Cabinet elections are in a few weeks. Bumping this now. I haven't been able to put together a draft, so if anyone wants to try please go ahead.

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To consolidate some of the past discussion, here is a proposal:
 

• A single election commissioner, appointed by the CRS (with admin veto?), responsible for running the election. Make this a mostly permanent role if possible, but that hasn't worked well in practice.
  
• A second individual, the Chief Justice or one of the Associate Justices, who is responsible for verifying the result. Unless there's a dispute of law or some issue with private votes, in practice this will probably just be a nod of acknowledgement in most elections.
  
• Maintain current executive firewall for obvious reasons, while patching the current CoA loophole.
  

Rather than having somebody verify the result, I'd prefer if we just post private votes in the fashion TNP does, as I've explained before. Easier and more transparent.

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Being able to apply for roles was mentioned recently, and I think it could fit quite well here - individuals could send applications to the CRS who would then vet and select. (And if nobody applies or all are deemed insecure, then it defaults to CRS choosing their own again, I suppose.) I think this could help expand the pool of usual suspects, though of course there is the option that the CRS would just keep picking the usual EC members out of the applicants, and may need additional vetting during the election itself. Still. Could be interesting.

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Or something like "declaration of non-intent" for each election?

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Roavin — Can you extrapolate on how TNP does private votes?

Previously, it has been suggested giving a number to each private vote that corresponds to the ballot that could be checked, if need be.

-tsunamy
[forum admin]

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Roavin — Can you extrapolate on how TNP does private votes?

Previously, it has been suggested giving a number to each private vote that corresponds to the ballot that could be checked, if need be.

The way TNP does it is that a ballot submission includes a user-supplied number that is included in the public ballot. You can see examples here.

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Bumping this up in relation to current discussions.

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To consolidate some of the past discussion, here is a proposal:
 

• A single election commissioner, appointed by the CRS (with admin veto?), responsible for running the election. Make this a mostly permanent role if possible, but that hasn't worked well in practice.
  
• A second individual, the Chief Justice or one of the Associate Justices, who is responsible for verifying the result. Unless there's a dispute of law or some issue with private votes, in practice this will probably just be a nod of acknowledgement in most elections.
  
• Maintain current executive firewall for obvious reasons, while patching the current CoA loophole.
  

The following proposed amendment to the Elections Act is based on Farengeto's (quoted) post.

1. Election Commission

(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security 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 run for office or hold the office of Delegate, Prime Minister, or Cabinet Minister, during their tenure as Commissioner.

(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 corruption or abuse of power.

(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.

Given the ambiguities surrounding private votes in the most recent election, it is advisable that we codify it into law.

To that effect, I propose an amendment to Section 2. Electoral System, inserting after sub-section 2:

2. Electoral System

...

(3) Private Votes may be lodged to the Election Commissioner by sending a Private Message to a forum account controlled by the Commissioner. A Forum Administrator shall independently verify all Private Votes prior to the final tally.

Note: If this is indeed the route we take, then we will also need to make minor amendments to the language found elsewhere in the act so that there is no contradictory information.

(This post was last modified: 10-18-2018, 10:59 AM by Amerion.)

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To consolidate some of the past discussion, here is a proposal:
 

• A single election commissioner, appointed by the CRS (with admin veto?), responsible for running the election. Make this a mostly permanent role if possible, but that hasn't worked well in practice.
  
• A second individual, the Chief Justice or one of the Associate Justices, who is responsible for verifying the result. Unless there's a dispute of law or some issue with private votes, in practice this will probably just be a nod of acknowledgement in most elections.
  
• Maintain current executive firewall for obvious reasons, while patching the current CoA loophole.
  

 

The following proposed amendment to the Elections Act is based on Farengeto's (quoted) post.

1. Election Commission(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security 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 run for office or hold the office of Delegate, Prime Minister, or Cabinet Minister, during their tenure as Commissioner.

(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 corruption or abuse of power.

(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.

Given the ambiguities surrounding private votes in the most recent election, it is advisable that we codify it into law.

To that effect, I propose an amendment to Section 2. Electoral System, inserting after sub-section 2:

2. Electoral System

...

(3) Private Votes may be lodged to the Election Commissioner by sending a Private Message to a forum account controlled by the Commissioner. A Forum Administrator shall independently verify all Private Votes prior to the final tally.

Note: If this is indeed the route we take, then we will also need to make minor amendments to the language found elsewhere in the act so that there is no contradictory information. 

I'd argue for something closer to the more detailed version I proposed in the other thread:

2. Electoral System(4) Voters will have the option to cast their privately vote using a secret ballot. The method of private voting will be selected by the Election Commission. The method must utilize an unaffiliated account or server, with the method and all votes remaining available for audit. Named ballots are not to be released under any circumstances.

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Noted. I've also corrected an error in my last post.

The proposed amendment(s) are below.

1. Election Commission

(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security 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 office or hold the office of Delegate, Prime Minister, or Cabinet Minister, during their tenure as Commissioner.

(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 corruption or abuse of power.

(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.

2. Electoral System

...

(3) Voters will have the option to cast their privately vote using a secret ballot. The method of private voting will be selected by the Election Commission. The method must utilize an unaffiliated account or server, with the method and all votes remaining available for audit. Named ballots are not to be released under any circumstances.

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