Article IV: Polling Rules
1. Definition and validity:
(a) All official decision making will be done through polls, in which Citizens can express their opinion on issues. A poll is the standard vBB poll feature in which people can anonymously vote for one of a list of options.
(b) Any Poll that is not Unofficial (see section 3) and that violates any of the rules specified in this Article will be declared invalid.
(c) Any polls not declared ELECTION, RESOLUTION, AMENDMENT, or OFFICIAL will be considered Unofficial.
(d) The Court has the right to rule over the validity of polls. Invalid polls should be considered Unofficial and may be closed if the Court requests this.
2. Poll Organization:
(a) The first post of all polls must contain the following elements:
* A clear and unbiased explanation of the question and the answers, if needed;
* Expiration date, if applicable;
* Links to related threads or other information sources, if any;
* Type (see section 4) and nature of the poll: information gathering or decision making.
(b) Two types of poll organization are allowed: Yes/No polls and multiple choice polls.
(c) Yes/No polls must have three options of which only one can be chosen. The three options must be:
* Yes, meaning that the voter agrees with what was stated in the poll;
* No, meaning that the voter does not agree with what was stated in the poll;
* Abstain, meaning that the voter does not have a specific opinion on what was stated in the poll or does not wish to express it. Abstain votes may not be considered to say anything about what was stated in the poll.
(d) Alternative terms for 'Yes' and 'No' may be used in a Yes/No poll, as long as their meaning is along the same lines as 'Yes' and 'No' (examples: 'I agree'/'I don't agree' or 'In favour'/'Against'). Terms are along the same lines as 'Yes' and 'No' when the question in the poll can be rephrased so that it can be answered with 'Yes' or 'No'.
(e) Multiple choice polls must have at least three options and cannot be multiple selection. Such polls must at least have an Abstain option as defined in section 3(c). All other options are open for the poll creator to fill in as he wishes, as long as they are clear and unbiased.
3. Poll Types:
There are 5 types of polls: Election polls, Official polls, Resolutions, Amendments and Unofficial polls.
I. Election polls:
(a) These polls must be started by the Court. They serve to elect the persons who will fulfill the official positions of the executive and judicial branches of the government, as defined in
Article II and
Article III of this Constitution.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'ELECTION', written in capital letters, and the name of the office for which the election is held.
(c) They have to be multiple choice polls with only the names of the candidates as options. They can only be decision-making polls, they cannot be used for not information gathering.
(e) They must follow the rules as defined in
Article V of this Constitution.
(f) Election polls in accordance with section 1-f of
Article V shall expire in five days and the Court must include the expiring day in the first post of the poll.
II. Official polls:
(a) These polls must be started by members of the executive branch of the government, as defined in
Article II of this Constitution, and relate to the game.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'OFFICIAL', written in capital letters.
(c) They can be either Yes/No or multiple choice polls and can be used for either information gathering or decision making.
(d) The government official who started the poll may or may not follow the opinion of the majority of the voters. In case (s)he does not follow what was decided, (s)he must make this decision public. Failure to do so will be regarded withholding of information, as defined in
Article I section 5, and can serve as grounds for Impeachment (see
Article V).
(e) Official polls shall only expire in a day chosen by the officer who opened the poll. And if the poll has an expiring day the same officer who started it must include this information in the first post.
III. Resolutions:
(a) These polls can be started by any Citizen, including members of the governement, and must be used to propose resolutions. resolutions, if passed, modify the rules that clearly affect the course of the game or the policy of the executive branch of the government (as defined in
Article II of this Constitution). Except in case of impeachments which shall be decide according to Chapter 2 of
Article V.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'RESOLUTION', written in capital letters.
(c) They have to be Yes/No polls. Multiple choice polls are not allowed as resolutions.
(d) resolutions may not violate or change the Constitution. Resolutions may change, amend or remove any existing resolutions or judicial decisions regarding resolutions.
(e) If more than 1/2 of the voters votes in favour of the resolution, at least 1/3 of all Citizens vote in the poll and the Court does not declare the poll invalid, the resolution is considered passed. All Citizens must from that time on obey it.
(f) Resolutions of the Constitution must be recorded by the Court. The person who proposed the Resolution that has been passed must inform the Court of this as soon as possible.
(g) The Court will resolve all conflicts of resolutions. The Court’s ruling on an interpretation of a resolution is of the same power and authority as that resolution.
(h) Resolution polls shall expire in three days and the citzen who started the poll must include the expiring day in its first post.
IV. Amendments:
(a) These polls can be started by any Citizen, including members of the governement, and must be used to propose Amendments to this Constitution.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'AMENDMENT', written in capital letters.
(c) They have to be Yes/No polls. Multiple choice polls are not allowed as Ammendments.
(d) Amendments may change/append/override any existing Laws, judicial decisions regarding Laws or any number of existing sections of the Constitution.
(e) If more than 1/2 of the voters votes in favour of the Law, at least 1/3 of all Citizens vote in the poll and the Court does not declare the poll invalid, the Ammendent is considered passed. All Citizens must from that time on obey it.
(f) Amendments of the Constitution must be recorded by the Court. The person who proposed an Amendment that has been passed must inform the Court of this as soon as possible.
(f) Amendment polls shall expire in five days and the citzen who started the poll must include the expiring day in its first post.
V. Unofficial polls:
(a) These polls can be started by any Citizen, including members of the government.
(b) They may only exist to debate or gather information. Their outcome should not affect the course of the game or the policy of the government.
(c) Unofficial polls are the only polls in which more than one option may be chosen from the list of options.
(d) They do not have to follow all the rules specified in this Article. However, rules specified in
Article I of this Constitution must still be obeyed.
WHAT WAS CHANGED
-section 1(c) was changed so that all polls not specifically given titles of election, amendment, resolution or official are to be considered unofficial instead of polls started by non-citizens are to be declared unofficial. by law non-citizens cannot start any of the all capitalized type polls.
-tried to clear up the ambiguity of the word "can" in section 2(e)
Article V: Government Changes
1) Elections.
(a) The Court is empowered to oversee all elections and is empowered to resolve any election disputes according to the rules in this Constitution.
(b) An election for a given government position is started if the term of the position is about to end or the person in the position is no longer in office for other reasons.
(c) If the reason for an election is the end of a term, the election process must start eight days before the end of the given government position term. The previous official will remain in office until the end of the term or until a new candidate is elected, whichever is the later.
(d) If the reason is the decision that the citizen in the government position can no longer perfom its duties, the election process must start immediately after this decision is made. Until a new candidate has been elected, the other members of the branch of government in question will appoint a substitute to temporarily take over the open position, allowing the game to continue.
(e) At the start of the election process, all citizens who wish to be candidates for an office must publicly express their candidacy in a nomination thread begun by the court. For this they have three days. No citizen may be a candidate for an elected office if such candidacy might cause this citizen to be in more than one elected office simultaneously.
(f) Once the time in which citizens may express their candidacy for a given elected office has expired, the Court will create an Election poll (see
Article II, section 3.I) for the office, with the names of the candidates as options. The poll shall expire in five days.
(g) If only one candidate is available for an office, a Yes/No poll shall be held to decide if this person may serve in this office. This poll shall expire in five days.
(h) The candidate who received the majority of the votes after the election thread expires will be declared the new holder of the office for which he was a candidate.
(i) In case of a tie in the election poll, the other newly elected members of the same branch of government position in question whose election polls were not tied will vote again to decide which one of the tied candidates will take over this position. If all polls for executive branch positions are simultaneously tied then the Court (including the newly elected member, if there is one) shall select the President, and the President shall select the other ministers from the tied candidates in their respective election polls.
(j)In case of a tie in the election of a judge, the newly elected president will vote along with the two judges already in office in deciding who will be the new judge.
2) Impeachment or Resignations.
(a) Any Citizen may bring the case of impeachment of an elected Minister, President, or Judge to a member of the Court.
(b) The Court shall review the allegations made, allow an answer by the accused, and by a vote determine if there are proper and legal grounds to hold a Resolution poll to decide on impeachment. If the accusations are found to be without legal merit, the allegations shall be dismissed.
(c) Should a member of the Court be the subject of impeachment, he shall not take part in the decision by The Court. The President shall sit in this Court member place for the sole determination of whether the impeachment has merit, and shall be considered a "Judge" for that vote only.
(d) If the Court decides there are grounds for impeachment, it shall start a poll in which it clearly states the person to be impeached and outlines the events that led to the request for impeachment. If the impeachment is confirmed by a majority of the voters in the poll, the officer in question shall be removed from the office, losing all rights and responsibilities thereof and the court must initiate nominations for an election to fill the office.
(e) If an officer wishes to resign this officer will be asked to remain in the office until the end of the election to decide who will replace him. This overrules section 2(f). If the officer is unwilling to remain in office then paragraph 2(f) applies.
(f) Until another citizen is elected to fill the office in question, the same branch of government will choose a willing citizen to fill that office. The first person considered will be the citizen who disputed the office with the impeached person in the last election. The chosen citizen will have the word temporary as a prefix to the name of the office this citizen holds.
(g) If the term of an office filled by a temporary officer will end in less than two weeks the temporary officer will remain in the office until the end of the term. Otherwise a new election process for the office in question shall start and the temporary officer will remain in the office only until a new officer for the position is elected.
WHAT WAS CHANGED
-section 1(b) changed the begining of the election period to when the term "is about to end" in replacement of "has ended"
-section 1(b) changed "can no longer perform his duties" to "is no longer in office for other reasons"
-section 1(e) added "in a nomination thread begun by the court" after publicly express candidacy
-section 1(h) changed "majority of the votes and the election thread expires, this person will be declared" to "majority of the votes after the election thread expires will be declared"
-Added section 1(j) just in case a tie in the vote for judge occurs.
-section 2(f) changed "the court will choose a willing citizen" to "the same branch of government will choose a willing citizen"
as the CON stands we have two conflicting rules! Section 1(d) and section 2f)!
-section 2(f) changed "The court shall give first preference to its members or" to "The first person considered will be" [i]No member of the government is allowed to hold two postions at once, so everyone already in the government must automatically be skipped.
, though I was planning to go one article at a time (which is, in retrospect, probably a bad idea).
