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**Belschaft** · 02-20-2020, 02:52 PM

Over the last couple of election cycles it has become apparent that Approval Voting is not appropriate for TSP, due to a combination of the low number of candidates and the high percentage of players casting null-ballots by approving every single candidate. As a result of that I am proposing that we return to using Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), also known as Alternative Vote (AV), for all elections. For the sake of maximising simplicity I am proposing that in the event of multi-winner elections we use the elimination transfers only variant of Single Transferable Vote (STV), which is functionally identical to IRV/AV.

At the same time, and to simplify matters, I am also proposing that we adjust the legal process for the Election Commission to reflect actual practice.

Please see bellow the current draft;

Amendments to Articles 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 of the Elections Act' Wrote:
Elections Act

An act establishing elections for office
1. Election Commissioner

(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security to administer all forum elections.

(1) In advance of an election beginning the Council on Regional Security will appoint an Election Commissioner to conduct it.

(2) The Commissioner will be responsible for the creation of election notices, the organisation 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.
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.

(3) The Commissioner may not be a candidate in the election they are conducting.

(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.

(4) 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 finalise any election until all disputes have been settled.

2. Electoral System

(1) Unless otherwise stated, elections held on the regional forums will be conducted via Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).
a. The form of IRV used must be Optional Preferential Voting (OPV); voters may vote for one or multiple candidates in descending order of preference.
b. Should no candidate have an absolute majority once all votes have been counted then the candidate with the least number of votes shall be eliminated from the election. Should more than one candidate have the least number of votes, the candidate with the least number of votes on the next order of preference shall be eliminated. If their numbers of votes are still equal, both shall be eliminated.
c. The votes of those voting for the eliminated candidate(s) will be reallocated based upon the expressed preferences, or discounted if no further preferences are expressed.
d. This process will continue until a candidate has an absolute majority. Should the final candidates have an equal number of votes when all have been allocated, the Elections Committee will select a method of arbitration. If the method chosen involves chance, then an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel will be used to generate a result randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.

(2) The option to Re-Open Nominations must be included as a "candidate". If elected, the election process for that office shall restart at the nomination phase.

(1) Elections held on the regional forums will be conducted via Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or Single Transferable Vote (STV).

(2) Instant Runnoff Voting (IRV).
a. The form of IRV used must be Optional Preferential Voting (OPV); voters may vote for one or multiple candidates in descending order of preference.
b. Should no candidate have an absolute majority once all votes have been counted then the candidate with the least number of votes shall be eliminated from the election. Should more than one candidate have the least number of votes, the candidate with the least number of votes on the next order of preference shall be eliminated. If their numbers of votes are still equal, both shall be eliminated.
c. The votes of those voting for the eliminated candidate(s) will be reallocated based upon the expressed preferences, or discounted if no further preferences are expressed.
d. This process will continue until a candidate has an absolute majority.
e. Should candidates during any round have an equal number of votes when all have been allocated, the Election Commissioner will select a method of arbitration. If the method chosen involves chance, then an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel will be used to generate a result randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.
f. The option to Re-Open Nominations (RON) must be included as a "candidate". If elected, the election process shall restart at the campaign and debate period.

(3) Singe Transferable Vote (STV).
a. The form of STV used must be Optional Preferential Voting (OPV); voters may vote for one or multiple candidates in descending order of preference.
b. The candidate with the least number of votes shall be eliminated from the election. Should more than one candidate have the least number of votes, the candidate with the least number of votes on the next order of preference shall be eliminated. If their numbers of votes are still equal, both shall be eliminated.
c. The votes of those voting for the eliminated candidate(s) will be reallocated based upon the expressed preferences, or discounted if no further preferences are expressed.
d. This process will continue until there as many candidates remaining as there are positions being elected to.
e. Should candidates during any round have an equal number of votes when all have been allocated, the Election Commissioner will select a method of arbitration. If the method chosen involves chance, then an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel will be used to generate a result randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.
f. The option to Re-Open Nominations (RON) must be included as a "candidate". Should RON be among the remaining candidates after votes have been reallocated then only those who received more voted than RON will be elected. The election process shall restart at the campaign and debate period for however many places remain, using IRV or STV as appropriate.

(4) Voters will have the option to cast their vote using a secret ballot. The method of private voting will be selected by the Election Commission. The method must utilise 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.

(5) To be eligible to be included in a voting ballot, any candidate must post a campaign in an area designated by the Election Commission. The campaign must prominently include a truthful declaration of all potential conflicts of interest the candidate may have within and outside of the South Pacific.

3. Office of the Delegate

(1) The Delegate will be elected in a two-step two-stage process, with the Assembly voting on a slate of nominees on the forums, and the top two candidates in that process being voted on by regional poll on-site.

(2) On the first of every January and July, the Assembly will convene for the first round stage of Delegate elections.
a. Any eligible legislator wishing to run for Delegate may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform. Any player who has been banned from World Assembly membership will be considered ineligible and any candidate who is later discovered to be banned from World Assembly membership will be immediately disqualified.
b. The campaign and debate period will last one week, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.
c. This round of voting for delegate will be conducted using Approval Voting.
d. The two candidates with the highest number of approvals will move to a second round of voting conducted via a poll of Native World Assembly members.
e. Should the voting result in a tie, more than two nations may move onto the second round of voting.
f. If an advancing candidate receive less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "approved", and the process for that slot shall begin again at the campaign and debate period.
c. This stage of voting for delegate will be conducted using Single Transferable Vote (STV).
d. At least two candidates must proceed from this stage to the on-site stage. More that two candidates may proceed if a tie necessitates it.

(3) After receiving the top candidates in the forum election stage, an Election Commissioner will create a week-long regional poll accessible to Native World Assembly members, instructing them to vote for their preferred candidate.
a. A Dispatch containing the campaigns of all candidates will be created to aid voters in their choice.
b. The candidate who wins a majority of the votes will be declared the Delegate-elect.
c. If no candidate wins a majority of votes, the top two candidates will be placed in a runoff election, mimicking the previous round of voting.
d. If there are only two candidates and neither wins a majority of the votes, then the Election Commissioner will use an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel to select a winner randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.

(4) The incumbent Delegate will coordinate with the Delegate-elect in transitioning the seat, along with cooperation from the Council on Regional Security. Until the Delegate-elect achieves the most endorsements, the incumbent Delegate will still be responsible for all responsibilities that involve use of Delegate-restricted regional controls.

4. Offices of the Cabinet

(1) On the first of every February, June and October, the Assembly will convene to elect the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
a. For the first 6 days of the election period, legislators may declare their candidacy for only one position.
b. After 3 days, a campaign period of one week will start, where candidates may campaign and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platforms.
c. After the week-long campaign period, a voting period of 3 days will start. Legislators will cast their ballots for each position. Legislators may choose to abstain from voting on any or all positions.

(2) The candidate for each position with the most votes will be declared the Minister-elect by the Election Commission.

(2) Cabinet elections will be conducted via IRV.

(3) The terms for the incoming Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers will begin the week after elections, during which any and all election-related disputes must be settled. The outgoing Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers will maintain their offices until then.

5. Office of the Chair

(1) Eight days before the end of a Chair's term, the Assembly will convene to elect the Chair of the Assembly.
a. Any legislator wishing to run for Chair may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform.
b. The campaign and debate period will last 5 days, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.

(2) The voting for the Chair will be conducted using Approval Voting.
a. Voters may vote for as many candidates as they approve of, or vote for none by voting to Re-Open Nominations.
b. The candidate with the highest percentage of approval will be elected.
c. If the winning candidate receive less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "elected".

(2) Chair elections will be conducted via IRV.

(3) The term for the incoming Chair will begin immediately following the conclusion of the election.

...

Draft One

Amendments to Articles 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 of the Elections Act' Wrote:
Elections Act

An act establishing elections for office
1. Election Commissioner(1) An Election Commissioner will be appointed by the Council on Regional Security to administer all forum elections.(1) In advance of an election beginning the Council on Regional Security will appoint an Election Commissioner to conduct it.

(2) The Commissioner will be responsible for the creation of election notices, the organisation 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.
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.

(3) The Commissioner may not be a candidate in the election they are conducting.

(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.(4) 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 finalise any election until all disputes have been settled.

2. Electoral System

(1) Unless otherwise stated, elections held on the regional forums will be conducted via Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).
a. The form of IRV used must be Optional Preferential Voting (OPV); voters may vote for one or multiple candidates in descending order of preference.
b. Should no candidate have an absolute majority once all votes have been counted then the candidate with the least number of votes shall be eliminated from the election. Should more than one candidate have the least number of votes, the candidate with the least number of votes on the next order of preference shall be eliminated. If their numbers of votes are still equal, both shall be eliminated.
c. The votes of those voting for the eliminated candidate(s) will be reallocated based upon the expressed preferences, or discounted if no further preferences are expressed.
d. This process will continue until a candidate has an absolute majority. Should the final candidates have an equal number of votes when all have been allocated, the Elections Committee Election Commissioner will select a method of arbitration. If the method chosen involves chance, then an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel will be used to generate a result randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.

(2) The option to Re-Open Nominations must be included as a "candidate". If elected, the election process for that office shall restart at the nomination phase campaign and debate period.

(3) Voters will have the option to cast their vote using a secret ballot. The method of private voting will be selected by the Election Commission. The method must utilise 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.

(4) To be eligible to be included in a voting ballot, any candidate must post a campaign in an area designated by the Election Commission. The campaign must prominently include a truthful declaration of all potential conflicts of interest the candidate may have within and outside of the South Pacific.

3. Office of the Delegate

(1) The Delegate will be elected in a two-step two-round process, with the Assembly voting on a slate of nominees on the forums, and the top two candidates in that process being voted on by regional poll on-site.

(2) On the first of every January and July, the Assembly will convene for the first round of Delegate elections.
a. Any eligible legislator wishing to run for Delegate may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform. Any player who has been banned from World Assembly membership will be considered ineligible and any candidate who is later discovered to be banned from World Assembly membership will be immediately disqualified.
b. The campaign and debate period will last one week, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.
c. This round of voting for delegate will be conducted using Approval Voting.
d. The two candidates with the highest number of approvals will move to a second round of voting conducted via a poll of Native World Assembly members.
e. Should the voting result in a tie, more than two nations may move onto the second round of voting.
f. If an advancing candidate receive less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "approved", and the process for that slot shall begin again at the campaign and debate period.c. This round of voting for delegate will be conducted using Single Transferable Vote (STV).
d. The form of STV used will be elimination transfers only.
e. Should this round produce a tie for first place then all candidates involved in this tie will proceed to the second round, with no other candidates proceeding.
f. Should there be no tie for first place but a tie for second place then all candidates involved in this tie will proceed to the second round in addition to the first placed candidate.
g. The option to Re-Open Nominations (RON) must be included as a "candidate".
h. If no candidate receives more votes than RON the round shall begin again at the campaign and debate period.
i. If less than two candidates receive more votes than RON then an additional round will be be conduced from the campaign and debate phase via IRV to select an additional candidate(s to proceed to the on-site round. Only the first placed candidate/s will proceed to the on-site round.

(3) After receiving the top candidates in the forum election, an Election Commissioner will create a week-long regional poll accessible to Native World Assembly members, instructing them to vote for their preferred candidate.
a. A Dispatch containing the campaigns of all candidates will be created to aid voters in their choice.
b. Members of the South Pacific Special Forces who are on deployment for the whole duration of the regional poll are eligible to cast a vote. The Minister of Military Affairs shall provide a list of deployed personnel to the Election Commissioner. Members on the list who send the Commissioner their vote through a telegram and a public post on the Regional Message Board which tags the Election Commissioner and notes who their vote goes towards shall have it added to the final tally.
c. The candidate who wins a majority of the votes will be declared the Delegate-elect.
d. If no candidate wins a majority of votes, the top two candidates will be placed in a runoff election, mimicking the previous round of voting.
e. If there are only two candidates and neither wins a majority of the votes, then the Election Commissioner will use an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel to select a winner randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.

(4) The incumbent Delegate will coordinate with the Delegate-elect in transitioning the seat, along with cooperation from the Council on Regional Security. Until the Delegate-elect achieves the most endorsements, the incumbent Delegate will still be responsible for all responsibilities that involve use of Delegate-restricted regional controls.

4. Offices of the Cabinet

(1) On the first of every February, June and October, the Assembly will convene to elect the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
a. For the first 6 days of the election period, legislators may declare their candidacy for only one position.
b. After 3 days, a campaign period of one week will start, where candidates may campaign and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platforms.
c. After the week-long campaign period, a voting period of 3 days will start. Legislators will cast their ballots for each position. Legislators may choose to abstain from voting on any or all positions.

(2) The candidate for each position with the most votes will be declared the Minister-elect by the Election Commission.(2) The terms for the incoming Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers will begin the week after elections, during which any and all election-related disputes must be settled. The outgoing Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers will maintain their offices until then.

5. Office of the Chair

(1) Eight days before the end of a Chair's term, the Assembly will convene to elect the Chair of the Assembly.
a. Any legislator wishing to run for Chair may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform.
b. The campaign and debate period will last 5 days, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.

(2) The voting for the Chair will be conducted using Approval Voting.
a. Voters may vote for as many candidates as they approve of, or vote for none by voting to Re-Open Nominations.
b. The candidate with the highest percentage of approval will be elected.
c. If the winning candidate receive less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations will be "elected".(2) The term for the incoming Chair will begin immediately following the conclusion of the election.

...

_{Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making}
^{Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator}

PREVIOUS ROLES

(This post was last modified: 02-21-2020, 02:38 PM by Belschaft.)

***Roavin*** · 02-20-2020, 05:33 PM

This principally looks good and as of now I'd vote for it as-is.

Personally, I'd do some minor tweaks to make it a bit more elegant:

Add a brief explanation of elimination transfer, consistent with how we've added an explanation for IRV as the normative reference on how it works
Tweak Article 2 to explain the voting process in terms of a variable number of winning candidates, and therefore remove the extra explanations from Article 3

**Jay Coop** · 02-20-2020, 05:52 PM

Instead of "The option to Re-Open Nominations (RON) must be included as a 'candidate'", we could state, "Eligible voters shall have the option to re-open nominations (RON)".

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

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**Belschaft** · 02-21-2020, 02:37 PM

(02-20-2020, 05:33 PM)Roavin Wrote: This principally looks good and as of now I'd vote for it as-is.

Personally, I'd do some minor tweaks to make it a bit more elegant:
Add a brief explanation of elimination transfer, consistent with how we've added an explanation for IRV as the normative reference on how it works

Tweak Article 2 to explain the voting process in terms of a variable number of winning candidates, and therefore remove the extra explanations from Article 3

I've updated the OP with a second draft to try and reflect these suggestions.

_{Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making}
^{Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator}

PREVIOUS ROLES

**Amerion** · 02-22-2020, 04:20 AM

This proposal looks all good.

Just a minor issue with Article 3. (2)c. and d. which should be highlighted in green to indicate additions to the text.

Admiral General of the South Pacific

***Roavin*** · 02-22-2020, 06:18 AM

This is looking very nice. The only thing I noticed is that you wrote "Runnoff" rather than "Runoff" in 2.2.

Now, one thing that should be noted (that I had forgotten until now): This change would put us back to something very similar to the old "Belschaft" method that we used to have, which we moved away from because that system can easily lead to a candidate that has strong fringe support moving on. The entire thread is well worth reading, as it includes quite a bit of data I had gathered comparing how past elections would have fared under different systems. Read here.

I'm all for moving away from approval, though I'm not yet certain if going back to this specific system is the right choice for the Delegate election. That's worth thinking about.

(This post was last modified: 02-22-2020, 06:25 AM by Roavin.)

***Tsunamy*** · 02-22-2020, 11:29 PM

I don't think we need 3.3.d since we generally don't use RON in the delegate on-site poll.

Also, I know 1.3 is cumbersome, but we don't want people holding office and running the election. For example ... if the delegate ran the election and swayed it in favor of a PM that supported them.

-tsunamy
[forum admin]

**Farengeto** · 02-24-2020, 07:00 PM

Strongly opposed, but I've given up trying to argue about this system.