A month or two ago, I started looking into some of our laws and wrote some slight changes. Somehow, a little less than four weeks ago, this proposal wound up in my Google Docs trash can. I took the pleasure of looking there, and not only did I find some very weird documents I had previously written, but also this. 

Please note that this resolution only suggests one change to the Elections Act and is very minor adjustment. Now, all members of the CRS are qualified, respected, and trusted South Pacificans, however, I do think the Cabinet and the Assembly should get a say in this matter! 

All thoughts are welcomed.
 

Elections Act

An act establishing elections for office

 [box]...

1. Election Commission

(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security, with the approval of the Assembly, and after approved and entered office, the Election Commissioner will to administer all forum elections.
(2) The Commissioner will be responsible for the creation of election notices, the organization of election forums, the verification of candidate eligibility, the distribution and collection of ballots, and counting and verifying cast ballots.
(3) The Commissioner may not run for or hold an elected office during their tenure as Commissioner.
a. This does not prohibit the Commissioner from resigning to seek office via an election or finding an accepted surrogate to oversee the election in their place.
(4) The Commissioner will be a permanent position and shall be replaced as needed due to inactivity or ineligibility by the Council on Regional Security. The Assembly may remove, by a majority vote, a Commissioner for abuse of power or neglect of responsibilities.
(5) Any election-related disputes will be arbitrated by the Commissioner; should the dispute be on a matter of law, the Commissioner shall refer it to the High Court. The Commissioner will not finalize any election until all disputes have been settled.

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maluhia
minister of culture
ambassador to lazarus
roleplayer
 

 

(This post was last modified: 08-27-2022, 09:19 PM by maluhia.)

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The Election Commissioner is a non-political role, appointed by a non-political body. Is there a pressing need to have the Assembly vote on the appointment of every Commissioner in the process?

ProfessorHenn
Legislator

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The Election Commissioner is a non-political role, appointed by a non-political body. Is there a pressing need to have the Assembly vote on the appointment of every Commissioner in the process?

The Commissioner, though shall remain unaffiliated, is a political role. They handle elections and such, which is under the general, broad category of “political things.”

The Cabinet should especially have say in the appointment of the Election Commissioner. Well, mostly because the Election Commissioner administers the elections the members of the Cabinet get elected in. Then there’s the talk about bribery, but that’s a different thing, and those involved can be punished in a fair trial through the High Court. Now if the Elections Commissioner is involved, and is a Justice of the High Court, whether that is an Associate or Chief, that’s a different story…and hopefully they will recuse themselves.

maluhia
minister of culture
ambassador to lazarus
roleplayer
 

 

(This post was last modified: 08-25-2022, 11:21 PM by maluhia.)

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The Cabinet should especially have say in the appointment of the Election Commissioner. Well, mostly because the Election Commissioner administers the elections the members of the Cabinet get elected in.

That's exactly why it would be a bad idea to have the Cabinet have a say in the appointment of the Commissioner. If I was running for re-election, I would have an obvious interest in having someone appointed to the role who might be able to forge an extra vote or two my way.

There are absolutely protections against that, but ultimately this just adds extra layers of bureaucracy to something that does not need it in practice. I doubt our current Election Commissioner is going away anytime soon, and I have faith in the Council on Regional Security to appoint a replacement if necessary.

ProfessorHenn
Legislator

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I don't want to appoint some stooge who will do my bidding come election time.

4× Cabinet minister /// 1× OWL director /// CRS member /// SPSF

My History

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I’ve changed the proposal a small bit, it may be worth a look.

The CRS appoints the Commissioner, then to the approval of the Cabinet, which then the appointee will be made public for Assembly approval.

maluhia
minister of culture
ambassador to lazarus
roleplayer
 

 

(This post was last modified: 08-26-2022, 09:45 AM by maluhia.)

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That still doesn't fix the problem ProfessorHenn has outlined.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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That still doesn't fix the problem ProfessorHenn has outlined.

What about removing Cabinet approval, but still having Assembly approval? I'd be open to that.

maluhia
minister of culture
ambassador to lazarus
roleplayer
 

 

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I do think the Cabinet and the Assembly should get a say in this matter! 

Ignoring the Cabinet part — the Assembly does get a say in the matter. It gets to recall the Election Commissioner for abuse of power or neglect of responsibilities.

If you think something else should be added to that list, go for it. But I'm not sure why you feel the need to essentially hand the Assembly a blank check to prevent an Election Commissioner from being appointed for literally any reason.

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Not to mention, there's a logistical difficulty with this proposal. My understanding is that before Kris became the stable and consistent Election Commissioner, the EC was often appointed last minute before an election and by a game of "nose goes" among the CRS. If the EC then required Assembly confirmation, we just often wouldn't have an EC.

If we don't trust the CRS to appoint the EC, we have bigger problems, frankly, and this proposal wouldn't fix them. But the region does trust the CRS.

The system is fine. Why does it need to be changed at all?

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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