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BILL
TO
Amend the Alexandrian Electoral Act to establish a Single Transferable Party Vote electoral system
BILL
TO
Amend the Alexandrian Electoral Act to establish a Single Transferable Party Vote electoral system
1 - About this Act
(1) This Act
(a) may be cited as the Single Transferable Party Vote Act.
(b) shall be numbered P.B.03-027.
(c) shall be enacted immediately upon receiving assent from Her Majesty the Queen.
(d) has been authored by Prime Minister Capt11543.
(e) has been co-sponsored by MP Kaiser_Bismarck.
2 - Amendments to the Alexandrian Electoral Act
(1) §4 - Electoral Terms and Limitations shall be struck and replaced with the following sections:
“4 - General Election Schedule
(1) This section shall only apply to General Elections.
(2) General Elections shall operate on an eight-day schedule.
(3) A Submission Period shall open as soon as is practicable after the dissolution of Parliament, and close after 120 hours (5 days).
(4) A Voting Period shall open as soon as is practicable after the closing of the Submission Period, and close after 72 hours (3 days).
(5) Votes shall be tabulated and results shall be announced as soon as is practicable after the closing of the Voting Period.
5 - Party and Candidate Declarations
(1) A complete party declaration shall consist of the following:
(a) The party's name and abbreviation.
(b) A link to the party's registration thread with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
(c) An ordered list of candidates to be elected to seats earned by that party in the election. For the purposes of this Act, a party “sponsors” a candidate during an election when they include that candidate on the list required by this paragraph.
(d) A manifesto outlining the party's platform.
(2) A political party may not sponsor a greater number of candidates than the number of seats up for election.
(3) Independent candidates shall submit complete party declarations to qualify for the ballot.
(a) Notwithstanding any other part of this Act, independent candidates need not submit a party list.
(4) Parties must submit a complete declaration before the closing of the Submission Period to qualify for the ballot.
(a) Parties may initially file an incomplete declaration, and may edit their declaration as many times as they wish before the closing of the Submission Period.
(b) This subsection shall also apply to independent candidates.
(5) In addition to submitting a complete declaration, independent candidates must gather at least 5 signatures on a petition in a location to be designated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
(a) Signatures may only be accepted from citizens of the Kingdom of Alexandria who meet the eligibility requirements defined in §17(1) of this Act.
(b) If the Ministry designates a Discord channel as the petition location, the Ministry must accept :Aye: emote reactions to a post submitted by an independent candidate as a signature to that candidate’s ballot petition.
(6) Parties who do not meet the eligibility requirements defined in §17(3) of this Act shall be disqualified. No disqualified party shall appear on the ballot.
(7) Candidates who do not meet the eligibility requirements defined in §17(2) of this Act shall be disqualified. Disqualified party-sponsored candidates are removed from their party’s list. Disqualified independent candidates shall not appear on the ballot.
(8) The Ministry shall give clear and concise reasoning for each candidate or party disqualification. At least two Electoral Officers shall review all candidate and party disqualifications and certify their validity before said disqualifications are announced to the public.
6 - Poll Configuration
(1) General Elections shall use a single preferential poll.
(a) Each qualified party or independent candidate shall appear on this poll.
(b) Voters shall be permitted to rank one or more choices at this poll.
(2) Parties shall be listed on the ballot by their official abbreviation. Independent candidates shall be listed on the ballot by their username.
(3) No less than two Electoral Officers shall review the configuration of the polls and certify their correctness before opening the voting period.”
(2) §5 - General Terms, §5a - Direct Mandates, §5b - Proportional Representation, and §5c - Candidate Election shall be struck, and replaced with the following sections:
“7 - General Terms for Adjudication
(1) This section shall only apply to General Elections.
(2) Voters shall rank one or more candidates in order of preference on each ballot.
(3) Ballots shall be counted according to a single transferable vote system defined in §8. In this step, independent candidates will directly clinch seats, and parties will accumulate transferred votes to earn greater proportional representation in the next step.
(4) After ballots are counted, seats shall be apportioned among the parties based on the number of votes won by candidates from each party using the procedure defined in §9.
(5) After seats are apportioned, candidates are elected to seats using the procedure defined in §10.
(6) From time to time, a random selection may be required to advance election adjudication. All random choices must be made by a digital random-number generator, from which a specific response cannot be elicited, within clear view of the public.
(a) If a computer program used to adjudicate an election carries out a random selection, the program's random number generator must be manually provided with a seed, which shall be chosen according to the above requirements.
8 - Single Transferable Party Vote
(1) For the purposes of this section, the term “contender” shall refer to any party or independent candidate appearing on the ballot.
(2) Vote counts shall always be rounded to five decimals of precision (0.00001).
(3) The threshold (quota) for achieving representation in Parliament is calculated by dividing the number of ballots cast by the number of seats up for election.
(4) Any time a ballot is transferred, it becomes attributed to its highest-ranked contender that has not already achieved quota or been eliminated. That contender is the ballot’s next valid choice.
(a) If a ballot has no next valid choice, it shall be considered exhausted and can no longer be attributed to any candidate.
(5) Surplus votes are transferred using the Gregory Fractional Transfer (GFT) method. Using this method, votes are transferred according to the following procedure:
(a) Calculate a transfer value (T) using the formula T = (V - Q) / V, where V is the number of votes attributed to the contender, and Q is the threshold (quota) for election.
(b) Reweight each ballot attributed to the contender by multiplying its current weight by the transfer value. Some ballots attributed to the contender may have already been reweighted in a previous step.
(c) Transfer each reweighted ballot to its next valid choice. Add the weight of each transferred ballot to the vote total of the contender it is now attributed to.
(6) Initial State: All ballots shall have a weight of 1, and each ballot shall be attributed to its first-choice contender. Each contender shall have as many votes as there are ballots attributed to them.
(7) A contender achieves a quota if, at any point, they have at least enough votes to surpass the threshold.
(8) Any time an independent candidate achieves a quota with more votes than needed to surpass the threshold, the surplus votes are transferred using the GFT method (see subsection (5)).
(9) After any transfer of ballots, if no contender achieved a quota that round, the contender with the fewest votes is eliminated. If two are more contenders are tied with the fewest votes, the tie shall be broken according to the following procedure:
(a) First, step back through previous rounds of transfers and compare the number of votes attributed to each contender until the tie is broken.
(b) If the tie remains unresolved, then compare the number of ballots which ranked each contender first, then second, then third; continue in that manner until the tie is broken.
(c) If the tie still remains unresolved, then eliminate one of the tied contenders at random.
(10) After a contender is eliminated, each ballot attributed to that contender is transferred to its next valid choice at its current weight.
(11) The process of awarding quotas to contenders according to subsections (7), eliminating contenders according to subsection (9), and transferring ballots according to subsections (10) and (8) shall continue until a final state is reached.
(12) Final State: The final state is reached when all contenders have either achieved a quota or have been eliminated.
9 - Proportional Seat Allocation
(1) Eligibility for Seat Allocation: A party or independent candidate is only eligible for seat allocation if that party or independent candidate achieved a quota after the §8 procedure.
(2) The number of seats available to parties is determined by subtracting the number of independent candidates who achieved a quota in the previous phase from the total number of seats up for election.
(3) Seats are allocated to parties using the Sainte-Laguë method.
(a) All available seats are allocated over multiple rounds. One seat is allocated per round.
(b) In each round, a quotient value is calculated for each party, and the seat for the round is allocated to the party with the greatest quotient.
(c) The quotient value (Q) for each party is calculated using the formula Q = v / (2s + 1), where:
(i) v is the number of votes earned by that party, and
(ii) s is the number of seats already allocated to that party.
(4) Initial State: All eligible parties start with 0 seats allocated to them. Thus, the quotient value for each party in the first round should be equal to the total number of votes earned by that party.
(5) If two or more parties are tied with the highest quotient value in a given round, the tie shall be broken according to the following procedure:
(a) First, award the seat to the party that earned the most total votes.
(b) If the tie remains unresolved, compare the number of ballots which ranked each party first, then second, then third; continue in that manner until the tie is broken.
(c) If the tie still remains unresolved, award the seat to a party chosen at random.
(6) Final State: The final state is reached once all available seats have been apportioned.
10 - Candidate Election
(1) First, all independent candidates who achieved a quorum after the §8 procedure are elected to seats.
(2) Next, party candidates shall be elected in the order in which they appear on their respective party's list.
(a) If a party does not sponsor enough candidates on their list to fill all of the seats allocated to them, each unfilled seat shall be declared vacant, but under the control of that party.
(3) Parties who control vacant seats shall appoint a citizen to fill each vacancy no less than 14 days after the results of the general election are announced. After 14 days, a special election shall be held to fill any seats which are still vacant.
(a) This 14-day deadline shall supersede any other statutory deadline for filling vacant seats.”
(4) §6 - Parliamentary Special Elections shall be struck, and replaced with the following section:
“11 - Parliamentary Special Elections
(1) In the event of a vacancy in Parliament, if Parliament cannot agree on a replacement within 72 hours, a Special Election shall be held.
(a) If Parliament has been convened for 77 days or longer, or a General Election is scheduled within two weeks of the vacancy opening, a Special Election will not be called, and the seat shall remain vacant for the remainder of the term.
(2) To the greatest extent possible, and unless superseded by a provision of this section, all provisions of this Act which do not apply only to General Elections shall apply to Special Elections.
(3) Election Timeline. A Special Election shall consist of a 72-hour Submission Period, followed by a 24-hour Voting Period.
(4) Special Elections are contested by individual candidates. Each candidate who wishes to appear on the ballot shall submit a complete candidate declaration by the end of the Submission Period, which shall consist of the following (supersedes §5(1)):
(a) The candidate’s Minecraft username.
(b) The candidate’s party affiliation, if any.
(c) A manifesto outlining the candidate’s platform. It shall be permitted for a candidate to adopt the manifesto of a political party as their own.
(5) Registered parties shall submit a list of sponsored candidates by the end of the Submission Period.
(a) Candidates who qualify to appear on the ballot, but do not appear on any party’s list of sponsored candidates, shall be treated as independent candidates. (i.e. their party affiliation is considered to be “Independent” or “IND”).
(b) Unregistered or otherwise ineligible parties may not sponsor candidates during a Special Election.
(6) Polls shall be configured following the terms of §6 of this Act, with the following exceptions:
(a) Each qualified candidate shall appear on the poll, listed by their Minecraft username and their party affiliation. (supersedes §6(1)(a) and §6(2))
(7) Special elections shall be adjudicated by carrying out the procedure defined by §8 of this Act, and electing all candidates who achieve a quota to a seat, with the following exceptions:
(a) The term “contender”, as used in §8 of this Act, shall refer to any candidate appearing on the ballot in a Special Election. (supersedes §8(1))
(b) Surplus votes are transferred from all candidates who achieve a quota, regardless of that candidate’s party affiliation. (supersedes §8(8))
(c) The final state is reached under the following circumstances (supersedes §8(12)):
(i) If, at any point, the number of candidates who have achieved a quota is equal to the number of seats up for election, the final state has been reached. No further action is necessary.
(ii) If, at any point, the number of candidates who have not achieved a quota or been eliminated is less than or equal to the number of seats up for election minus the number of candidates who have achieved a quota, all remaining candidates are elected to a seat. After this, the final state has been reached.
(8) Following a special election, each newly filled seat shall be placed under the control of the party who sponsored the candidate elected to that seat.”
(5) §9 - Removal of a Member of Parliament shall be struck, and replaced with the following section:
“12 - Post-Election Transparency
(1) For the purposes of this section, the following terms are defined:
(a) “Raw ballot” - An entry in the list of submitted votes generated by the election plugin and retrieved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs after polls are closed.
(b) “Metadata” - Information generated by the election plugin alongside a raw ballot, including, but not limited to, the ballot ID number, and the ballot submission timestamp.
(2) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall release the following materials no more than 72 hours following the announcement of the results of each election:
(a) A list of anonymized raw ballots with metadata removed and the order reshuffled so that it is no longer chronological.
(b) Any spreadsheets or other documents used to adjudicate the election.
(c) The source code, input, and output of any computer programs used to adjudicate the election.
(3) Notwithstanding any other part of this Act, or any other law, no raw ballot may be released with accompanying metadata which may be used to identify a particular voter.”
(6) §11 - Electoral Officers shall be amended in the following manner:
“14 - Electoral Officers
(1) The following positions shall be considered Electoral Officers:
(a) Electoral Registrar; - Responsible for collecting declarations, configuring polls, and posting notices during the election.
(b) Electoral Director; - Responsible for overseeing election operations.
(c) Electoral Adjudicator - Responsible for tabulating and announcing election results.
[...]"
(7) §12 - Referendums and Recall Elections shall be struck.
(8) §15 - Voting Requirements shall be struck, and replaced with the following section:
"17 - Eligibility Requirements
(1) To be eligible to vote in an election, an individual must:
(a) Be a citizen of the Kingdom of Alexandria.
(b) Have at least 4 hours (4h) of playtime logged within the past 30 days (30d).
(2) To be eligible to participate in an election as a candidate (including as an independent candidate), an individual must:
(a) Meet the voter eligibility requirements set forth in subsection (1).
(b) Have a total of 6 hours (6h) of playtime logged.
(c) Not be convicted of any crime, or otherwise subject to any legal penalty, which would bar said individual from serving in Parliament.
(3) To be eligible to participate an election, a political party must:(a) Be registered and in good standing with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
(4) To the greatest extent possible, the Ministry of Internal Affairs shall assess all eligibility requirements at the closing of the Submission Period.(a) To the greatest extent permitted by the election plugin, a voter's eligibility shall be assessed at the moment they attempt to cast a ballot.
(9) Existing sections within the Alexandrian Electoral Act shall be renumbered in the following manner:
“13 - Election Fraud Process
[...]
15 - Polling Places
[...]
16 - Electoral Emergency
[...]”
3 - Amendments to the Legal Entity Act
(1) §11 - Party Corporations shall be amended in the following manner:
“11 - Party Corporations
[...]
(3) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall manage the registration of political parties, and may promulgate policies consistent with this Act as necessary to fulfill this duty.
(a) Political parties must register with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to participate in elections.
(b) The Ministry of Internal Affairs may not deregister a political party during an election.
[...]”
4 - Amendments to the Public Opinion Act
(1) §5 - Candidate Referendum shall be amended in the following manner:
“5 - Candidate Referendum
[...]
(2) A nomination period shall be opened where any citizen may nominate themselves. This nomination period shall last for 24 hours.
(a) Parliament may regulate who is able to nominate themselves.
(b) Candidate referenda shall be non-partisan.
[...]
(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 §11(7) of the Alexandrian Electoral Act for electing candidates in a special election. 1 candidate shall be elected, unless otherwise specified in the initiating resolution.
[...]”
(2) §6 - Results shall be amended in the following manner:
“6 - Results
(1) The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall announce the results within the forum thread within 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) The Ministry shall also release a transparency report consistent with §12 of the Alexandrian Electoral Act with the results of each public opinion referendum.”
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