Bill: Pending P.B. 03-009 | Public Opinion Act

[CoolCat]

A
BILL
TO
Allow Parliament To Initiate Public Opinion Referendums
​

1 - About this Act
(1) This Act
(a) may be cited as ‘Public Opinion Act’ or ‘PuOA’.
(b) may be numbered as P.B.03-009.
(c) shall be enacted once given royal assent.
(d) has been authored by Speaker Rubilubi55.
(e) has been co-sponsored by Deputy Prime Minister SeminoTV and Leader of the Opposition Pepecuu.

2 - General Provision
(1) Parliament has the power to obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hold non-binding public opinion referendums on a matter specified as outlined within this act. A supermajority of votes in parliament is required to do so.
(2) Voting on such public opinion referendum shall last as specified by parliament but not less than 24 hours.
(3) Every citizen meeting the outlined requirements to vote have the right to vote in such elections.
(a) Parliament may allow more people to cast their vote as long as this is general, so not for the individual case and prescribed within the motion.

3 - Agreement Or Disagreement Referendum
(1) A referendum on agreement or disagreement has an "Aye" and a "Nay" option. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours.

4 - Detailed Public Opinion Referendum
(1) A detailed public opinion referendum may have as many options as parliament deems appropriated. Those options shall be stated in the original motion. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours.
(a) Parliament may obligate that citizens can vote for more than one option or rank their choices.

5 - Candidate Referendum
(1) A candidate referendum is a public opinion referendum in which citizens may nominate themselves to be an option in the referendum.
(2) A nomination period shall be opened where any citizen may nominate themselves. This nomination period shall last for 48 hours.
(a) Parliament may regulate who is able to nominate themselves.
(3) After the nomination period concludes a voting period is started. Normally voting period lasts for 24 hours.
(a) Parliament may obligate that citizens can vote for more than one option or rank their choices.

6 - Results
(1) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall announce the raw election data to the Parliament within 24 hours of the voting period concluding.
(a) For reason of privacy the Ministry of Internal Affairs is obligated to remove the time stamps and the ballot numbers as well as randomize the ballots order.
(2) Parliament may obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to count the ballots through a system defined within the motion.

 

[CoolCat]

The Speaker
Through Their Speaker Rubilubi55
Moves to Pass
The Public Opinion Act
​

Parliament notes:
(1) There currently is no way for parliament to host referendums to get insights into the public opinion.
(2) The Constitutional Convention Committee has been established. A member of this committee shall be appointed "by election of citizens". There currently is no way for parliament to initiate such an election or referendum. This Act aims to fix that.

Based on this, Parliament decides:
(1) To implement a system in which the Parliament, through a supermajority of votes, may obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hold referendums about a public matter.

To fulfil this, Parliament projects the following expenses:
(1) Payment of the Electoral Registars (MoIA). Expected to be around £300 for each referendum.

Further, Parliament projects the following administrative efforts:
(1) The Ministry of Internal Affairs must host such elections. This requires enough staff.
To implement the above, Parliament passes:

A
BILL
TO
Allow Parliament To Initiate Public Opinion Referendums
​

1 - About this Act
(1) This Act
(a) may be cited as ‘Public Opinion Act’ or ‘PuOA’.
(b) may be numbered as P.B.03-009.
(c) shall be enacted once given royal assent.
(d) has been authored by Speaker Rubilubi55.
(e) has been co-sponsored by Deputy Prime Minister SeminoTV and Leader of the Opposition Pepecuu.

2 - General Provision
(1) Parliament has the power to obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hold non-binding public opinion referendums on a matter specified as outlined within this act. A supermajority of votes in parliament is required to do so.
(2) Voting on such public opinion referendum shall last as specified by parliament but not less than 24 hours.
(3) Every citizen meeting the outlined requirements to vote have the right to vote in such elections.
(a) Parliament may allow more people to cast their vote as long as this is general, so not for the individual case and prescribed within the motion.

3 - Agreement Or Disagreement Referendum
(1) A referendum on agreement or disagreement has an "Aye" and a "Nay" option. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours.

4 - Detailed Public Opinion Referendum
(1) A detailed public opinion referendum may have as many options as parliament deems appropriated. Those options shall be stated in the original motion. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours.
(a) Parliament may obligate that citizens can vote for more than one option or rank their choices.

5 - Candidate Referendum
(1) A candidate referendum is a public opinion referendum in which citizens may nominate themselves to be an option in the referendum.
(2) A nomination period shall be opened where any citizen may nominate themselves. This nomination period shall last for 48 hours.
(a) Parliament may regulate who is able to nominate themselves.
(3) After the nomination period concludes a voting period is started. Normally voting period lasts for 24 hours.
(a) Parliament may obligate that citizens can vote for more than one option or rank their choices.

6 - Results
(1) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall announce the raw election data to the Parliament within 24 hours of the voting period concluding.
(a) For reason of privacy the Ministry of Internal Affairs is obligated to remove the time stamps and the ballot numbers as well as randomize the ballots order.
(2) Parliament may obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to count the ballots through a system defined within the motion.

 

[Capt11543]

AMENDMENT 01
Should the associated Motion to Amend pass, the Public Opinion Act shall be amended in the manner described below.
First, §2 - General Provision shall be amended in the following manner:

"2 - General Provision
(1) Parliament has the power to obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hold non-binding public opinion referendums on a matter specified as outlined within this act. A supermajority simple majority of votes in parliament is required to do so."

Then, the following new section shall be inserted after §6 - Results:

"7 - Amendments to the Government Organization Act
(1) §26 - Referendums shall be amended in the following manner:

"26 - Referendums
(1) A referendum is a vote hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs relating to a Constitutional Amendment, a referendum to vacate the Monarchy, or other provision prescribed by law.
(2) A referendum may only begin through the authorization of an act of Parliament reaching a supermajority.
(2) A constitutional amendment referendum shall require a supermajority of the voting population to vote in favor to pass.
(3) A referendum to vacate the monarchy shall require greater than 80% of the voting population to vote in favor to pass."

 

[Capt11543]

AMENDMENT 02
Should the associated Motion to Amend pass, the Public Opinion Act shall be amended in the manner described below.
First, §2 - General Provision shall be amended in the following manner:

"2 - General Provision
(1) Parliament has the power to obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hold non-binding public opinion referendums on a matter specified as outlined within this act. A supermajority simple majority of votes in parliament is required to do so."

Then, the following new section shall be inserted after §6 - Results:

"7 - Amendments to the Government Organization Act
(1) §26 - Referendums shall be amended in the following manner:

"26 - Referendums
(1) A referendum is a vote hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs relating to a Constitutional Amendment, a referendum to vacate the Monarchy, or other provision prescribed by law.
(2) A referendum may only begin through the authorization of an act of Parliament reaching a supermajority.
(2) A constitutional amendment referendum shall require a supermajority of votes cast to be AYE in order to pass.
(3) A referendum to vacate the monarchy shall require greater than 80% of the voting population votes cast to be AYE in order to pass."

 

[Capt11543]

AMENDMENT 03
Should the associated Motion to Amend pass, the Public Opinion Act shall be amended in the following manner:

"2 - General Provision
(1) Parliament has the power to obligate may by resolution direct the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hold non-binding public opinion referendums on a matter specified as outlined within this act. A supermajority of votes in parliament is required to do so.[*]

(a) For the purposes of this Act, a resolution to direct the Ministry to hold a referendum is the "initiating resolution".​

(2) Initiating resolutions for all initiating referenda must contain all of the following information:

(a) A short title for the referendum.​

(b) Which of the formats defined in this Act the referendum is to follow.​

(c) A description for the referendum which provides necessary information to the voters.​

(d) A complete list of all options to be made available, if applicable.​

(e) Additional rules, procedures, eligibility requirements, and/or special instructions for the Ministry, within the scope of this Act, if applicable.​

(3) The Ministry shall not be obligated to carry out a referendum if required information is missing from the initiating resolution.

(4) [...]

(5) Every citizen meeting the outlined requirements to vote have the right to vote in such elections.

(a) Parliament may allow more people to cast their vote as long as this is general, so not for the individual case and prescribed within the motion initiating resolution.​

[...]

4 - Detailed Public Opinion Referendum
(1) A detailed public opinion referendum may have as many options as parliament deems appropriated. Those options shall be stated in the original motion. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours.

[...]

 6 - Results
[...]

(2) Parliament may obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to count the ballots through a system defined within the motion initiating resolution."

*Note to the Clerk: This entire sentence should be struck regardless of the result of Amendment 02.

 

[Capt11543]

AMENDMENT 04
Should the associated Motion to Amend pass, the Public Opinion Act shall be amended in the following manner:

"2 - General Provision
[...]

(4) Voting on such public opinion referendum shall last as specified by parliament but not less than 24 hours for 48 hours, unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution, but may never last for less than 24 hours.

[...]

(6) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall maintain a thread in the "Elections and Referendums" thread for each public opinion referendum, which shall contain at minimum a link to the initiating resolution, and where the results shall be posted subject to §6 of this Act.

3 - Agreement Or Disagreement Referendum
(1) A referendum on agreement or disagreement has an "Aye" and a "Nay" option. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours. The option which receives the most votes shall be declared the winner.

4 - Detailed Public Opinion Referendum
(1) A detailed public opinion referendum may have as many options as parliament deems appropriate. Those options shall be stated in the original motion. Normally voting lasts for 48 hours.
(a) Parliament may obligate that citizens can vote for more than one option or rank their choices.

(2) Parliament may direct the Ministry to configure polls for a detailed public opinion referendum according to the following specifications:

(a) Preferential Voting - Voters are asked to rank options in order of preference. Voters must rank a minimum of 1 option, unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution.​

(b) Block Voting - Voters are asked to choose an unordered set of options. The block size shall be 1 unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution.​

(3) Parliament may define a methodology to adjudicate the results of a detailed public opinion referendum as it sees fit. If no methodology is defined, the Ministry shall use the following methodologies by default:

(a) Preferential Voting - Results shall be adjudicated using the Instant Runoff procedure. The option with the least number of votes is eliminated, and each ballot contributing to that option now contributes to the next-highest ranked option which has not yet been eliminated. This process is repeated over successive rounds until one option has a majority (> 50%) of votes.​

(b) Block Voting - The Ministry shall rank the options in order of most to least votes received. The top n options are declared the winners, where n is the block size defined by the initiating resolution.​

5 - Candidate Referendum
[...]

(3) After the nomination period concludes, a voting period is started. Normally voting period lasts for 24 48 hours.
[...]

(4) Parliament may direct the Ministry to configure polls for a candidate referendum according to the following specifications:

(a) Preferential Voting - Voters are asked to rank candidate in order of preference. Voters must rank a minimum of 1 candidate, unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution.​

(b) Block Voting - Voters are asked to choose an unordered set of candidates. The block size shall be 1 unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution.​

(5) Parliament may define a methodology to adjudicate the results of a candidate referendum as it sees fit. If no methodology is defined, the Ministry shall use the following methodologies by default:

(a) Preferential Voting - Results shall be adjudicated using the procedure defined at §5a of the Alexandrian Electoral Act for awarding direct mandates in a general election. 1 candidate shall be elected, unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution.​

(b) Block Voting - The Ministry shall rank the candidates in order of most to least votes received. The top n options are declared the winners, where n is the block size defined by the initiating resolution.​

6 - Results
(1) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall announce the raw election data to the Parliament results within the forum thread within 24 72 hours of the voting period concluding.

(a) The Ministry shall also publish the raw ballot data, and detail the methodology used to determine the results.​

(b) For reason of privacy the Ministry of Internal Affairs is obligated to remove the time stamps and the ballot numbers, as well as randomize the ballots order, in the published raw ballot data.​

(2) Parliament may obligate the Ministry of Internal Affairs to count the ballots through a system defined within the motion."

 

[Capt11543]

AMENDMENT 05
Should the associated Motion to Amend pass, the Public Opinion Act shall be amended in the following manner:

"2 - General Provision
[...]

(2) Initiating resolutions for all initiating public opinion referenda must contain all of the following information:"