I’m not sure if this is the right time to do it, but I am hoping for the Election Commission to make a ruling on the validity of votes before the votes are officially tallied, to provide some clarity and avoid any election issues dragging on after it has finished.
The validity of several votes cast in this election hinges on the newly amended Citizenship Naturalization and Suspension Act, which has changed how citizenship is suspended and how they apply during elections. Prior to this amendment, anyone who has CTE’d or moved, then returned to TEP would have their citizenship automatically reinstated, as long as their masking wasn’t removed, and elections were an exception to this, as in that case their reinstatement would be delayed until after the election. These clauses have all been changed in the new Act, specifically:
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Section VI- Suspension of Citizenship
…6.1- Any Citizen whose Nation has left the Region or ‘Ceased to Exist’ shall have their Citizenship and naturalization, and all rights and privileges pertaining thereunto, suspended.
…6.2- Any one who has had citizenship suspended under this Act must undergo the processes laid out in Section V of this act in order to regain citizenship.
…6.3- Nothing in this Act permits the removal of citizenship.
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— Begin quote from ____
Section VIII- Against Voter Fraud and Inactivity
…8.1- No citizenship or naturalization should be granted or reinstated during Delegate Nomination and Voting periods, nor regional referenda to amend the Concordat.
…8.1.1- The East Pacific shall not recognize any Section IV Ratification posted during those periods.
…8.2- The Government, through the Grand Vizier, should endeavor to ensure that the record of citizens is accurate in the time preceding a period laid out in 8.1.
— End quote
According to Section VI, everyone who has moved or CTE’d should have their citizenship rights suspended until they reapply, and according to 8.2, the Grand Vizier should be keeping track of this and ensuring it’s up to date before an election. However, this is clearly not been done, as many have already noticed voters who should have had their citizenship removed, but did not. These include [mention]Bormiar[/mention] who is known to have revived their nation during the election, but also [mention]Shi’Rima Mon’Ika[/mention] who NationStates | The Commonwealth of Vanzeria | Trend and [mention]Great Imperial States of America[/mention] who NationStates | Not Found. As the legislation makes no distinction for the length of time that a nation has been outside TEP, all of these citizenships would arguably be invalid. However, none of them were suspended by the Grand Vizier, as it should have been done. Although 8.1 says no citizenship should be reinstated during an election, the only way of reinstating citizenship is reapplying, and as none of the aforementioned people did so, the clause would not apply. Therefore, there is essentially no distinction between returning during an election or outside of one, and the distinction is whether their citizenship should be considered suspended in the first place.
Therefore, the question is as follows: If a citizen should have their citizenship suspended by law, but was not done so by the Grand Vizier, should their citizenship be considered suspended and their votes considered invalid? If yes, then all aforementioned votes would be invalid, and if no, then all of the aforementioned votes would be valid, in my interpretation.
Thank you in advance for taking a look at this.