[Proposal] Electoral Code Discussion

[Dalimbar]

The following is a basic electoral code that I largely pulled from the old version, with some updates and changes. Short and sweet, and if you wish to recommend changes, please comment below.

Electoral Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order

Section 1: Electoral Administration

1. The Pharaoh of the Osiris Fraternal Order shall serve as electoral administrator for the election of Chief Scribe and Grand Vizier.

2. In the event that the Pharaoh is either unable or unwilling to oversee election, the Council of Priests shall name one of their members to act as electoral administrator.

3. The electoral administrator may not vote in the election they are overseeing, except in the case to break a tie.

Section 2: Election Procedure

1. The electoral period, in which candidates may campaign for office, shall consist of:
(a) Three days for submission of candidacies;
(b) Two days for additional campaigning;
(c) Three days for voting.

2. The electoral period shall begin eight days before the expiration of the elected official’s term or as soon as practical after the elected office is vacated. Should an election period be delayed for any reason, the incumbent official will continue to hold office until the conclusion of the electoral period.

3. In any election, members of the Council of Scribes may vote for one eligible candidate who has submitted candidacy or may vote abstain/present. Votes of abstain/present shall not be used to determine the results of an election, and may be only used to indicate participation in the vote.

4. In the event that only one candidate stands for an election, the Council of Scribes will hold a confidence vote for that candidate. Members may vote either in favour or against the candidate.

5. For a candidate to be declared elected, they shall require more votes than any other single candidate.

[Vienna]

A plurality does not a satisfied majority make.

[Dalimbar]

There is one system which I will not propose, and that is the instant run-off system which was used in the election prior to the transition. Good intentions were indicated for trying that particular system out. Yet, the switch to that system created far too many headaches for the region.

I might be fine with having an election for the above listed positions requiring a run-off only if a) it's a quick system (say, one day between the first round and the second, and then three additional days of voting), and b) only the top two candidates are allowed to go into the run-off.

I am interested to hear other thoughts.

[Ridersyl]

You want democracy?! I'LL GIVE YOU DEMOCRACY!

I hereby present to you... The Vote-O-Rama System! (a.k.a. I got your 'b', Dali, but the 'a' got slaughtered)

Electoral Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order


Section 1: Electoral Administration

1. The Pharaoh of the Osiris Fraternal Order shall serve as electoral administrator for the election of Chief Scribe and Grand Vizier.

2. In the event that the Pharaoh is either unable or unwilling to oversee election, the Council of Priests shall name one of their members to act as electoral administrator.

3. The electoral administrator may only vote in the election they are overseeing if the result of the election is a tie.

Section 2: Election Procedure

1. The electoral period, in which candidates may campaign for office, shall consist of:
(a) Three days for submission of candidacies;
(b) Two days for additional campaigning;
(c) As many days needed for voting.

2. The electoral period shall begin eight days before the expiration of the elected official’s term or as soon as practical after the elected office is vacated. Should an election period be delayed for any reason, the incumbent official will continue to hold office until the conclusion of the electoral period.

3. In any election, members of the Council of Scribes may vote for two of the eligible candidates who have submitted candidacy or may vote abstain/present. Votes of abstain/present shall not be used to determine the results of an election, and may be only used to indicate participation in the vote.

4. In the event that only one candidate stands for an election, the Council of Scribes will hold a confidence vote for that candidate. Members may vote either in favour or against the candidate.

5. Once the initial round of voting concludes, the first-place votes of each eligible candidate will be counted. If no eligible candidate leads the field of candidates by 3 votes or higher, then another vote will take place.

6. Before the secondary round of voting, the second-place votes from the first round of the two eligible candidates will be counted. The eligible candidate with the most second-place votes will appear first on the ballot. The secondary round of voting will consist of the two eligibile candidates who placed first and second in first-place votes.

7. Once the secondary round of voting concludes, if the winning candidate did not win by 2 votes or higher, this Act allows the Council of Scribes to either call or bypass a confidence vote for that candidate.

8. For a candidate to be declared elected, they must win by 3 votes or higher in the initial round of voting, win by 2 voters or higher in the secondary round of voting, or win by 1 vote in the secondary round of voting and pass a confidence vote if the Council of Scribes deems it neccesary.

Pros:
Section 2, clauses 5 and 7, help prevent civil unrest.
The voters can make damn sure they get their choice.
This proposal mixes elements of priority voting and plurality voting.

Cons:
Voting will take forever if the election is heavily contested.

[Cormac]

I hadn't immediately noticed this, but both electoral code drafts currently violate the Scroll of Ma'at, which requires that all votes of the Council of Scribes, unless otherwise indicated in the constitution, will be determined by simple majority vote. We didn't make an exception for elections in the Scroll of Ma'at.

We need to either go with run-off elections or instant run-off voting to ensure a majority vote. Otherwise, we'll need to amend the Scroll of Ma'at to allow for plurality voting in elections. Some form of run-off voting, whether instant or non-instant (slow-cooking?), is probably preferable. Amending the Scroll of Ma'at would require either:

a) that I grant it assent before we have an electoral code finished, at which point the offices of Chief Vizier and Chief Scribe will both be vacant and an election will need to occur without electoral procedures in place;
b) that I refuse assent to the Scroll of Ma'at, which would send it back to the Council for revision and another vote, but I am not willing to delay enactment of a constitution by that long over plurality vs. majority voting.

Additionally, I would personally like to see the option to re-open nominations included in elections even if there are multiple candidates. I would be interested in hearing others' thoughts on that.

[Transdavisia]

The problem with a 'majority' vote is that with a new all-citizen legislature, there really isn't a declared majority- say, if there is 50 citizens. That is declared a super majority. That's another problem there. Then, what if 30 of them are inactive? It would require much effort at each vote to declare the amount of active citizens to set what a majority is, so then if 15 of the active citizens voted AYE, and 5 against, the legislation wouldn't pass because only 1/5 of the citizens voted AYE.

Or am I getting this all wrong?

[Cormac]

The problem with a 'majority' vote is that with a new all-citizen legislature, there really isn't a declared majority- say, if there is 50 citizens. That is declared a super majority. That's another problem there. Then, what if 30 of them are inactive? It would require much effort at each vote to declare the amount of active citizens to set what a majority is, so then if 15 of the active citizens voted AYE, and 5 against, the legislation wouldn't pass because only 1/5 of the citizens voted AYE.

Or am I getting this all wrong?

The constitution clarifies that a majority is derived only from votes cast. So it would be a majority of however many votes are cast, not a majority of all citizens.

[Cormac]

Electoral Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order Section 1: Electoral Administration

(1) The Pharaoh of the Osiris Fraternal Order may serve as electoral administrator for all elections.
(2) In the event that the Pharaoh is unable or unwilling to administer an election, the Council of Priests will designate a Priest to administer the election.

Section 2: Electoral Procedure

(1) The electoral period for any elected office will begin with a three day period for nominations, followed by a one day period for additional campaigning, followed by a three day period for voting. Candidates may campaign throughout an electoral period.
(2) An electoral period will begin nine days before the expiration of an elected official's term or as soon as practical after an elected office is vacated. Should an electoral period for any reason be delayed, the incumbent official will continue to hold office until conclusion of the electoral period.
(3) In any election, citizens who are eligible to vote may vote for one eligible candidate who has confirmed candidacy or may vote abstain/present.
(4) The option to reopen nominations will be included in all elections. Should the reopening of nominations receive majority support, the electoral period will be restarted.
(5) The candidate elected to office in any election will be the candidate who receives majority support in the election. If no candidate receives majority support, the two candidates with the most votes will proceed to run-off election. In the event of a tie for most votes involving more than two candidates, all candidates involved in the tie will proceed to run-off election.
(6) The run-off electoral period will consist of a two day voting period. Run-off election will be repeated as necessary until one candidate receives majority support in the election.
(7) In the event that majority support is not achieved during an election due to a tie involving only two candidates, the tie will be broken in favor of the candidate who has maintained citizenship in the Osiris Fraternal Order for the longest continuous period of time.
(8) Votes of abstain/present in any election will count only toward participation in the election and will not count for or against majority support needed to be elected to office or to reopen nominations.

In the interests of moving things along in Dali's absence, I offer the above modified draft for consideration. Please note:

• I've shortened the nomination period to two days, giving us two days for nominations, two days for campaigning, and three days for voting, for seven days total in an electoral period.
• I've added the option to reopen nominations to all elections.
• I've included a run-off election process to ensure a majority, which is consistent with the requirements of the Scroll of Ma'at.
• I've altered our tie-breaking mechanism from ties being broken by the electoral administrator to ties being broken in favor of the candidate who has maintained citizenship for the longest continuous period of time. The Pharaoh or Priests voting in the Council of Scribes would be unconstitutional, so that can't be the tie-breaking mechanism.

Let's have a bit of discussion regarding these changes, make revisions if necessary, and then move forward.

[Dalimbar]

I would like to apologize to the Deshret for my temporary absence.

On a particular point, I'm thinking that nominations should be longer than the "campaign period". I'd advise a 3-1 nomination over campaign period. All candidates are able to campaign during nominations. The "campaign period" can be used for debates and other activities with nominated candidates, but, we can't rush nominations that much. It also keeps to 7 days.

[Cormac]

I would like to apologize to the Deshret for my temporary absence.

It happens, no need for an apology. I just wanted to chip in since I wasn't sure when you would get back.

On a particular point, I'm thinking that nominations should be longer than the "campaign period". I'd advise a 3-1 nomination over campaign period. All candidates are able to campaign during nominations. The "campaign period" can be used for debates and other activities with nominated candidates, but, we can't rush nominations that much. It also keeps to 7 days.

This seems reasonable. I'll wait to hopefully hear from others for input, but I agree with the ratio you're suggesting, on further consideration.