Constitution

Preface

We the People of Voices of Democracy, establish this Constitution.

Article 1 — The Parliament

Part 1 — Overview

§1. The Parliament shall be the primary legislative body of Voices of Democracy and shall represent the interests of the people by wielding legislative authority.

§2. Parliament shall consist of two houses. Each house of Parliament shall make their own rules and procedures as they see fit.

§3. A member of either house of Parliament shall only be forcibly expelled from Parliament in the event of an impeachment and subsequent conviction against them.

§4. Parliament may decide to put legislation to a public referendum. In such cases, legislation will be presented to the President if it obtains a simple majority vote in support from the public referendum.

§4.1. Parliament may also put material before the public in a non-binding referendum.

§5. Each house of Parliament shall have the power to issue subpoenas.

§6. Each house of Parliament shall have the authority to conduct oversight into public offices and those who occupy public offices.

§7. Each house of Parliament shall have the authority to impeach anyone who holds public office.

Part 2 — The House of Representatives

§1. The House of Representatives shall be the lower house of Parliament.

§1.1. A Member of the House of Representatives shall be known as a Member of Parliament or a Representative.

§1.2. The number of seats in the Houses of Representatives shall, in accordance with any regulations in this Constitution, be individually determined by the Electoral Commission.

§2. The government (also known as the executive branch) shall always answer to the House of Representatives.

§3. The House of Representatives shall never be dissolved except to make way for a new House of Representatives after an election.

§4. Elections for the House of Representatives shall occur when the President or the Prime Minister calls an election.

§4.1. When the Prime Minister calls an election, they must get approval from the President for what date and time the election will take place.

§4.1.1. In cases where the Prime Minister calls an election, if it is necessary or proper, the President may schedule the election without approval from the Prime Minister.

§4.2. A Prime Minister shall not have the power to call an election unless they have been appointed Prime Minister during the current House of Representatives term.

§4.2.1. In cases where the current Prime Minister was not appointed Prime Minister during the current House of Representatives term, the House of Representatives may vote to petition the President to call an election.

§4.3. House of Representatives elections shall be conducted using Party List (Sainte-Laguë Method), as defined in the appendix of this Constitution.

§4.4. The President is not permitted to call a House of Representatives election until approximately four weeks have passed since the last House of Representatives election. The President is obligated to call a House of Representatives election once approximately four weeks have passed since the last House of Representatives election. The President shall have the power to call an early House of Representatives election if it is petitioned by the House of Representatives during the period in which the House of Representatives is engaged in deciding on which citizen to give confidence to serve as Prime Minister. The President shall be obligated to fulfill this petition if it is necessary and proper.

§5. The Leader of the Opposition shall be a ceremonial title that is held by the party leader of the largest party in the House of Representatives that is not giving confidence to the government.

Part 3 — The Senate

§1. The Senate shall be the upper house of Parliament.

§1.1. A member of the Senate shall be known as a Senator.

§1.2. The number of seats in the Senate shall, in accordance with any regulations in this Constitution, be individually determined by the Electoral Commission.

§2. The President, with consent from the Council of State, and if it is necessary and proper, shall have the power to establish or dissolve the Senate.

§2.1. The President, with consent from the Council of State, if it is necessary and proper, shall have the power to declare that the Senate shall no longer be an elected house of Parliament. In such a case, Parliament shall decide the process for appointing Senators.

§2.1.1. The President may reverse such a declaration as they see fit.

§3. Senate elections shall occur only when the President calls a Senate election.

§3.1. Senate elections shall be conducted using Single Transferable Vote, as defined in the appendix of this Constitution.

§3.2. The President may decide to hold elections for specific Senate seat(s) instead of the Senate as a whole.

§3.3. Senate elections must be held at approximately the halfway point of a House of Representatives term. The President is not permitted to call a Senate election until approximately four weeks have passed since the last Senate election election. The President is obligated to call a Senate election once approximately four weeks have passed since the last Senate election.

§3.3.1. In cases where a House of Representatives election is called earlier than approximately four weeks since the last House of Representatives election, the President shall not call the next Senate election until approximately halfway through the new House of Representatives term. Once the Senate has sat approximately halfway through this new House of Representatives term, the President is obligated to call a Senate election.

§4. Legislation originating from the House of Representatives will be reviewed by the Senate, who may choose to approve of legislation or send back recommended changes to the House of Representatives. Following this, the House of Representatives will pass their preferred version of the legislation, which will then be presented to the President.

§4.1. Both houses of Parliament may choose to agree on terms that would skip the Senate review process.

§4.2. Both houses of Parliament may choose to agree to additional restrictions within Parliament in order to pass legislation that is intended to become law.

§5. Legislation originating from the Senate, may subsequently be passed by the House of Representatives and be presented to the President.

§5.1. If the House of Representatives makes changes to such legislation, the legislation will now be legally considered as originating from the House of Representatives and the process described in Section 4 of this part of the article will begin.

§6. The Senate shall confirm or deny any nominee presented by the Prime Minister or the President.

§7. No Senator may concurrently be a member of the House of Representatives.

Part 4 — When the House of Representatives Sits Alone

§1. In times when the Senate is dissolved, the House of Representatives shall be responsible for the duties of the Senate.

§1.1. These duties shall include the confirmation or denial of nominees presented by the Prime Minister or the President and acting as both the Accusing and Investigative House for matters regarding impeachment.

§2. When the Senate is dissolved, legislation shall be presented to the President after being passed by the House of Representatives.

Part 5 — The Enactment of Laws

§1. After legislation has been passed by Parliament or passed a binding referendum, the legislation shall be presented to the President. For the legislation to become law, it must then be signed by the President.

§2. Once legislation has been presented to the President, they may refer it to the Supreme Court for judicial review. Once a bill has been referred to the Supreme Court for judicial review, the President shall not sign the legislation while the judicial review is ongoing.

§2.1. If the President intends to refer legislation for judicial review, they must apprise the Council of State of this intention at least twelve hours before officially referring the legislation for judicial review. If the President fails to do this, then their referral shall not be considered valid.

§3. If the Supreme Court rules against the legislation, the President shall not sign it and the legislation shall not become law.

§4. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the legislation, the President is compelled to sign the legislation and it shall then become law.

§5. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of part of the legislation but against other parts, then the parts of the legislation that have been ruled in favor shall be signed by the President and shall then become law.

§6. If the President both fails to sign legislation into law within thirty-six hours of the legislation being presented to the President and fails to properly refer legislation for judicial review within thirty-six hours of the legislation being presented to the President, then the legislation may be signed by the presiding officer for each of the presently established houses of Parliament and shall become law.

Part 6 — Impeachment

§1. For each case of impeachment, the house of Parliament that impeaches a person shall be considered the Accusing House and the opposite house shall be considered the Investigative House.

§2. When a person has been impeached, the Accusing House shall present their case to the Investigative House. The person subject to an impeachment shall be given the opportunity to defend themselves in the Investigative House.

§2.1. After gaining an understanding of a case, the Investigative House shall vote to convict or acquit the person being subjected to an impeachment.

§2.1.1. To convict, 2/3 of the Investigative House must vote in favor of conviction.

§2.1.1.1. If in the Investigative House, ⅔ of the total body equals a simple majority of the Investigative House, then a conviction shall instead require ¾ of the Investigation House to vote in favor of a conviction.

§2.1.1.1.1. If in the Investigative House, ¾  of the total body equals a simple majority of the Investigative House, then a conviction shall instead require the unanimity of the Investigative House to vote in favor of a conviction.

§2.1.2. If an impeachment was leveled against more than one office that a person holds, then the Investigative House must hold individual votes for each of those offices to convict or acquit the person being subjected to an impeachment.

§2.2. The Accusing House shall decide who acts as case manager(s) to present their case and subsequently argue before the Investigative House in the same vote to impeach a person.

§2.2.1. If the Accusing House fails to assign case manager(s) in the same vote to impeach a person, then the impeachment shall not be valid.

§2.3. For an impeachment to be valid, the Accusing House must state which office(s) should have an impeachment leveled against a person. This statement must happen in the same vote to impeach a person.

§3. A conviction shall result in the person subject to impeachment being removed from all office(s) where there was a successful conviction.

§3.1. A convicted person shall not hold any public office within the branch of government in which there has been a conviction until the next House of Representatives election has been completed.

Article 2 — The Prime Minister

§1. The Prime Minister shall be the head of government of Voices of Democracy.

§1.1 The government shall implement all laws and wield executive authority.

§1.2. All members of the government (also known as the executive branch) shall be commanded by the Prime Minister.

§1.3. The Prime Minister may appoint any citizen (including themselves) to any position within the executive branch.

§1.3.1. The head of an executive department shall be a Minister.

§1.3.2. The Prime Minister may appoint or remove any Minister from the Cabinet. The Prime Minister may dismiss any Minister from the Cabinet.

§1.3.2.1. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister shall be ex officio members of the Cabinet.

§1.4. A member of the government may concurrently be a member of either house of Parliament.

§1.5. Any member of the government may be dismissed by the Prime Minister.

§2. The Prime Minister and any relevant Minister shall have the power to represent Voices of Democracy in manners related to foreign affairs.

§2.1. To enter or leave a treaty shall require the approval of Parliament.

§3. A Deputy Prime Minister shall be selected by the Prime Minister.

§3.1. The Deputy Prime Minister shall answer to the Prime Minister.

§4. Any powers that are not described in this Constitution, may be granted to the Prime Minister and other Ministers by Parliament.

§4.1. Any powers that are not described in this Constitution, may be removed from the Prime Minister and other Ministers by Parliament.

§5. The executive branch shall have the power to prosecute for any crimes established within the Constitution or the law.

Article 3 — Prime Minister Selection

§1. The President shall appoint a citizen of Voices of Democracy to serve as Prime Minister.

§1.1. This selection must be the citizen that has obtained the confidence of the majority of the House of Representatives. This shall be determined in the following fashion.

§1.1.1. A citizen that has the support of the party leader(s) that represent the majority of members of the House of Representatives.

§1.1.2. Independents in the House of Representatives shall be able to support a citizen to become Prime Minister.

§1.2. If there is no citizen that can obtain the confidence of the House of Representatives, the President may specify that their selection is an Acting Prime Minister until an official selection is made.

§1.2.1. Once a citizen has obtained the confidence of the House of Representatives, the President is obligated to appoint that citizen as Prime Minister.

§2. The public has a right to know which Members of the House of Representatives are giving confidence to the Prime Minister.

§3. After an election the Prime Minister from the previous term, may remain in office as a caretaker until the Prime Minister for the current term is selected.

Article 4 — Votes of No Confidence

§1. The government may face votes of no confidence in the House of Representatives.

§2. If a vote of no confidence is successful, then the Prime Minister and all Ministers shall be removed from office.

§2.1. If the Prime Minister wishes for their government to remain in office, then they must instead call an election for the House of Representatives.

§3. A vote of no confidence shall only be successful if the outcome of the vote is that the government does not have the support of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives that casted a vote either in support or against the government.

Article 5 — The President

§1. The President shall be the Head of State of Voices of Democracy and shall be elected by the people through the following process.

§1.1. Candidates for President must be nominated by at least 30% of Parliament as a whole and must be a citizen.

§1.1.2. All the members of each house of Parliament shall have the power to nominate only one candidate. Members of each house of Parliament are permitted to change who they are nominating during the nomination period.

§1.1.3. Nominations shall be permitted to begin on the Monday before a presidential election and last until the day of the presidential election.

§1.2. There shall be two presidential elections each year. Each shall begin on the following dates.

• The second Saturday of January.
• The second Saturday of July. §1.2.1. Each Presidential election must keep the polls open for twenty-four hours. §1.2.2. Presidential elections shall be conducted using Instant-Runoff Voting, as defined in the appendix of this Constitution. §1.2.3. If only two candidates are nominated, presidential elections shall be conducted using First Past the Post, as defined in the appendix of this Constitution. §1.2.4. If only one candidate is nominated, there shall be no presidential election held and the nominated candidate shall become President. §1.3. On a ballot for President, no candidate shall have any party affiliation listed. §1.4. The ballot used for the presidential election shall not contain any other election or referendum on it.

§2. For the duration of their time in office, the President shall not hold any allegiance or membership with any political party, faction, caucus, or any other political grouping and shall not concurrently hold another public office.

§3. The President shall, at all times, be the owner of the Voices of Democracy server which is presently utilised for day-to-day operations. Parliament may establish extraterritorial Infrastructure, but ownership thereof must be specified through legislation.

§3.1. The President may order non-binding referendums to be held.

§4. The President shall have responsibility in enforcing the Basic Rules of Voices of Democracy. The President shall have the power to moderate individuals for reasonable suspicion of violating the Basic Rules of Voices of Democracy.

§4.1. The President shall have the power to request assistance from the executive branch in their duty to enforce and moderate reasonably suspected violations of the Basic Rules.

§4.1.1. The only members of the executive branch who may be eligible to assist in this matter are the Prime Minister and any citizen(s) who's responsibility in the executive branch concerns issues around justice.

§4.1.2. The President shall have the power to determine which (if any) of these eligible members of the executive branch may provide assistance at any given time.

§4.1.3. The President shall have the power to regulate the scope of Basic Rules moderation for any individual assisting member of the executive branch.

§4.1.4. The President shall have the power to regulate the scope of Basic Rules moderation for the collective or subgroups of assisting members of the executive branch.

§4.1.5. The President shall have the power to remove any or all assisting members of the executive branch from their role in moderating for the Basic Rules.

§4.1.6. The President shall have the power to reverse or undo any moderation actions related to the Basic Rules, that is taken by assisting members of the executive branch.

§5. The President may make any changes to Voices of Democracy if it is necessary and proper. When exercising this power, the President must apprise the Council of State and if necessary, consult with the Council of State.

§6. The President, with the support of the Council of State, shall have the power to dismiss the Prime Minister or anyone else that holds public office if it is necessary and proper.

§7. The President shall fill vacancies in Parliament according to convention that has been established in consultation with the Council of State.

§8. The President may fix any typos or formatting issues found in the Constitution or laws.

§9. The President shall have the power to nominate a citizen to be Vice President, who shall be confirmed or denied by parliamentary procedure as described in article 1 of this constitution. The Vice President shall answer to the President and act with as much of the President’s authority as the President grants.

§9.1. The President shall have the power to dismiss a Vice President.

§10. In the event of the presidency being vacant or the President being incapacitated, the following shall happen.

§10.1. The Vice President shall serve as Acting President.

§10.1.1 If no such Vice President exists then the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the presiding officer of the Senate, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall collectively decide who should serve as Acting President.

§10.2. A special by-election shall be held to select a new President to serve the remainder of the term.

§10.2.1. On the Monday following the vacancy occurring, nominations shall begin to commence.

§10.2.2. On the Saturday thereafter, the special by-election for President shall begin and polls shall be open for twenty-four hours.

Article 6 — Council of State

§1. The Council of State shall function as an advisory board to the President.

§2. The people who presently hold the following positions shall have a guaranteed seat on the Council of State by virtue of the office they presently hold.

• Prime Minister.
• Deputy Prime Minister.
• Presiding officer of the House of Representatives.
• Presiding officer of the Senate.
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
• Vice President.

Article 7 — The Electoral Commission

§1. The Electoral Commission shall run all elections and referendums. These elections and referendums must be run in a free and fair manner.

§2. The President shall be an ex officio member of the Electoral Commission.

§3. Members of the Electoral Commission shall be nominated by the President or the Prime Minister and confirmed or denied by parliamentary procedure as described in article 1 of this constitution

§3.1. The membership of the Electoral Commission must not be imbalanced in any way that relates to political party membership, caucus, bloc, faction, or any otherwise allegiance.

§3.1.1. The Supreme Court shall have the power to remove any member from the Electoral Commission if there is found to be imbalance in the Electoral Commission.

§3.2. No member of the Electoral Commission may serve if they have a conflict of interest that prevents them from carrying out their duties impartially.

§3.2.1. The Supreme Court shall have the power to remove any member from the Electoral Commission if a member is found to have such a conflict of interest.

§3.3. Given how the people have a right to a secret ballot, the size of the Electoral Commission shall not grow to a size that effectively makes a ballot no longer a secret ballot.

§3.3.1. The Supreme Court shall have the power to remove any member of the Electoral Commission if the size of the Electoral Commission is found to be at a size that effectively makes a ballot no longer secret.

§4. The Electoral Commission’s rules and procedures shall be determined by its members.

§5. It shall be a crime for any member of the Electoral Commission to publish information related to the election that should not be publicly available at any given time.

§5.1. This can include violating the secret ballot or publishing any results while the polls are still open.

§6. When running an election or referendum, the Electoral Commission must take all reasonable steps to verify the identity and authenticity of the voters and their ballots.

§7. The Electoral Commission is required to comply with any reasonable oversight from Parliament.

Article 8 — The Judiciary

Part 1 – Lower Courts

§1. The Inferior Courts shall possess original jurisdiction of all criminal and civil cases.

§2. To complete its duties, the Judiciary must interpret and apply the laws and constitution of Voices of Democracy.

§2.1. Parliament may create sentencing guidelines through standard legislative process.

§2.2. In cases not covered by the guidelines, Judges shall use their best professional judgment.

§2.3. A legal entity shall be anything or anyone which has any rights defined in acts of Parliament or the Constitution.

§3. The first round of a case shall be heard by a single judge.

§3.1. Judges must be volunteer only; no one shall be compelled to preside over any case.

§3.2. Judges must recuse themselves in the event they may have, or may appear to have, a conflict of interest in the case.

§3.3. The presiding judge must provide the legal reasoning behind their judgment, in a public brief, including cited acts, laws, and precedents, as well as the verdict.

Part 2 – Supreme Court of Voices of Democracy

§1. There shall be a Supreme Court of Voices of Democracy, whose duty is to interpret the law, both constitutional and non-constitutional, as well as serve as an appellate court.

§1.1. Judicial reviews, which allow the Supreme Court to invalidate, reverse, and issue judicial remedies for any actions, commissions, orders, or laws which are incompatible with a higher authority or;

§1.2. Appeals of any decision made by lower courts, which allow the Supreme Court to force a retrial, overturn an inferior court decision, or amend an inferior court decision or;

§2. The Supreme Court Chief Justice shall represent the judiciary, and decide whether to accept or decline cases.

§3. The Supreme Court shall have the power to determine its own procedures to meet its constitutional and legal duties.

§3.1. If any of the Supreme Court Justices has a conflict of interest with the appeal or review, including having presided over the original trial, they must recuse themselves.

§3.2. Recused Justices must be temporarily replaced by a random judge, for the duration of the case.

Part 3 – Judicial Organization

§1. Judges and Supreme Court Justices shall be nominated by the Prime Minister and confirmed or denied by parliamentary procedure as described in article 1 of this constitution.

§1.1. Judges and Justices may be any citizen of Voices of Democracy. No member of the judiciary may concurrently hold a public office outside the judiciary.

§1.2. Supreme Court Justices shall be nominated by the Prime Minister and must be an acting judge.

§2 The Supreme Court Justices shall choose a Supreme Court Chief of Justice among themselves.

§3 There shall be no more than five justices on the Supreme Court.

Part 4 – Judicial Powers

§1. The courts shall have the power to issue subpoenas related to a case.

§2. The courts shall have the power to issue temporary injunctions on a matter while that same matter is being adjudicated in court.

§3. The courts shall have the power to create precedents as part of their rulings on a case.

§3.1. The most recent precedent from the will stand above other conflicting precedents.

§3.1.1. The Supreme Court may invalidate any previous precedent.

§3.2. Any precedent that relates directly to and relies on the language of the Constitution shall not be overturned by any method other than from within the judiciary or by amending the Constitution.

§3.2.1. Parliament may overturn precedents related to laws. This may be done through the passage of new laws.

§4. The judiciary has the power to decide sentencing and judgements on their cases. However, there shall be no cruel or unusual punishment.

Article 9 — Independent Agencies

§1. An Independent Agency shall be a public department that holds executive powers that have been granted to them and shall operate independently of the executive branch.

§1.1. An Independent Agency must have a designated Head of the Independent Agency, which shall be a public office.

§1.2. Parliament shall define the term length for any head of an independent agency.

§2. The Independent Agency Head shall be nominated by the Prime Minister and confirmed or denied by parliamentary procedure as described in article 1 of this constitution.

§3. Any Independent Agency that Parliament creates must have a justifiable and articulable reason as to why it should be an independent agency and not a part of the normal executive government.

§3.1. The Supreme Court can dissolve an Independent Agency after reasonable examination. If they find that it is necessary they can rule to return the Independent Agency's powers back to the executive branch and dissolve the Independent Agency and overturn the law that establishes it.

Article 10 — The Basic Rules of Voices of Democracy

§1. The Basic Rules of Voices of Democracy shall be rules that must be abided by citizens and members of Voices of Democracy. Violation of any of these rules shall be considered a crime. The following is each of the Basic Rules.

• No doxxing.
• No hate speech/slurs or bigotry.
• No Not Safe For Work (NSFW).
• Stay within Terms of Service (TOS).
• No supporting authoritarianism in the real world.
• No disinformation regarding events from the real world.
• No brigading or raiding.
• No engaging in behavior, language, or threats that could endanger the safety or well-being of any person(s).

Article 11 — Rights of the People

§1. There shall be no law, policy, or actions that unfairly targets a person, persons, or a specific political party.

§2. When casting a vote for any election or referendum, a voter has the right to a secret ballot. With only the Electoral Commission having the ability to see the identity of a voter for the purposes of verifying the authenticity of a ballot.

§3. Only citizens shall be able to hold public office.

§4. Citizens have the right to organize and form political parties.

§4.1. For a party to be recognized, the party (through its own rules and procedures) must declare one of its members the Party Leader.

§4.2. For a party to be recognized, the Electoral Commission may require a party to register its party name and party leader with the Electoral Commission through any reasonable procedures that have been created by the Electoral Commission.

§4.3. The Electoral Commission shall oversee the recognition of political parties.

§5. No political party shall be formed that organizes around a hateful ideology.

§5.1. No party shall have a hateful name or imagery associated with their brand.

Article 12 — Constitutional Amendments

§1. The Constitution may only be amended with a ¾ majority vote in all presently established houses of Parliament.

§1.1. If in a house of Parliament, ¾  of the total body presently equals a simple majority of that same house of Parliament, then that house of Parliament, shall require the unanimity of that house of Parliament to pass a constitutional amendment.

Article 13 — Appendix

Part 1 — Addendum

§1. All laws, policies, judicial opinions, and judicial rulings existing since September 4th, 2022 shall remain lawful unless they are subsequently overturned through lawful means.

Part 2 — Party List (Sainte-Laguë Method)

§1. Party List (Sainte-Laguë Method) shall function in the following fashion.

§2. Each party leader registers their party for an election. They are to provide a party list. This is an ordered list of candidates.

§2.1. For this registration to be valid, the party list must include at least two candidates.

§3. Each voter casts a single vote for a single party.

§4. For a party’s votes to be counted in tabulation, a party must have received at least 5% of the votes.

§5. The tabulation for this election uses the Sainte-Laguë method. This tabulation happens in rounds. For each round, the party with the highest quotient has the highest, unelected candidate from their party list elected.

§5.1. The following formula will be used each round to calculate each party’s quotient. Quotient = V / (2s + 1).

§5.1.1. V = the total number of votes that a party received.

§5.1.2. s = the number of seats that have been allocated so far to a party.

§5.2. These tabulation rounds continue until all seats have been filled.

§5.2.1. If a party won seat(s) and did not have enough candidates on their party list to fill those seat(s), then those seat(s) are considered vacant but won by that party.

§6. The total number of seats selected must result in a tabulation that meets the criteria in the following subsections. If this criteria is not meant, then a different total number of seats must be selected that does meet the criteria.

§6.1. When looking at the vote share and the seats each party has, the paths to form a majority must match.

§6.1.1. This means that if a party or combination of parties can form a majority of the vote share, they must also be able to form a majority of the seats.

§6.1.2. This means that if a party or combination of parties can not form a majority of the vote share, they must also be not able to form a majority of the seats.

§6.1.3. If this is not possible due to wasted votes, then this matter will be considered based on only the vote share of the parties above the 5% threshold.

§6.2. When looking at the vote share and the seats each party has, any paths to form exactly half of the votes/seats must match.

§6.2.1. This means that if a party or combination of parties can form exactly half of the vote share, they must also be able to form exactly half of the seats.

§6.2.2. If this is not possible due to wasted votes, then this matter will be considered based on only the vote share of the parties above the 5% threshold.

§7. If multiple parties receive the exact same amount of votes and it is not possible to award them the same exact number of seats, which party(s) gets more seats and which party(s) get less seats shall be decided through random chance.

Part 3 — Single Transferable Vote

§1. Single Transferable Vote shall function in the following fashion.

§2. On the ballot, voters may rank as many or as little candidates as they like. This means that the number of available rankings shall match the number of candidates on the ballot.

§3. The candidate a voter ranks, “1st,” shall be considered that voter’s first preference.

§4. At the start of tabulation, the first preference votes shall be considered the starting, “active votes.”

§5. To win an election, a candidate must have a number of active votes that is greater or equal to the quota. This quota shall be calculated in the following fashion.

§5.1. (V / (S + 1)) + 1

§5.1.1. V = total votes cast in this election.

§5.1.2. S = The total number of seats being elected.

§5.2. The quota must be a whole number. If the calculation results in a number that is not a whole number, then that number shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number.

§6. An election shall be tabulated in rounds. The following shall happen in each round.

§6.1. Check to see if any eligible candidate has reached the quota. If any have then they will be considered elected.

§6.1.1. An eligible candidate shall be defined as a candidate who has not yet been elected or eliminated. Once a candidate is no longer an eligible candidate, they are no longer considered in tabulation.

§6.2. If a candidate(s) has reached the quota then their active votes will be transferred to other candidates through the following process.

§6.2.1. Each ballot that has their active votes going towards the candidate that reached the quota in this round, will have their ballot reweighted and its active vote given to the next highest ranked eligible candidate on that ballot.

§6.2.2. Calculating the new weight of a ballot shall use the following formula. ((A - Q) / A) x W.

§6.2.2.1. A = total active votes that the winning candidate had in the round where they met the quota.

§6.2.2.2. Q = quota.

§6.2.2.3. W = the current weight of this specific ballot. By default, this is 1.

§6.3. If in this round, no candidate has reached the quota, then the eligible candidate with the fewest active votes shall be eliminated. The ballot(s) that gave an active vote to the eliminated candidate shall then have their active vote transferred to the next highest ranked eligible candidate on their ballot.

§6.3.1. If a candidate must be eliminated and multiple eligble candidates tie to have the least amount of active votes, the eliminated candidate shall be decided by random chance.

§6.4. A round ends once either the quota is meant (and the subsequent reweighing and transfer of active votes) or an eligible candidate has been eliminated (and the subsequent transfer of active votes.

§7. The tabulation shall end once all seats have been elected.

§7.1. If the remaining eligible candidates exactly equals the remaining unelected seats, then all of said eligible candidates shall be elected regardless if they presently meet the quota.

§8. When electing an entire body, the total number of seats shall be an odd number.

Part 4 — Instant-Runoff Voting

§1. Instant-Runoff Voting shall function in the following fashion.

§2. On the ballot, voters may rank as many or as little candidates as they like. This means that the number of available rankings shall match the number of candidates on the ballot.

§3. The candidate a voter ranks, “1st,” shall be considered that voter’s first preference.

§4. At the start of tabulation, the first preference votes shall be considered the starting, “active votes.”

§5. To win an election, a candidate must have a number of active votes that is greater or equal to the simple majority of the total number of valid ballots cast in this election.

§6. If in the first round of tabulation, no candidate has enough active votes to be elected, the candidate with the least amount of active votes shall be eliminated. The ballot(s) that gave an active vote to the eliminated candidate shall then have their active vote go towards the next highest ranked eligible candidate on their ballot. This continues until a candidate is elected.

§6.1. An eligible candidate shall be defined as a candidate who has not yet been eliminated.

§6.2. If a candidate must be eliminated and multiple candidates tie to have the least amount of eligible votes, the eliminated candidate shall be decided by random chance.

§6.3. If all but one candidate has been eliminated and that remaining candidate still does not have enough active votes to be elected, that remaining candidate shall be elected.

Part 5 — First Past the Post

§1. First Past the Post shall function in the following fashion.

§2. Voters get to cast a single vote for a single candidate.

§3. The candidate with the most votes will win the election.

§4. If there is a tie, and there is no specified solution for this specific election, the tie will be broken by random chance.

§4.1. In the case of a tie in a First Past the Post presidential election, Parliament as whole shall vote to decide the winner.