[A] Delegate Elections Act Quick-Fix

[Cretox]

The Delegate Elections Act was fairly recently amended to eliminate “Electioneering” and “Election Impropriety” and streamline some potentially problematic provisions.

However, the new version of the law has a few potentially critical issues of its own:

1. “5.1. During nomination and voting periods, no person shall, outside approved platforms” is worded in such a way that the prohibitions in that section only apply during nomination and voting periods. Someone could solicit votes, bribe voters, covertly plan to influence an election, and abuse their official position to promote a candidate as long as they do that stuff before nominations start. This can be fixed with a simple rewording.
2. While “Electioneering” and “Election Impropriety” were removed, the law still has “Voter Fraud” and “Vote Stacking” as discrete crimes in the Definitions section at the beginning. All those offenses used to have their consequences explained in the Infractions section. That stuff was all removed, including for Voter Fraud and Vote Stacking, leaving us with punishments for the new Section V violations but no actual punishments for Voter Fraud or Vote Stacking. This can be fixed by either restoring the original clause to that effect (“Instances of vote stacking or voter fraud shall result in permanent banishment from the East Pacific, pending trial by the Conclave”) or rolling Fraud and Stacking into the new Infractions clauses about Section V.
3. It’s unclear what people would actually be charged with for violating the new Section V. “Campaign Violations”? “5.1.2. Violation” for bribing voters? The old law had clear names for all of its offenses, as does the Treason Act with one exception: Omitting to Prevent Treason. However, the appropriate term is clearly Omitting to Prevent Treason since that’s both the name of the section and the section only has a single clause explaining the crime. I recommend bringing back the Electioneering term to maintain continuity with older precedent.
4. The new Section V defines approved platforms, which are also defined under Annex I. This is redundant and Annex I can be removed. I also touched up the new approved platforms subsection a little.

TLDR we need to fix a loophole allowing for election shenanigans before an election cycle, re-add punishments for Voter Fraud and Vote Stacking, give the new “Section V. Campaigning” offenses a name to charge people with, and remove the redundant Annex I.

I also don’t like the way Section V handles its restrictions (you can’t use an official position to promote a candidate or covertly influence voting outcomes unless it’s in an approved platform? Huh?), but it’s more just unnecessarily clumsy than actually problematic.

SECTION II. DEFINITIONS

…2.1.4. “Voter Fraud” - Any action attempting to gain a candidate more votes in an unlawful manner by holding unlawful Citizenships.
…2.1.5. “Vote Stacking” - The deliberate coordination of multiple Residents to obtain Citizenship for the sole purpose of voting for a particular candidate in an election.
…2.1.6. “Electioneering” - Any other action prohibited under this Act.

SECTION V. CAMPAIGNING

…5.1. During nomination and voting periods, nNo person shall, outside approved platforms during nomination or voting periods:
…5.1.1. solicit votes or voting commitments;
…5.1.2. promise actions in exchange for votes;
…5.1.3. use any official position to promote any candidacy;
…5.1.4. coordinate groups or commit covert actions to influence voting outcomes; or
…5.1.5. commit any similar acts which aim to influence election results.

…5.2. This section does not prohibit:
…5.2.1. regular government duties;
…5.2.2. regular political discussion;
…5.2.3. public statements of support.

…5.3. The following are approved platforms for election activities:
…5.3.1. the TEP sub-forum “Delegate Election” The Conclave > Delegate Election;
…5.3.2. the TEP Discord channel “#delegate-elections” or a dedicated election discussion channel by another name.

…5.4. Within approved platforms:
…5.4.1. Each candidate may make one campaign thread;
…5.4.2. Only candidates may create campaign threads;
…5.4.3. All non-candidate campaign threads shall be archived.

SECTION VI. INFRACTIONS

…6.1. Any instance of Voter Fraud, Vote Stacking, or Electioneering action contrary to Section 5 of this Act shall be sanctionable, upon complaint to the Viceroy, with the removal of voting privileges for the election during which the complaint was filed in, at the discretion of the Viceroy.

…6.2. Any instance of Voter Fraud, Vote Stacking, or Electioneering offenses against Section 5 of this Act shall constitute an indictable offense, punishable by banishment from TEP for up to 10 years.

ANNEX I. DESIGNATED CAMPAIGN PLATFORMS

Pursuant to 5.1, the following events and platforms shall be deemed “Designated Campaign Platforms”:

• The TEP sub-forum The Conclave > Delegate Election
• The TEP Discord channel #delegate-elections, or a dedicated election discussion channel by another name.

[Cretox]

Reserved for old drafts.

[ernestdrake]

The amendments look good to me. You’ve got my support, Cretox.

[Lucklife]

Think it looks fine. Can we get viceroy @Shadow to chime in too on how it looks?

[Cretox]

Given the lack of objections, I motion this to vote. Before anyone seconds, please give it a read-through first.

[AC5230]

Read through and seconded accordingly.