Delegate Elections Act Amendment - Electioneering

The Magisterium
1

Dear Magisters,

Having had the pleasure recently of dwelling over the Delegate Elections Act, as Arbiter, and having in mind the safety of our elections and the very broad yet vague prohibitions we have around “electioneering”, I’d like to propose the following amendments.

I.
Removal of sections 2.1.4 and 2.1.5., as these exact terms will be removed by the amendments below.

II.
Replacement of section 5 as follows:
"…5.1. During nomination and voting periods, no person shall, outside approved platforms:
…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”;
…5.3.2. the TEP Discord channel “#delegate-elections”.

…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".

III.
Rewrite of section 6, simplifying the language and referring to the infractions as set out under the new section 5:
"…6.1. Any 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 offenses against Section 5 of this Act shall constitute and indictable offense, punishable by banishment from TEP for up to 10 years.".

Overall, these amendents simplify the act itself, define more clearly what is allowed and what isn’t, and broadens the scope to not only candidates that need to respect our election rules, but all persons.

2

I’d say I’m mixed on this. While I definitely agree on the replacement of §5, the proposed adjustment to §6.2 seems a bit… excessive… in my eyes. May I ask why you chose 10 years?

3

The 10 years is meant as a maximum in cases of outright election fraud, for example. The Conclave can give a lesser punishment, if more appropriate.

4

Oh okay, that makes sense

5

Looks good

6

I also want to mention the wording isn’t saying “punishable by 10 years” it says “up to 10 years”.

This gives the Conclave a lot of wiggle room to dole out a punishment, ranging from a formal slap on the wrist to gtfo for 10 years

7

small grammar issue with Section 5.1:

change “During nomination and voting periods, no person shall, outside approved platforms:” to “During nomination and voting periods, no person shall, outside of approved platforms”

It sounds odd to me with the of. I’m sure it’s probably more correct without the of, but it sounds better

8

I’d like to suggest a rewording and condensing to:

…5.1. During nomination and voting periods, no person shall act in any way to solicit or coordinate votes outside approved campaigning spaces or confer promises of office or other favors upon election.

9

Personally, I think Bach’s suggestion works more. Sure, it might be more wordy, but without it people are absolutely going to find loopholes that’ll need to be further amended in the long run.

10

While I think your condensing is well-written, in this case I think Bach’s version is preferrable because it makes it more clear cut formatting wise what are the prohibited acts.

11

Could you name an example?

12

Wouldn’t it be up to the conclave to determine the scope of punishment, instead of the bill setting a suggested timeframe? I worry about potential overreach

13

I regrettably cannot

14

While I understand wanting to condense that list, I think the rewrite by Aiv poses it’s own problems.

“Campaigning spaces” is not the right terminology under this Act, and “confer promises of office or other favors upon election” after the “or” is presumably also applicable to campaigning spaces but could confuse people. And “commit covert actions” and “any similar acts … to influence elections” has a broader scope than the rewrite, it seems to me.

15

Typically, in these cases the legal convention and consensus is that the Magisterium can set statutory maximums on the actions it criminalizes. So, it shouldn’t be overreach and should be fine.

17

Any more comments on this draft?

18

I motion to vote

19

If nobody objects, I second. I’ll open the vote later (unless AC or any of the other Deps beat me to it)