Bill: Pending P.B. 02-007 | Open List Act

[TheStormcrafter]

A
BILL
TO
Amend the Alexandrian Electoral Act
To Transfer the Voting Method from MMP to Open List​

1 — About this Act
(1) This Act

(a) may be cited as the ‘Open List Act’.​

(b) may be numbered as P.B.02-007.​

(c) shall be enacted immediately upon its passage.​

(d) has been authored by Member of Parliament TheStormcrafter.​

(e) has been co-sponsored by Member of Parliament JamesTheSlay and Member of Parliament ComplexKing.​

2 — General Terms of Open List
§5 of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

"(1) Voters cast three two votes of which they cast one ranked choice vote for a direct candidate — the candidate primary vote — as well as two one for a distinct political party by ranking one of that party's candidates second — one primary vote and one the substitute vote.​

(2) One half of mandates, rounded up, shall be elected directly through a system of Single Transferrable Vote.​

(3) The remaining mandates shall be allocated to the parties in such a manner so that taken together, proportional representation under Sainte-Laguë is achieved.​

(2) Votes for all candidates of a party shall be accumulated and together be used for proportional representation under Sainte-Laguë.​

(3) Independents shall gain a seat by reaching the quorum of V / S, where V is the number of votes cast and S the number of seats."​

3 — Proportional Representation and Independent Election
§5b of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

“(1) All seats not given to independent candidates under §5a of this act shall now be allocated in accordance with Sainte-Laguë amongst eligible parties and Independents.​

(1a) Quorum. For the purposes of the below, one quorum shall be defined as the number of valid votes divided by the number of seats available and achieving a quorum shall mean having votes equal or passing this quorum.​

(a) The formula for calculating a quorum shall be: Q = V / S.​

*Q is one Quorum​

*V is the number of valid votes cast​

*S is the number of seats available.​

(1b) Vote Count of Parties. A party shall be considered to have received votes equal to the sum of valid votes cast for all candidates running for that party.​

(2) Eligibility for Seat Allocation. No political party shall be eligible for a seat allocation unless it receives a number of valid votes equal or greater than the threshold of total valid votes cast divided by the total number of seats available for allocation achieves at least one quorum.​

(a) For the purposes of this act, the formula to calculate eligibility shall be: Threshold = Total Valid Votes Cast/Total Seats to be Allocated omitted​

(b) For the purposes of calculating the threshold, the result shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number. omitted​

(c) Parties that are ineligible shall not be included in seat allocation calculation.​

(2a) If an Independent Candidate gained less votes than one quorum, they shall be eliminated.​

(3) Before proceeding with seat allocation, if a party or candidate is disqualified from seat allocation for any reason, the ballots received by that party are transferred to each respective ballot's substitute vote.​

(3a) Independent Election. If an Independent Candidate achieves a quorum of votes, they shall be elected to a seat, then the surplus votes are transferred to the Substitute Vote of the voters' ballots according to the Gregory method of redistribution.​

(a) The Gregory Fractional Transfer (GFT) Method is a fractional transfer method where all ballot papers are distributed on the election of a candidate but at a fractional value, the Transfer Value.​

(i) All votes for the candidate that has been elected with a surplus are reweighted by multiplying the vote weight by the transfer value.​

(ii) The reweighted votes are then allocated to the next preference indicated on each ballot.​

(iii) The Transfer Value is determined by the formula:​

(V - Q) / (V)​

*V is the amount of votes the candidate received.​

*Q is equal to the quorum.​

(iv) Vote counts shall always be rounded to five decimals (0.00001).​

(4) Seat Allocation. The remaining seats shall be allocated to each party using the Sainte-Laguë method. In this system, successive quotients are calculated for each party using the following formula: q=v/(s*2+1).​

(a) 'Q' represents the quotient for that round.​

(b) 'V' represents the total votes the party received.​

(c) 'S' represents the number of seats the party has been allocated so far, initially zero (0) for all parties.​

[...]”​

4 — Open List Candidate Election
§5c of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

“(1) First, seats shall be allocated to all elected direct candidates achieving a full quorum as in §5b(1a) on their own; for those running for a party, only if their party achieved sufficient seats; otherwise, the lowest ranking candidates with ties resolved by order of the list for that party shall not be considered so that the party receives as many seats as determined under §5b of this Act.​

(2) Second, the remaining seats for each party shall be filled consulting the party lists, with candidates elected in the order in which they are listed, and ignoring any candidates which have already been elected by direct mandate achieving a quorum.​

[...]”​

5 — Changes to the Declaration Period
§4 of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

"(1) Parties are to submit their endorsements for direct mandates and their party list for proportional seat allocation during the submission period.​

(a) Parties may make amends until the submission period is over.​

(b) The list must denote a candidate as the 'party leader' (this does not need to be the same as the leader of the political party, just a parliamentary party leader).​

(i) This player will become the party’s Prime Minister candidate.​

(1a) Direct Candidates are to declare their candidacy during the submission period.​

(a) They must declare which party they are running with, or that they are running as an independent.​

(b) If running with a political party, they must have the endorsement of that party. If running for a party, they must be on the party's list. If they are not on the party list at the end of the submission period, they shall automatically be listed as an Independent Candidate.​

(c) If running as an independent, they shall make a post in a petition thread opened by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the beginning of the Declaration period where they shall state: “I, <name>, will contest a direct mandate as an independent.”​

(i) This post must obtain five or more Aye-Reactions before the beginning of the voting period for the candidate to be listed.​

(2) Parties are to submit their party manifesto on or before the fifth day of the election.​

(a) A party manifesto must consist of the party’s policies, agenda, and links to the party’s candidate list, party charter/constitution/by-laws, party discord, and party registration page.​

(2a) Direct Candidates are to submit their candidate manifesto on or before the fifth day of the election.​

(a) A candidate manifesto must consist of the candidate's policies and agenda.​

(3) Each party or candidate is to be listed separately on the ballot.​

6 — Additional Provisions
§5a of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be struck and read "omitted" until a new section is introduced under the same number.

 

[TheStormcrafter]

The Greens in the Alexandrian Parliament
Through Their Parliamentary Leader TheStormcrafter
Move to Pass
The Open List Act​

Parliament notes:
(1) The last elections were a mess resulting from the MoIA being unprepared to handle STV.
(2) Some systems can be simplified to make it easier for the MoIA to handle without compromising on too much voter choice.
(3) A system treating Independents en bloc cannot be the solution, as it does not respect the citizens' votes truthfully as they do not want any Independent but a specific Independent.

Based on this, Parliament decides:
(1) To change the voting method to a simpler Open List Method.
(2) To retain fractional transfer only for Independent Candidates.

(a) This is much rarer than under STV.​

(b) There are no multiple stacked levels of transfer, only a single transfer will ever be applied to a ballot.​

To fulfill this, Parliament projects the following expenses:
(1) There are no direct expenses linked to the enactment of these provisions.

Further, Parliament projects the following administrative efforts:
(1) The effort of adjudicating elections will be greatly reduced.
(2) A mock election may be required for MoIA employees to become familiar with the new procedures.

To implement the above, Parliament passes:

A
BILL
TO
Amend the Alexandrian Electoral Act
To Transfer the Voting Method from MMP to Open List​

1 — About this Act
(1) This Act

(a) may be cited as the ‘Open List Act’.​

(b) may be numbered as P.B.02-007.​

(c) shall be enacted immediately upon its passage.​

(d) has been authored by Member of Parliament TheStormcrafter.​

(e) has been co-sponsored by Member of Parliament JamesTheSlay and Member of Parliament ComplexKing.​

2 — General Terms of Open List
§5 of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

"(1) Voters cast three two votes of which they cast one ranked choice vote for a direct candidate — the candidate primary vote — as well as two one for a distinct political party by ranking one of that party's candidates second — one primary vote and one the substitute vote.​

(2) One half of mandates, rounded up, shall be elected directly through a system of Single Transferrable Vote.​

(3) The remaining mandates shall be allocated to the parties in such a manner so that taken together, proportional representation under Sainte-Laguë is achieved.​

(2) Votes for all candidates of a party shall be accumulated and together be used for proportional representation under Sainte-Laguë.​

(3) Independents shall gain a seat by reaching the quorum of V / S, where V is the number of votes cast and S the number of seats."​

3 — Proportional Representation and Independent Election
§5b of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

“(1) All seats not given to independent candidates under §5a of this act shall now be allocated in accordance with Sainte-Laguë amongst eligible parties and Independents.​

(1a) Quorum. For the purposes of the below, one quorum shall be defined as the number of valid votes divided by the number of seats available and achieving a quorum shall mean having votes equal or passing this quorum.​

(a) The formula for calculating a quorum shall be: Q = V / S.​

*Q is one Quorum​

*V is the number of valid votes cast​

*S is the number of seats available.​

(1b) Vote Count of Parties. A party shall be considered to have received votes equal to the sum of valid votes cast for all candidates running for that party.​

(2) Eligibility for Seat Allocation. No political party shall be eligible for a seat allocation unless it receives a number of valid votes equal or greater than the threshold of total valid votes cast divided by the total number of seats available for allocation achieves at least one quorum.​

(a) For the purposes of this act, the formula to calculate eligibility shall be: Threshold = Total Valid Votes Cast/Total Seats to be Allocated omitted​

(b) For the purposes of calculating the threshold, the result shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number. omitted​

(c) Parties that are ineligible shall not be included in seat allocation calculation.​

(2a) If an Independent Candidate gained less votes than one quorum, they shall be eliminated.​

(3) Before proceeding with seat allocation, if a party or candidate is disqualified from seat allocation for any reason, the ballots received by that party are transferred to each respective ballot's substitute vote.​

(3a) Independent Election. If an Independent Candidate achieves a quorum of votes, they shall be elected to a seat, then the surplus votes are transferred to the Substitute Vote of the voters' ballots according to the Gregory method of redistribution.​

(a) The Gregory Fractional Transfer (GFT) Method is a fractional transfer method where all ballot papers are distributed on the election of a candidate but at a fractional value, the Transfer Value.​

(i) All votes for the candidate that has been elected with a surplus are reweighted by multiplying the vote weight by the transfer value.​

(ii) The reweighted votes are then allocated to the next preference indicated on each ballot.​

(iii) The Transfer Value is determined by the formula:​

(V - Q) / (V)​

*V is the amount of votes the candidate received.​

*Q is equal to the quorum.​

(iv) Vote counts shall always be rounded to five decimals (0.00001).​

(4) Seat Allocation. The remaining seats shall be allocated to each party using the Sainte-Laguë method. In this system, successive quotients are calculated for each party using the following formula: q=v/(s*2+1).​

(a) 'Q' represents the quotient for that round.​

(b) 'V' represents the total votes the party received.​

(c) 'S' represents the number of seats the party has been allocated so far, initially zero (0) for all parties.​

[...]”​

4 — Open List Candidate Election
§5c of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

“(1) First, seats shall be allocated to all elected direct candidates achieving a full quorum as in §5b(1a) on their own; for those running for a party, only if their party achieved sufficient seats; otherwise, the lowest ranking candidates with ties resolved by order of the list for that party shall not be considered so that the party receives as many seats as determined under §5b of this Act.​

(2) Second, the remaining seats for each party shall be filled consulting the party lists, with candidates elected in the order in which they are listed, and ignoring any candidates which have already been elected by direct mandate achieving a quorum.​

[...]”​

5 — Changes to the Declaration Period
§4 of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

"(1) Parties are to submit their endorsements for direct mandates and their party list for proportional seat allocation during the submission period.​

(a) Parties may make amends until the submission period is over.​

(b) The list must denote a candidate as the 'party leader' (this does not need to be the same as the leader of the political party, just a parliamentary party leader).​

(i) This player will become the party’s Prime Minister candidate.​

(1a) Direct Candidates are to declare their candidacy during the submission period.​

(a) They must declare which party they are running with, or that they are running as an independent.​

(b) If running with a political party, they must have the endorsement of that party. If running for a party, they must be on the party's list. If they are not on the party list at the end of the submission period, they shall automatically be listed as an Independent Candidate.​

(c) If running as an independent, they shall make a post in a petition thread opened by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the beginning of the Declaration period where they shall state: “I, <name>, will contest a direct mandate as an independent.”​

(i) This post must obtain five or more Aye-Reactions before the beginning of the voting period for the candidate to be listed.​

(2) Parties are to submit their party manifesto on or before the fifth day of the election.​

(a) A party manifesto must consist of the party’s policies, agenda, and links to the party’s candidate list, party charter/constitution/by-laws, party discord, and party registration page.​

(2a) Direct Candidates are to submit their candidate manifesto on or before the fifth day of the election.​

(a) A candidate manifesto must consist of the candidate's policies and agenda.​

(3) Each party or candidate is to be listed separately on the ballot.​

6 — Additional Provisions
§5a of the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be struck and read "omitted" until a new section is introduced under the same number.