Extremely Sad News

[Adam Grigoriu]

I must sadly report that I have been told by my parents that I am not allowed to speak to, or otherwise participate in Talossa. I'm not even really supposed to be writing this now, but I wanted to explain myself. I will be back whenever I can convince them that we/you are not a cult . Talossan blood still runs through my veins. Çesli, send me an email @ [e-mail] for the info on churchoftalosssa.proboards.com Thanks everybody here for supporting me. Thanks especially to Hooligan, and the King for putting up with me and helping me.
God ave Talossa!
God save King John!

P.S. this is NOT a renunciation of citizenship. It's just a explanation of my imposed exile.

[Iustì Carlüs Canun]

Well, just be sure and show up for the elections. Wouldn't want to strike out.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

He can miss one if necessary without striking.

Good luck, Adam. We are indeed not a cult.

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

Mar 3, 2010 20:27:57 GMT -6 Sir Alexandreu Davinescu said:

He can miss one if necessary without striking.

He can?

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Mar 3, 2010 22:55:03 GMT -6 Capt. Sir Mick Preston said:

Mar 3, 2010 20:27:57 GMT -6 Sir Alexandreu Davinescu said:

He can miss one if necessary without striking.

He can?

I mean striking out - being kicked out of Talossa.

[Xhorxh Asmour]

The world would be much better without discrimination and prejudice.

[Eðo Grischun]

ORGLAW: Talossans may also voluntarily renounce their citizenship through intentional deliberate voluntary nonparticipation. This is defined as deliberate refusal to vote in three consecutive elections for the Cosâ. If a citizen wishes (for reasons of conscience) not to vote, he shall notify the Secretary of State in writing indicating his intention, and this shall count as a "vote" for purposes of this article. The King may grant clemency (officially wiping any non-votes off the person's record) if it is clear that the non-vote was unintentional or there were mitigating or extenuating circumstances such as accidents or technical mistakes.

Surely this can be counted as a mitigating or extenuating circumstance. Adam has taken the time to alert of us the problem he faces and he has shown his desire to remain a Talossan and has been fairly active to date. We don't need to abide by the three strikes rule without mercy.

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

Éovart:

That's putting the cart WAY ahead of the horse.

The lad doesn't even have one strike against him, much less 3.

At the pace General Elections come and go, he has roughly 20 months to convince his parental units that Talossa isn't a cult.

[Eðo Grischun]

[/i]If a citizen wishes (for reasons of conscience) not to vote, he shall notify the Secretary of State in writing indicating his intention, and this shall count as a "vote" for purposes of this article.[/i]

OK, so it's not for reasons of conscience but surely if Adam does not vote in this election you, as SoS, could take this as written notification that he couldn't vote. After all the point of the 3 strikes law is to weed out non-participants that have lost interest in Talossa without any view of ever returning not, like this case, non-participants who have a real reason that prevents them from showing up when they actually want to.
Would you really give him a strike, knowing what you know regarding the reasons, if you dont hear the word "present" during the official election? Surely the office of the SoS has more discretion than that?

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

"Would you really give him a strike, knowing what you know regarding the reasons, if you dont hear the word "present" during the official election? Surely the office of the SoS has more discretion than that?"


No, I can't interpret the OrgLaw outside of exactly what it says . the wording is very specific of how the "Strike" rule is applied.

If he does not return a Ballot, I am required to count it as a Strike.

I don't know why you think the Chancery has any discretion in this matter. It's pretty specific on what actions are allowed - there isn't any "wiggle room". That's left to others - the King, or the Cosa.

I do understand his situation - but there isn't anything the SoS can do about it, when it comes to the General Election and the 3 Strike Law.

[Eðo Grischun]

If he does not return a Ballot, I am required to count it as a Strike.

It does not say he MUST return a ballot. It says that he can write to the SoS to explain why he didnt vote. Just because the precedent has been a "present" vote does not kill off other means. In fact the "present" vote is not in the OrgLaw at all. My question is, why cant this post be regarded as written notification to the SoS of intention not to vote as the OrgLaw does allow.
The OrgLaw does allow the SoS discretion in this matter as the OrgLaw requires the citizen to write to the SoS.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

The whole of Org.XVIII.10 is:

"Section 10. Talossans may also voluntarily renounce their citizenship through intentional deliberate voluntary nonparticipation. This is defined as deliberate refusal to vote in three consecutive elections for the Cosâ. If a citizen wishes (for reasons of conscience) not to vote, he shall notify the Secretary of State in writing indicating his intention, and this shall count as a "vote" for purposes of this article. The King may grant clemency (officially wiping any non-votes off the person's record) if it is clear that the non-vote was unintentional or there were mitigating or extenuating circumstances such as accidents or technical mistakes."

This seems fairly straightforward: if a citizen does not wish to vote for reasons of conscience, he can notify the SoS of this fact and it won't be counted against him. The SoS does not, however, get to decide the matter. If Adam were to state that he cannot vote because of his conscience (if he considered that his parents' prohibition constituted such) then the SoS can accordingly refrain from giving him a strike. But failing that, there's no wiggle room. The SoS can't decide that one reason for not returning a ballot doesn't merit a strike, while another might. There is only one element of variation: effectively, the written notification functions as a non-voting vote, and serves the same purpose. But there is no law on when the notification must occur. Legally, the SoS could accept such a notification now or at the time of voting. General practice and tradition tends to guide towards the latter, though, so that would be the wisest choice.

In other words, there's not much discretion involved, and what discretion exists is strongly advised by tradition to keep to the "present" voting mechanism.

I don't imagine it will be too hard to petition the King to grant clemency, giving the circumstances, and that seems the more appropriate solution.

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

S:reu Davis beat me to the reply on this one.

The Chancery can't assume anything when it comes to OrgLaw.

[Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h]

Very sorry to hear of this. Happily, parents actively nixing Talossa from their kids' lives is something that has not happened in a long time...to my knowledge, anyway. Good luck with the involuntary exile, and we will see you back here soon.

GV

[King John]

A source close to the throne concurs with S:reu Davis that the King is very likely to regard Adam's failure to vote as an eminently pardonable matter.