Delegacy Elections Bill
#1

The Regional Charter states that there must be elections for the position of Delegate at least once a year, and that IDUSA may create bylaws for the region, including the regulation of the frequency of elections.

I would like to submit the following.

Quote:
The Delegacy Elections Act
A bylaw to regulate the frequency and administration of elections in the IDU


The International Democratic Union States Assembly,

THANKFUL for the democratic reality that we utilise elections to choose our leader,

COGNISANT that, in a healthy democracy, elections are held at reasonable lengths,

BELIEVING that the maximum of 1 year between elections, as permitted by the Regional Charter, is overly generous,

Hereby Resolves the Following

§1 Frequency and Process of the Delegate Scheduled Elections

1. There shall be Scheduled Elections for Delegate every six (6) months;

2. Voting for the office of Delegate in these Scheduled Elections will begin on January 1st (hereafter referred to as Schedule I Elections), and July 1st (hereafter referred to as Schedule II Elections);

3. The Election Commissioner shall oversee candidacy declarations, the voting process, and the declaration of the winner. The Election Commissioner shall be the Speaker of IDUSA. If the Speaker is themselves a candidate, or if they will be unavailable or indisposed, they must appoint a proxy to fulfil these duties and obligations;

4. Nominations for candidates for the Schedule I Elections shall open on December 18th. Nominations for candidates for the Schedule II Elections shall open on June 17th. The time period for declaration of candidacy shall last no less than five (5) days, and no more than ten (10) days. The Election Commissioner shall have the discretion to set the time period within those boundaries;

5. Voting shall last for seven (7) days. The Election Commissioner shall have the discretion to extend voting up to a maximum of five (5) further days;

6. Voting shall take place in the voting chamber of the IDU States Assembly. Votes shall be cast by voice/text vote. No poll to count, tally, or otherwise collate the votes cast shall be valid.

§2 Candidate and Voter Eligibility

1. Only member nations of IDUSA who are also members of the World Assembly shall be eligible to be a candidate for, and hold the office of, Delegate;

2. No member nation who has served two (2) consecutive terms as Delegate shall be eligible to seek any further term(s) unless, and until, another member nation has succeeded them and served at least one (1) full term as Delegate;

3. Each member nation of IDUSA is allocated one (1) vote, and the usage of puppet states in the voting process is forbidden. The Election Commissioner will ensure that all votes be cast in public to verify that (a) fraud has not occurred, and (b) that puppet states have not been utilised;

4. These Candidate and Voter Eligibility Regulations shall apply for all Scheduled and Special Elections for the Delegacy.

§3 Special Elections

1. IDUSA shall call Special Elections for the office of Delegate if the office is vacated, either through resignation, inactivity, or impeachment;

2. Should the office of Delegate be vacated within one (1) month of the next Scheduled Elections, no Special Elections shall occur. The office shall remain vacant and the duties of the office fulfilled by the next active member in the Line of Succession who meets the eligibility criteria in §§2.1—2.2;

3. Provision may be made by law to regulate and determine a Line of Succession;

4. The Election Commissioner shall oversee candidacy declarations, the voting process, and the declaration of the winner. The Election Commissioner shall be the Speaker of IDUSA. If the Speaker is themselves a candidate, or if they will be unavailable or indisposed, they must appoint a proxy to fulfil these duties and obligations;

5. Nominations for candidates for Special Elections shall open not more than thirty-six (36) hours after the office of Delegate is vacated. Nominations shall last for five (5) days;

6. Voting shall last for seven (7) days. The Election Commissioner shall have the discretion to extend voting up to a maximum of three (3) further days;

7. Delegates elected via Special Elections shall only serve until the next Scheduled Elections.

§4 Results and Run-offs

1. The Election Commissioner shall announce the results of the election promptly after the voting period has ended;

2. The candidate with the most votes shall be declared the winner and Delegate;

3. Should there be an equal numbers of votes (i.e. a tie) between the candidates polling the highest number of votes, a run-off election shall be held. The run-off election shall no more than thirty-six (36) hours after the results have been announced and shall last seven (7) days only;

4. Should the run-off election result in yet another tie between the two highest polling candidates, length of continuous and non-broken membership of IDUSA shall be considered the tie-breaker. Should the two highest polling candidates also tie in terms of length of continuous and non-broken members of IDUSA, the candidate who has resided the longest in the IDU, without a break, shall be declared the winner;

5. The candidate who receives the second highest number of votes, immediately behind the Delegate, shall be declared the Vice Delegate. Should no candidate exist, or should there be a tie between candidates holding the second highest number of votes, the Delegate shall have discretion in choosing the Vice Delegate.

§6 Regulations

1. The first Scheduled Elections this Act shall apply to will be the July 2019 Schedule II Elections;

2. Any allegations of impropriety, fraud, or malfeasance, shall be referred to the IDU Judiciary Committee;

3. Any serving member of the IDU Judiciary Committee who is a candidate, the Election Commissioner, or the outgoing Delegate, shall not be permitted to hear the case, and shall recuse themselves from it.

Draft 2:


Draft 1:
#2

I have a few suggestions which I feel would improve the bill prior to voting:
-On 1.3, I would suggest noting that the proxy must be an IDUSA member
-On 1.8, I would suggest extending the line of succession- Delegate to Vice-Delegate to Foreign Minister
-On 2.2, I would suggest increasing the period of nomination to 2 weeks
-If clause 2.4 is in place, how would voting take place? Are you advocating that voting take place on the offsite forum only? I personally feel that elections should continue to take place on the IDU regional page via a poll, rather than on the forum, because it is easier to keep track of who has voted, as well as easier to vote in the first place. I do support clause 2.6, however.
-I think that this Bill needs a section on how transitions would work, so that we can avoid the confusion that happened in the last election. Sciongrad resigned from the WA and then rejoined, resetting his endorsement count to 0. I was fourth for number of endorsements, behind Sciongrad, Bears Armed Mission, and Grosseschnauzer. Sciongrad and I both unendorsed BAM and Grosseschnauzer without notifying them beforehand, resulting in Grosseschnauzer becoming upset that he had not been notified before he was unendorsed. Grosseschnauzer then unendorsed me, allowing Comhar to become the delegate for several hours 11 days later before order was reestablished.
#3

Quote:On 1.3, I would suggest noting that the proxy must be an IDUSA member
Sure.

Quote:On 1.8, I would suggest extending the line of succession- Delegate to Vice-Delegate to Foreign Minister
I don't want to go into that much specification for what would, essentially be, only a 2-3 week period. Most cabinet officials are just behind the Delegate and Vice Delegate in terms of endorsements, so by not specifying which Cabinet member specifically holds it, it means there doesn't have to be an unnecessary endo-tarting campaign.

Leaving it as "another Cabinet officer" also means that we can later on pass a Line of Succession Bill, or its equivalent, without having to amend this piece of legislation.

Quote:I would suggest increasing the period of nomination to 2 weeks
2 weeks is far, far too long. Way too long. No other region has a period of time quite like that, and since we are a small region, we definitely don't.

Quote:If clause 2.4 is in place, how would voting take place? Are you advocating that voting take place on the offsite forum only? I personally feel that elections should continue to take place on the IDU regional page via a poll, rather than on the forum, because it is easier to keep track of who has voted, as well as easier to vote in the first place. I do support clause 2.6, however.
So there's a few things here.

Firstly, the Delegate has to be elected by IDUSA members as per the Charter. There is no mask for IDUSA members on the gameside, while there is one set up here on the forum.

Secondly, because it has to be elected by IDUSA, that would suggest using the IDUSA forum, not the gameside poll.

Thirdly, polls are unreliable because we, as a region, can't prevent multi-ing etc on the gameside (the Mods may not catch everyone in time, even if they were looking, which they may not be necessarily), further WAs can move in and abuse the gameside polling options.

In terms of the forum, polling is anonymous, which means that we can't keep track of who voted for what if it's done only by poll, again meaning we can't prevent abuse of the system. By making everyone who is voting cast their vote in public, on the forum, we can verify easily enough.

Finally, traditionally elections were done here on the forum, not on the gameside. So in fact, we would be reverting to the original method.

Quote:I think that this Bill needs a section on how transitions would work, so that we can avoid the confusion that happened in the last election. Sciongrad resigned from the WA and then rejoined, resetting his endorsement count to 0. I was fourth for number of endorsements, behind Sciongrad, Bears Armed Mission, and Grosseschnauzer. Sciongrad and I both unendorsed BAM and Grosseschnauzer without notifying them beforehand, resulting in Grosseschnauzer becoming upset that he had not been notified before he was unendorsed. Grosseschnauzer then unendorsed me, allowing Comhar to become the delegate for several hours 11 days later before order was reestablished.
I can't regulate transitions, since that's up to behaviour on the gameside. Some people gameside aren't involved on the forums, so I can't regulate their behaviour. Look at all the WA people who endorsed you recently, have they looked at this? Will they? Unlikely.

There are always problems with transitions, it's just part and parcel of the game mechanics.
#4

Sanctaria Wrote:
Quote:On 1.3, I would suggest noting that the proxy must be an IDUSA member
Sure.

Quote:On 1.8, I would suggest extending the line of succession- Delegate to Vice-Delegate to Foreign Minister
I don't want to go into that much specification for what would, essentially be, only a 2-3 week period. Most cabinet officials are just behind the Delegate and Vice Delegate in terms of endorsements, so by not specifying which Cabinet member specifically holds it, it means there doesn't have to be an unnecessary endo-tarting campaign.

Leaving it as "another Cabinet officer" also means that we can later on pass a Line of Succession Bill, or its equivalent, without having to amend this piece of legislation.

Quote:I would suggest increasing the period of nomination to 2 weeks
2 weeks is far, far too long. Way too long. No other region has a period of time quite like that, and since we are a small region, we definitely don't.

Quote:If clause 2.4 is in place, how would voting take place? Are you advocating that voting take place on the offsite forum only? I personally feel that elections should continue to take place on the IDU regional page via a poll, rather than on the forum, because it is easier to keep track of who has voted, as well as easier to vote in the first place. I do support clause 2.6, however.
So there's a few things here.

Firstly, the Delegate has to be elected by IDUSA members as per the Charter. There is no mask for IDUSA members on the gameside, while there is one set up here on the forum.

Secondly, because it has to be elected by IDUSA, that would suggest using the IDUSA forum, not the gameside poll.

Thirdly, polls are unreliable because we, as a region, can't prevent multi-ing etc on the gameside (the Mods may not catch everyone in time, even if they were looking, which they may not be necessarily), further WAs can move in and abuse the gameside polling options.

In terms of the forum, polling is anonymous, which means that we can't keep track of who voted for what if it's done only by poll, again meaning we can't prevent abuse of the system. By making everyone who is voting cast their vote in public, on the forum, we can verify easily enough.

Finally, traditionally elections were done here on the forum, not on the gameside. So in fact, we would be reverting to the original method.

Quote:I think that this Bill needs a section on how transitions would work, so that we can avoid the confusion that happened in the last election. Sciongrad resigned from the WA and then rejoined, resetting his endorsement count to 0. I was fourth for number of endorsements, behind Sciongrad, Bears Armed Mission, and Grosseschnauzer. Sciongrad and I both unendorsed BAM and Grosseschnauzer without notifying them beforehand, resulting in Grosseschnauzer becoming upset that he had not been notified before he was unendorsed. Grosseschnauzer then unendorsed me, allowing Comhar to become the delegate for several hours 11 days later before order was reestablished.
I can't regulate transitions, since that's up to behaviour on the gameside. Some people gameside aren't involved on the forums, so I can't regulate their behaviour. Look at all the WA people who endorsed you recently, have they looked at this? Will they? Unlikely.

There are always problems with transitions, it's just part and parcel of the game mechanics.
Quote:Leaving it as "another Cabinet officer" also means that we can later on pass a Line of Succession Bill, or its equivalent, without having to amend this piece of legislation.
That sounds good.

Quote:So there's a few things here.

Firstly, the Delegate has to be elected by IDUSA members as per the Charter. There is no mask for IDUSA members on the gameside, while there is one set up here on the forum.

Secondly, because it has to be elected by IDUSA, that would suggest using the IDUSA forum, not the gameside poll.

Thirdly, polls are unreliable because we, as a region, can't prevent multi-ing etc on the gameside (the Mods may not catch everyone in time, even if they were looking, which they may not be necessarily), further WAs can move in and abuse the gameside polling options.

In terms of the forum, polling is anonymous, which means that we can't keep track of who voted for what if it's done only by poll, again meaning we can't prevent abuse of the system. By making everyone who is voting cast their vote in public, on the forum, we can verify easily enough.

Finally, traditionally elections were done here on the forum, not on the gameside. So in fact, we would be reverting to the original method.
We conducted the most recent Delegate election via a poll gameside. By clicking on the 'Voters' tab of a poll, it is possible to see who voted for each option at a glance. So the gameside polls are not, in fact, anonymous. So all that would need to be done is to make the poll with the candidates listed, and then, once the vote is done, look at who voted for each option and ignore all votes that did not come from IDUSA members. It's important to note that in the last IDUSA vote that was held, turnout was 9 out of 13 members. I think that we could increase that.

As for transitions, I think that we need some framework for how it would happen. Does the outgoing Delegate resign from the WA, or do we do an endorsement transition?

Also, if this bill passed, I assume that we would hold the next election January 1st?
#5

Laeral Wrote:We conducted the most recent Delegate election via a poll gameside. By clicking on the 'Voters' tab of a poll, it is possible to see who voted for each option at a glance. So the gameside polls are not, in fact, anonymous. So all that would need to be done is to make the poll with the candidates listed, and then, once the vote is done, look at who voted for each option and ignore all votes that did not come from IDUSA members. It's important to note that in the last IDUSA vote that was held, turnout was 9 out of 13 members. I think that we could increase that.
You're wanting to put more work into elections than is necessary.

I am aware that the most recent Delegate election was done via gameside poll - I do not agree with holding elections via the gameside poll. We have a forum which provides not only a platform to hold the election, but count the votes, host campaigning and debate threads, and also ensure security around who is voting due to the checks in place by the Forum Administration team.

The problem with polls on the forum is anonymity. The problem with polls on the gameside is anyone can vote, and we can't tell if someone is multi-ing if the Mods haven't caught them. It's not secure.

So your response which is, we can just check the votes and count them against the IDUSA members and discard those who aren't IDUSA members is more work and means you just have to come to the forum anyway.

Plus you're discounting votes, which you really shouldn't be doing in an election anyway. It's bad optics.

Plus, it being on the forum recorded by a written version of voice vote means there is forever a record of who voted for whom, in case anyone ever needed to go back and check, or in case someone wanted to check when the last election was, or in case someone wanted to ensure that X Delegate was elected fairly. Once a gameside poll ends and is replaced with something else, that record is gone.

It's much easier to just ask people to post on the forum as opposed to doing 5 different things gameside AND forumside to vote, check, tally, and keep a record of the votes.
#6

Laeral Wrote:As for transitions, I think that we need some framework for how it would happen. Does the outgoing Delegate resign from the WA, or do we do an endorsement transition?

Also, if this bill passed, I assume that we would hold the next election January 1st?
I would be hesitant to put into law that we force someone to drop WA, even if it is Delegate.

I could perhaps think of some language urging the outgoing Delegate to help the transitions via endorsement campaigns etc, or any other means they see fit.

And yes, January 1st would be the next day we vote, but nominations would be opened around Xmas so that we can start voting January 1st.
#7

I don't have any serious problems with this bill, though it is currently fairly unknown. I would probably recommend maybe sending a telegram to other IDUSA members to raise interest in the bill.
#8

It's been posted a few times on the RMB. In the past month.
#9

Is there a reasoning for the quarterly elections? I was thinking every 6 months might be more appropriate, based on the number of active members in the IDU, and no one really stepping up recently as a candidate.

I would consider running for delegate, but I am not sure of the responsibilities of the position and the time commitment required.
#10

The IDU has used three months, four months, and six months as well as a year.
Six months seems best to me, with a two consecutive terms limit. I've served as Delegate under such a system and had no concerns with that. A one year term as it is now does increase the likelihood of a mid-term vacancy and that's affects continuity.

As to the succession, taking from something Sanct has suggested in a different context, we should also include former Delegates in any line of succession past the Vice Delegate. They would be familar with the ingame Delegacy, would most likely maintained an appropriate level of endorsements and make transitions easier. Using Cabinet members raises a concern about endorsement levels, as there's been no requirement that any Cabinet official maintained any particular endo count to hold office. We don't want to make the endotarting issue burdensome and complicated. Especially if the interim Delegate has a short tenure.
We should have some sort of expedited process to replace a Vice Delegate so any vacancy there is as short lived as possible, and reduce the need to even worry about any succession past that point.
#11

Grosseschnauzer post_id=17179 time=1527631237 user_id=4 Wrote:The IDU has used three months, four months, and six months as well as a year.
Six months seems best to me, with a two consecutive terms limit. I've served as Delegate under such a system and had no concerns with that. A one year term as it is now does increase the likelihood of a mid-term vacancy and that's affects continuity.

As to the succession, taking from something Sanct has suggested in a different context, we should also include former Delegates in any line of succession past the Vice Delegate. They would be familar with the ingame Delegacy, would most likely maintained an appropriate level of endorsements and make transitions easier. Using Cabinet members raises a concern about endorsement levels, as there's been no requirement that any Cabinet official maintained any particular endo count to hold office. We don't want to make the endotarting issue burdensome and complicated. Especially if the interim Delegate has a short tenure.
We should have some sort of expedited process to replace a Vice Delegate so any vacancy there is as short lived as possible, and reduce the need to even worry about any succession past that point.
I am open to changing it to 6 months between elections.

I can take a think about term limits and how I'd incorporate it into this bill. Also with the line of succession; it might be better if that's a separate bill, and I can just make reference of that in this bill.
#12

I would agree that six months seems a reasonable term length, and I also agree that a term limit is a good idea.

In terms of succession, I agree partially with Grosseschnauzer, however I am not sure how incorporating past delegates into the line of succession would work logistically, as some may have CTEd at some point, therefore what is the best way to work out the order?

LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax
#13

Lauchenoiria post_id=17198 time=1527887909 user_id=461 Wrote:I am not sure how incorporating past delegates into the line of succession would work logistically, as some may have CTEd at some point, therefore what is the best way to work out the order?

As I said in the last post, that's not something I'm willing to consider as part of this bill. A Line of Succession can be a separate piece of legislation, and discussion as to that is not appropriate in this discussion.
#14

Sanctaria post_id=17199 time=1527888650 user_id=259 Wrote:
Lauchenoiria post_id=17198 time=1527887909 user_id=461 Wrote:I am not sure how incorporating past delegates into the line of succession would work logistically, as some may have CTEd at some point, therefore what is the best way to work out the order?

As I said in the last post, that's not something I'm willing to consider as part of this bill. A Line of Succession can be a separate piece of legislation, and discussion as to that is not appropriate in this discussion.

Apologies, I didn't mean to distract from the main discussion.

With regards to the six month terms, what approximate dates would you propose elections take place?

LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax
#15

I have updated the bill to reflect comments.

Changes include the frequency of elections (now every 6 months), the start dates of the elections (January and July), a restriction on consecutive terms (2 and then a break), and who fulfils the duties of the office of Delegate if it falls vacant within a month of the next scheduled election (VD and if no VD another member nation, which may be established by a separate bill).
#16

I'd prefer to have voting last for a full week, rather than 5 days, but otherwise support this.
#17

Bears Armed post_id=17204 time=1527956628 user_id=124 Wrote:I'd prefer to have voting last for a full week, rather than 5 days, but otherwise support this.

A full week of voting is a really long time, though. It takes less than 5 minutes to log on and post who you're voting for. There's no point dragging out the voting process longer than necessary; a week generally is used for larger regions with a lot of nations and they may or may not have a quota necessary to attain, which a week helps to reach.
#18

I was thinking of a week so that it would be guaranteed to include a weekend as well as weekdays, in case anybody had time commitments that made the weekend the only days when they could get here.
#19

Bears Armed post_id=17309 time=1529852348 user_id=124 Wrote:I was thinking of a week so that it would be guaranteed to include a weekend as well as weekdays, in case anybody had time commitments that made the weekend the only days when they could get here.

When I was involved with TNP governance the candidacy period and then voting were one week each, just for that reason. Some folks are primarily online during the workweek, others on the weekend, and I've always thought that is the fairest way to vo.
#20

Is there a final draft of this yet? If so we could vote on it soon.

LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax
#21

Bears Armed post_id=17309 time=1529852348 user_id=124 Wrote:I was thinking of a week so that it would be guaranteed to include a weekend as well as weekdays, in case anybody had time commitments that made the weekend the only days when they could get here.

I couldn't agree more. The least amount of time I would recommend is six days. I don't think more than a week and a day is necessary however. If we go for six days, I think it would make the most sense to go Sun-Fri or Sat-Thru. Sunday is, to my knowledge, the day with the most people off.
#22

Bears Armed post_id=17309 time=1529852348 user_id=124 Wrote:I was thinking of a week so that it would be guaranteed to include a weekend as well as weekdays, in case anybody had time commitments that made the weekend the only days when they could get here.
I agree with this.
#23

I would also suggest that Laeral be allowed to go through the entirety of his term, until next May, before this bill takes effect. It just seems like the nice thing too do.
#24

Once the current RP is finished, it might be an idea to write up a finished draft that we can vote on sometime next month.

LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax
#25

That sounds good to me.


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