S.23-2.1: Election Amendments Package

[reagente]

ELECTION AMENDMENTS PACKAGE


Article III

3. Candidates for President will be given until the Wednesday Thursday at 11:59:59 pm 11:49:59 pm EDT preceding the first date of polling in the election they wish to contest to announce their candidacy and appear on the ballot. This is to be done by officially declaring their candidacy in the Candidate Declaration Thread.

11. The office of President is to be deemed vacant upon the resignation, recall, or impeachment of the sitting President. A resident who takes no action over a ten (10) day fourteen (14) day period shall automatically forfeit their office unless an official leave of absence is acknowledged prior.

12. The President of the South shall have the authority to put non-binding ballot questions to a vote. The President of the South shall have complete discretion to schedule these non-binding ballot questions, except that the voting booth for such questions must open 12:00:00am EDT on a Friday and close the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EDT. The ballot question must specify that it is non-binding.

12. 13. The Vice President must be elected democratically by the people of The South separately from the President of The South. Elections are to be held every April for Vice President. The appropriate election administrator will open the voting booth at 12:00:00am EDT of the penultimate Friday of the month and will close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EDT. The election administrator must accept any absentee ballot received no more than 168 hours prior to the opening of the polls.

13. 14. Candidates for Vice President will be given until the Wednesday Thursday at 11:59:59 pm 11:49:59 pm EDT preceding the first date of polling in the election they wish to contest to announce their candidacy and appear on the ballot. This is to be done by officially declaring their candidacy in the Candidate Declaration Thread.

14.15. When the polls close, the appropriate election administrator of The South shall be given twenty-four hours to count the votes and declare a winner. All vice-presidential elections shall be by single transferable vote, unless otherwise specified by law. The newly elected Vice President is to be officially sworn in on the Friday following the election. In the case of a tie, the outgoing President will select one of the tied candidates to be the new Vice President. There may only be one Vice President at any point in time. Once a new Vice President is sworn in, the old one forfeits their office.

16. The office of Vice President is to be deemed vacant upon the resignation or impeachment of the sitting Vice President. A Vice President who takes no action over a fourteen (14) day period shall automatically forfeit their office unless an official leave of absence is acknowledged prior.

15. 17. Should the office of Vice President fall vacant at any point during the term, the President shall appoint, with the consent of the House of Burgesses, a new Vice President.

16. 18. The House of Burgesses may pass a law providing an order of succession in the event that both the office of President and Vice President are vacant

Article IV:

6. Vacancies in the Southern Legislature shall be filled in a manner specified by law, and until such determination is made, by Gubernatorial appointment. Vacancies occur upon resignation, recall, impeachment, failure to swear in within one week of the legislative session opening or failure to vote on final passage of four consecutive pieces of legislation without publicly declaring absence

11. Initiatives may be proposed for public referendum with the support of at least 25% of the number of registered voters in The South. Alternatively, initiatives may be proposed for public referendum with the support of the Governor and a member of the House of Burgesses. The Secretary of Elections, or should that office be vacant the Dean of the House of Burgesses, shall have complete discretion to schedule these initiatives, except that the voting booth for such initiatives must open 12:00:00am EDT on a Friday and close the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EDT.


Article VII:
1. The people of The South shall have the power to recall any regional or sub-regional elected official by the process of petition. Petitions that collect seven or more signatures shall be considered valid. When a valid petition is presented, the appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth on the following Friday at 12:00:00am EDT and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EDT. The recall question is: “Shall [name of officer] be recalled from the office of [name of office held]?” The recall election may not occur within three days before the seventh signature is collected. Every citizen who is eligible to be voted for the office being recalled will be given the opportunity to vote YES to recall and NO to retain during this time. Abstentions will not affect the results. Four fifths of eligible voters must vote affirmatively to recall an elected official. Recalled officials shall forfeit their offices immediately.

2. 1.The people of The South shall have the power to call a referendum on any law signed by the President during the legislative session in which it was passed by the process of petition. Petitions that collect seven twelve or more signatures shall be considered valid. When a valid petition is presented, the appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth on the next Friday at 12:00:00am EDT and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EDT. The referendum question is: “Shall [name of law, followed by text] be upheld as law?” Every citizen will be given the opportunity to vote YES to uphold and NO to repeal during this time. Abstentions will not affect the results. Any bill that fails to receive a majority approval will become null and void.

Article VIII:
1. Amendments to this Constitution shall be proposed by the citizens of The South or the Southern Legislature by the House of Burgesses. A proposed amendment in the legislature House of Burgesses shall be forwarded to the citizens of the Southern Region for ratification by popular vote by the citizens of the Southern Region upon an affirmative vote of two-thirds three-fourths of voting members and a majority of total members of the Southern Legislature of the total members of the House of Burgesses. An amendment proposed by a citizen of The South which receives the signatures of one-fourth of the total number of registered voters in The South must be presented to the Legislature in a timely manner. Alternatively, should an amendment be approved unanimously by the Legislature House of Burgesses, the Legislature House of Burgesses can amend the constitution with the signature of the Governor President.

2. For amendments forwarded to the citizens of the Southern Region, Except in November or December, the appropriate election administrator shall open the polling booth at 12:00:00am EDT on the penultimate Friday after the Amendment is referred out of the House of Burgessesof the month for all proposed Amendments approved by the Southern Legislature before 12:00:00am EDT on the second Friday of a month that have not already received a vote. In November or December, the appropriate election administrator shall open the polling booth at 12:00:00am EDT on the second Friday of the month for all proposed Amendments approved by the Southern Legislature before 12:00:00am EDT on the first Friday of the month that have not already received a vote. In all cases, the appropriate election administrator shall close the polling booth at 11:59:59pm EDT on the following Sunday. If the date for opening the polling booth coincides with another Southern election, the appropriate election administrator shall include the vote on any proposed Amendments in the polling booth for that election

3. Any Amendment proposed by the Southern Legislature House of Burgesses shall only become effective upon an affirmative vote of a majority of those citizens of the Southern Region who vote for or against the proposed Amendment.

Article IX:

4. These changes shall go into effect immediately prior to, and shall be operative for, the scheduled April 2023 regional elections.
5. 4. Any prior references to the "Governor" (and any synonyms or derivations) in Southern legislation shall be substituted with President (and appropriate synonyms or derivations). Any prior references to the "Southern legislature" (and any synonyms or derivations) in Southern legislation shall be substituted with House of Burgesses (and appropriate synonyms or derivations)
5. Every Article and Section of this Constitution is severable from the other. If a section of this Constitution is found invalid, the text of that section shall be replaced by its previous version, should a previous version exist

sponsor: reagente

[reagente]

Mostly cleaning up the constitution text and incorporating the suggestions in YT's amendment proposals

[reagente]

Aye

[RFayette]

Aye

[UlmerFudd]

Abstain

[fhtagn]

Aye

[reagente]

With 3 votes in favor and 1 abstention, this Amendment will be forwarded to the Southern electorate for ratification.

[reagente]

Pursuant to S.23-2.2, the public vote for this Amendment will now open this Friday, and should the voters approve it, the Amendments will take effect on Wednesday.