Dec. Clark: Election Reform Proposals

[kri]

Azul!

As we all know, there were all sorts of chicanery and machinations coming out of the PC Secretary of State's office in the May/June 2004 General Election. Much of this stemmed from the fact that the Organic Law gives the Secretary of State vast personal power to conduct elections in Talossa in whatever manner he sees fit.

As I stated (in my Speech from the Throne, I think!) last summer, legislation would be proposed to rein in the Secretary of State's office and make it more accountable. I am now ready to make a proposal to that effect.

Using the Lorentz Rule, I am presenting it here on Wittenberg for public consumption. If you have any issues with the wording or details, please explain it here, and I would be glad to alter (or abolish) the text to meet with as widespread approval as possible before I actually submit it to the December, 2004 Clark.

There are two bills. The first forces the SoS to conform to an actual election law rather than simply make up election policy on his own. The second bill is the election law itself.

Thanks, and I look forward to your comments!

Ben

**********

RZ14 “The Secretary of State is No Longer above the Law (Amendment) Act”<br>
WHEREAS, in the judgement of the Uppermost Cort, the Organic Law (Article VI, Section 4) gives the Secretary of State of Talossa virtually unlimited legal authority to conduct general elections as he sees fit, and

WHEREAS, during the era of the one-party state, this provision was used in order to sack official personnel, conduct elections in secret in order to deny Talossans their right to vote, impose intentional legal difficulties upon voters in order to suppress turnout, engender legally invalid discrimination between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ voters, and empower the Secretary of State to directly harass and intimidate voters through a variety of media; and

WHEREAS, our emerging democracy demands greater accountability on the part of public officials,

THEREFORE, the Ziu hereby resolves, and places this resolution up for a public vote at the earliest possible opportunity, to amend Article VI, Section 4, to read as follows (the added text is in bold face):

“Art. VI:Sec. 4. During the election period as defined in Sec. 3, the Secretary of State shall in every particular conduct the election according to the election laws in such a manner as a) affords to every citizen the opportunity to cast a vote for the party of his choice, and b) does not discriminate against any party or individual in the collection or tallying of votes. In the absence of a current election law, the Secretary of State shall conduct the election according to the rules under which the most recent general election were conducted.”<br>
Uréu q’estadra så: King Robert I

RZ 15: “The Election Law Act”<br>
The Ziu hereby establishes guidelines for the conduct of General Elections, and instructs the office of the Secretary of State to implement them at once.

1. The Secretary of State shall make available, through a website dedicated to this purpose, the text of the election ballot. The ballot shall, for the next federal election, contain a space for a yes-or-no vote on Organic Law amendments passed during this Cosâ, as well as contain spaces for provincial and senatorial voting as defined in RZ ___ and RZ ___. (The legality of votes cast for provincial and senatorial elections on the ballot shall be dependent on voters’ approval of said laws in a public referendum, on the same ballot.) The ballot shall be in a .pdf or other graphical format. The ballot shall have space on it for the voter to indicate his name and relevant contact information.

2. Any citizen of Talossa may download, make copies of, and distribute said ballot. Any citizen of Talossa may vote on the ballot and send it in, by mail, to the Office of the Secretary of State. In addition, the Office of the Secretary of State shall make available telephone and e-mail contact information so voters can cast their votes through those media. Votes by public declaration on Wittenberg or in other online forums shall not be counted, as the Secretary of State is under no obligation legally to search a particular forum for votes that may or may not be there. It is the responsibility of voters to directly contact the Secretary of State with their votes.

2. All votes cast are be presumed to be valid. The validity of any vote may be challenged by any Talossan citizen after it is counted, by presenting the challenge as a case to the Uppermost Cort, with all available evidence. Should the Cort choose to hear the case, and subsequently find that a ballot has been cast or counted illegally, the final vote tally shall be adjusted to disregard the invalid vote. Special attention shall be paid to non-citizens who might attempt to forge ballots in order to interfere with or embarrass Talossa’s democratic electoral process.

This Act shall take effect upon public ratification of RZ14.11.04, in a public referendum; failing such ratification, this Act shall be null and void.

Uréu q’estadra så: King Robert I

[Albrec'ht Cheleir]

I'll say "pro" for this one....

btw, Ben called me, is that the same guy that's the King? Was this the Clark he mentioned?

[Albrec'ht Cheleir]

if so I'll self mock myself to the mock_the_stupid community on Livejournal. LOL

[seahobbit]

I am also in favour of this...

Marc Moisan, C.D.

[Xhorxh Asmour]

That's a good idea. I would support this initiative.

[markymark]

I am also in agreement with both pieces of legislation- it looks like these bills may not have any problem passing!

[kri]

Yes, Al, it was me!

I hope to chat with you some time, just to get to know each other better. I have free long distance so just e-mail me and let me know what's a good time to call.

Thanks all around for your support!

Ben

[Albrec'ht Cheleir]

what's your email again? LOL

[kri]

talossa "at" execpc "dot" com

Let me know what's a good time to call you!

Ben

[inksplash]

These are mostly nitpicks, I find the proposals ok. But of course (as I remarked months ago), our monarch has the most practice writing legislation, and is least likely to need outside help. But I do appreciate the early review.

RZ14 - I know the whereas'es officially disappear when a law is passed, but just a minor factual check -- Isn't it incorrect to describe the previous incarnation of the Kingdom as the "era of the one-party state", when some of said electioneering shenanigans occurred AFTER the pot-pie-blob PC had (finally) divided itself into the MN, GC, and PC?

RZ15 - The second and third sections are both numbered "2".

I suspect that the opening sentence of the third (or second second) paragraph was meant to read "All ballots cast are TO be presumed to be valid. The validity of...".

For purely aesthetic reasons, I would modify it to read "All ballots cast shall be presumed to be valid, but may be challenged by a Talossan citizen in the Uppermost Cort. Such challenges may be made only after the polls have closed, and must be presented with supporting evidence."

[inksplash]

For us, "King Robert = Ben" is such a base-line concept.

Albrec'ht said:

if so I'll self mock myself to the mock_the_stupid community on Livejournal. LOL

No, don't do that. Indulging in such public self-flagellation only PROVES one is a fool, where asking one obvious question can be recovered from -- with sackcloth and ashes, wailing and gnashing of teeth -- in the privacy of one's own home

[kri]

> RZ14 - I know the whereas'es officially disappear when a law is passed,

That is quite correct--good call!

> but just a minor factual check -- Isn't it incorrect to describe the previous incarnation of the Kingdom as the "era of the one-party state", when some of said electioneering shenanigans occurred AFTER the pot-pie-blob PC had (finally) divided itself into the MN, GC, and PC?

Technically true, although the PC was behaving as if it still held all the levels of power, and the corruption was aimed at preventing other parties from exercising any real power.

> RZ15 - The second and third sections are both numbered "2".



> I suspect that the opening sentence of the third (or second second) paragraph was meant to read "All ballots cast are TO be presumed to be valid. The validity of...".

Hmmm... I'll have to check this out.

> For purely aesthetic reasons, I would modify it to read "All ballots cast shall be presumed to be valid, but may be challenged by a Talossan citizen in the Uppermost Cort. Such challenges may be made only after the polls have closed, and must be presented with supporting evidence."

I have no problem with this wording, I'll go through the bill once more before it is actually proposed. Thanks!

Ben

[Baron Fritz von Buchholtz]

Hi Ben,

I have found my way into the Wittenberg site but never having done this before am uncertain as to what I am doing. Contact me and guide me along. I do like the idea of a seperate party and "The Tombs" might be a good name. For now though, I have a lot of culture to soak up.
Home sick for the last several days. Planning on visiting the opposition. Sharing is important.

Dr. Fritz

[Baron Fritz von Buchholtz]

Hi Ben,

I often take my phone off the hook to avoid unwanted calls from Bush, Kerry, the like. My secret line is 414-803-7429. Call at will.

[kri]

Azul, Fritz!

("Azul" is your first taste of Talossan culture... it means 'aloha', more or less.

Welcome aboard! Basically what people want to know is who you are, and what you find so fascinating and attractive about Talossa and its people. I don't think you'll have any problem getting approved, seeing how at least three of us can strongly vouch for you.

> I do like the idea of a seperate party and "The Tombs" might be a good name. For now though, I have a lot of culture to soak up.

The irony is that the Black Hand -- the current majority party -- was founded two years ago as a protest party against the Progressive Conservative Party, which had monopolized Talossan politics for ten years. When voters elected a Black Hand majority, the PC members, who felt they owned Talossa (literally), mostly quit. So now the Black Hand ("MN" in Talossan) is the majority party. But nobody expects you to vote for it -- indeed, I have no idea who I'm voting for in the next election.

After being in Talossan politics for so long, I got out of party politics in 2003 and now I'm free to vote for whoever sounds best to me.

> Home sick for the last several days. Planning on visiting the opposition. Sharing is important.

Absolutely! Welcome aboard, I hope you find Talossa a lot of fun. Like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it.

Ben