Your honors,

Brief amicus curiae on the Chair of the Assembly's decision to mark a vote invalid

The submissions so far in this case have focused on matters such as the definition of "day" in the hope of resolving this case. I do not believe it would assist the Court were I to rehearse these arguments.

However I wish to draw the Court's attention to Chair Cryo's statement regarding the voiding of Legislator philipmacaroni's vote. In this statement the Chair acknowledges that the discrepancy in the voting deadlines occurred due to their own mistake.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary we must assume that Legislator philipmacaroni was acting in good faith when they attempted to change their vote. The question the Court must resolve, therefore, is whether the legislator in question should be denied the right to change their vote as a result of an honest mistake by the Chair of the Assembly. The right to vote is protected by Article III, Section 4 of the Charter, thus the Court must consider carefully the implications of any decision to count Legislator philipmacaroni's vote in a way other than they intended.

I am in agreement with other submissions that allege that Chair Cryo's actions in nullifying Legislator philipmacaroni's vote, and purporting to submit a casting vote themselves, are ultra vires. There is no explicit provision in the Coalition's laws that allow such a course of action. Chair Cryo justified their actions with reference to their responsibility to maintain "order and decorum" in the Assembly, pursuant to Article IV, Section 2 of the Charter. However, these provisions do not come close to enabling the kinds of powers alleged by Chair Cryo.

The Court must therefore strike down Chair Cryo's actions. In the interests of resolving Assembly proceedings in a timely manner, I would invite the Court to put themselves in Chair Cryo's shoes and remake the decision in a constitutional manner. In brief, the options for the Court would be:

• Refuse to admit Legislator philipmacaroni's change of vote, and declare the result according to the counted votes at the close of poll;
  
• Admit Legislator philipmacaroni's change of vote and declare the result according to this revised tally;
  
• Order the vote to be re-run as a result of the irregularities caused by Chair Cryo's honest mistake.
  

As a closing remark I would like to add that I do not believe Chair Cryo's actions to have been malicious, and I would not ask the Court to admonish them, notwithstanding that their actions were clearly outside their powers.

I remain at the Court's disposal for follow-up questions and clarifications.