needed making it very much sustainable. I think a simulated model would simply seek to build the game around the NPC model, make the game wholly dependent on such and on one "indispensable man/woman" and if there is one thing we have seen this year is that "The indispensable official" approach is not a recipe for sustainability.

[Joseph Cao]

I think the Senate will agree that there are some valid concerns here and we'd be interested to hear S019's thoughts on them. As it is I am not voting for this.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Does S019 or anyone else have any comments?

[S019]

Well I am surely open to amendments, I more so introduced this to start a discussion and did not expect it to pass in its current form, I'd like if people could introduce some amendments to push this in a direction that they'd like.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I don't intend on voting for this bill, and I don't believe any amendments will change that. I'll allow a couple more days for comments and amendments, but otherwise we should move to a vote.

I am firmly opposed to any legislation that disenfranchises the people.

[Joseph Cao]

Likewise (and this is partly something I should have posted a few days ago if not for Atlas crashing on me), my candid opinion is that this cannot be saved to our satisfaction without completely gutting the stated purpose of the bill. I doubt they will be to S019's satisfaction either. Its premise will not work, that is all. No amount of amendments will change that.

In view of that, motion for a final vote.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

There's been no substantive discussion here for a long time, I'm opening a final vote. Senators, please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

Simulated Elections Amendment



1. The manner of election for at-large Senators shall be as follows:

i. The nine 500 at-large Senators shall be elected for a term of two months by a simulation of voters. the eligible voters of the Republic according to a method of proportional representation prescribed by the Senate. Elections for the seats shall be held in the months of February, April, June, August, October, and December.
ii. If no other method of proportional representation is prescribed by law, at-large Senate elections shall operate on single transferable vote. Elections shall be conducted by closed list proportional representation
iii. At-large Senate vacancies shall be filled through appointment by the executive of the former Senator’s Party; but should a vacancy occur as the result of the death, expulsion, or resignation of an at-large Senator not being a member of a major Party, then a special election shall be held within twenty days of the vacancy to choose a replacement to serve the remainder of the existing term. No individual may serve as a Senator, however individuals may serve as the leaders of parties vying for seats in these elections. No more than three players may join any given party

iv. The Game Moderator shall have the responsibility of determining possible vacancies, in the case of a vacancy, a by-election shall be held nationally by the method of closed lists, this election shall be conducted otherwise in the same manner as general elections prescribed above.

2. The manner of election for regional Senators shall be as follows:

i. Each region shall elect a Senator for a term of four months by popular election of the region’s residents administered by the regional government in a manner prescribed by the legislature thereof. Regional Senate elections shall be held in the months of February, June, and October.
ii. Regional Senate vacancies occurring more than thirty days prior to the end of the term shall be filled by special election of the region’s residents administered by the regional government within twenty days of the vacancy.
iii. Regional Senate vacancies occurring within thirty days of the end of the term, as well as the interim between a vacancy and a prescribed special election, may be filled in accordance with the laws of the region in question; should no such law exist then the region’s executive shall have the power to make such an appointment.

3. The manner of election for subregional Senators shall be as follows:
i. Each subregion shall elect a Senator for a term of four months by popular election of the subregion’s residents administered by its constituent regional government in a manner prescribed by the legislature thereof. Subegional Senate elections shall be held in the months of April, August, and December.
ii. Subregional Senate vacancies occurring more than thirty days prior to the end of the term shall be filled by a special election of the subregion’s residents administered by its constituent regional government within twenty days of the vacancy.
iii. Subregional Senate vacancies occurring within thirty days of the end of the term shall be filled by the subregional Senator elected for the following term immediately upon conclusion of their election.


2. Elections for President shall be held in the months of February, June, and October, in accordance with the measures prescribed by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia. Each candidate for President shall run jointly with a candidate for Vice President, with whom their name shall appear jointly on the ballot. A vote for a candidate for President shall be considered a vote for the candidate for Vice President whose name appears on the ballot with the presidential candidate, and accordingly the candidate for Vice President whose name appears on the ballot with the successful candidate for President shall be elected. Following the election, the leaders of the parties shall nominate a leader for president backed by a majority of the Senate, once a president is nominated, the president must nominate a leader of one of the parties in the coalition as vice president. Neither the President nor Vice President shall have any vote in the legislature, except for the Vice President in the case of breaking ties. The President also may not be removed by the Senate until the next general election, even if a majority of the Senate no longer wishes to support his government.

3. In the event that two candidates for President tie in the popular vote at the conclusion of a special presidential runoff election, the candidates shall be elected Co-Presidents, with each Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate serving two months of a single four-month term. Should the candidates be unable to agree on which of them becomes President first, the candidate who has been registered longest as a citizen of Atlasia shall serve with their Vice President for the first two months, followed by the newest registered candidate and their respective Vice President for the latter two months.

4. No person shall be President or Vice President who has not attained 500 or more posts, nor whose account is not at least 4,320 hours old, nor is not a citizen of the Republic of Atlasia.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Nay

[S019]

AYE, not that I ever expected this to pass, but I am a bit disappointed that no one bothered to provide any alternatives of any sort, hopefully we some more proposals later, but I'm not optimistic.

[Kuumo]

Nay

[WD]

Nay

[Spark]

Nay

[AGA]

Nay

[Saint Milei]

nay

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Nay

[OBD]

Nay

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

This amendment lacks sufficient votes for passage. Senators have 24 hours to change their vote.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Abstain

[Joseph Cao]

Nay.