LGC 10.15 — Nominative Freedom Act — PASSED

[ZMUN M441]

THE NOMINATIVE FREEDOM ACT

SECTION I — Title
This legislation may be cited as the Nominative Freedom Act.

SECTION II — Nominative Freedom
1. Ballots in Lincoln regional elections shall use a candidate's preferred name, as registered on the New Register Thread. If a candidate's preferred name is the same as their username, it shall be listed by itself, as is currently the case; if a candidate's preferred name differs from their username, the preferred name shall be listed first, followed by the username, in the format of 'Preferred Name (Username)'.

2. Deputies of the Lincoln General Court shall be referred to in the legislative process by their preferred name, as registered on the New Register Thread. This includes in the contexts of sponsoring legislation and of speaker ballots.

3. This legislation shall take effect immediately.

Occupying: Slot 4 of 10
Sponsor: ZMUN M441

[ZMUN M441]

This legislation makes it so that candidates are referred to by their preferred names on our regional ballots and that deputies are referred to by their preferred names in our legislative process. In the scenario that a candidate's preferred name differs from their username, the username will remain listed in parantheses after their preferred name. This keeps the new policy in line with the Census Bureau's use of 'permanent Atlas usernames' on voter rolls, as well as hopefully assuaging fears of identity fraud and other related issues.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Wouldn't this lead to confusion if the preferred name would be that of a different user, like for example if my preferred name was tack-50, and I run against tack-50, how does one know what a vote for tack 50 would be and what a vote for me would be, especially since users don't always copy ballots.

Referring to someone with their preferred name is just something that i'd do out of respect, don't need laws for that. Old School Republican is a good example of that. But i'm not sure if this is a good idea to implement since it would be confusing and possibly could lead to chaotic / confusing elections or even voter fraud.

Secondly, a lot of preferred name options could simply be meme options, including memeing other users which could potentially be seen as offensive to that user. I don't think this is a good idea.

[ZMUN M441]

Wouldn't this lead to confusion if the preferred name would be that of a different user, like for example if my preferred name was tack-50, and I run against tack-50, how does one know what a vote for tack 50 would be and what a vote for me would be, especially since users don't always copy ballots.

Referring to someone with their preferred name is just something that i'd do out of respect, don't need laws for that. Old School Republican is a good example of that. But i'm not sure if this is a good idea to implement since it would be confusing and possibly could lead to chaotic / confusing elections or even voter fraud.

Secondly, a lot of preferred name options could simply be meme options, including memeing other users which could potentially be seen as offensive to that user. I don't think this is a good idea.

The inclusion of the username in parentheses would help limit confusion. If an user submits a non-copied-ballot vote for a name that two different candidates have, it is up to the Minister of Regional Elections how that vote is to be interpreted, but I'd interpret it as going to the 'original' user with that name/the user with that as their username.

Additionally, it is likely that if another user attempts to blatantly impersonate or take the identity of another user, they would be required to change it back or face consequences, such as being barred from partaking in Atlasia for as long as they use it.

However, if other Deputies are concerned about confusing elections and the (unlikely) scenario of two candidates sharing a name, I would be willing to amend this bill to only include the second point, which is far less likely to cause such issues.

[ZMUN M441]

Motioning for a final vote.

[ZMUN M441]

A final vote on this bill has been initiated.


Aye

[Vice President Christian Man]

Aye

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Aye

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Nay

[ZMUN M441]

LGC 10.15 passes, 3-1 with one Deputy not voting

[Former President tack50]

X tack50

Not like I expect this to be super enforced but I guess it makes sense for the people who want to be adressed didferently