News:

Welcome to Wittenberg!

Main Menu
Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be

#31
Quote from: Iason Taiwos on May 23, 2025, 02:14:45 PM
Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be on May 23, 2025, 02:02:57 PMI have updated the list to show that many, many moons ago, Consul Taiwos asked to be assigned to Locust.
I do not remember why I chose Locust. Would it be possible for me to pick elsewhere? If so, I would like to be assigned to Garibaldi/Prospect now. (I understand there is a comic book store in that area. 😁)

Consider it done! It's been well over a year since you requested the Locust assignment, haha
#32
I have updated the list to show that many, many moons ago, Consul Taiwos asked to be assigned to Locust.
#33
There are at least a few things I think we should address in an omnibus bill to amend the BUS:

  • We never actually changed the provincial motto to one of the corrections suggested by S:reu Tafial.
  • We could, if we want, consider other provincial symbols, holidays, etc., as well as any emblem designs for the Assembly or Council (similar to how the Fiovans do it), or consider asking the College of Arms for a grant.
  • We should amend BUS.E.2 to reflect whatever method we decide on for handling undervotes. My personal preference remains to leave vacant choices for the leading preferences, but let's worry about the constitutional amendment first before finalizing this one.
  • The Honourable Member, Justice Perþonest raised a good point about broadening the ability to have false claims of Order of Belacostă membership adjudicated by any legal system with jurisdiction in the Province, so we should address that as well.
  • What about the droid attack on the Wookiees?
#34
Anyone else have any further thoughts on this? Otherwise I'll put it into an official proposal.
#35
For clarification, this needs at approval from at least one of either @þerxh Sant-Enogat or @Dr. Pôl dal Nordselvă to proceed. Whether or not Tuischac'h Tresplet's approval is still valid after he has appointed a surrogate to the CRL is also not a point on which I am clear...
#36
Azul Belacostaes!

Pursuant to our recently-enacted Belacostan Unified Statute, all Belacostan citizens are entitled to choose a canton to which they are assigned, as well as a sextieir within that canton.

To be perfectly honest, this has no effect on how the province functions overall, but I thought it would be something fun. Take a look at the map below, check out where the province sits on Google Maps, get a feel for any landmarks that strike your fancy, and then let me know! (Alternatively, if you actually live within Belacostan territory, let me know that too, because then your decision is made for you...).

If you decide your assignment no longer suits you in the future, you can change it once a year.

This is our map, updated to reflect current statute law:


Cantons in red, sextieirs in blue.

CitizenCanton          Sextieir
@Istefan Perþonest
@Flip Molinar
@Iason Taiwos GaribaldiProspect
David Robert Levis
@Vitxalmour (Vitxalmour Conductour)         
@Sir Lüc da Schir
@David Donofrio
@Erschéveþ da Schir
@paolo.mellere (Pôl dal Cräpscaßada)
@Massimiliano Sartorello
Lüc da Ragutxa
Mitchel Paul
@Francesco Manzella
@Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be
@e.iwuagwu (Emeka Iwuagwu)
@Pol dal Timă Lupulescu
@Dien Xhorxh
A few folks appear to be a bit harder to reach than simply tagging them on Witt, if you have a way I would appreciate it.
#37
Reposting the Right Honourable Consul's thoughts on the matter here for expediency:
Quote from: Sir Lüc on May 08, 2025, 03:59:16 AMWhat Sir Glüc is pointing out is exactly what I meant with my comment on the proposal thread - after poring over provincial statutes while I was building the database, I noticed our constitution exactly mandates three preferences rather than "up to" three.

Sadly my comment was very rushed and unspecific and I also completely forgot to follow up on the changes you made. I am not entirely sure how to proceed except that:

- The points based voting system clearly would hinder other candidates if one could only give three points to their top choice - many editions of TMT20 are a helpful reminder - and so if the system is to stay, casting exactly three choices would be fairest;

- Conversely, strict rules lead to potential disenfranchisment. The database could help ensuring voters do rank three choices via software checks and hint texts, ALTHOUGH in the last election it did allow leaving choices blank; voting publicly on Witt could be a more serious disenfranchisment risk should someone undervote due to missing or misunderstanding the rules for the provincial vote.

I vaguely think the first concern is most important because undervoting would unfairly distort our current voting system. On the other hand, I'm not sure if our elections are going to be so hotly contested that we're going to fight over every ballot and throw out all undervotes. In my mind, we can:

- Allow undervotes but lower the points given to each vote, so your lead choice can only get three points if you fill out your ballot (something like: 1 choice = 1 point; 2 choices, 2 and 1; three choices, 3 and 2 and 1);

- Allow undervotes but switch to a different voting system altogether;

- Not allow undervotes: proclaim the BUS and immediately amend E.2, potentially switching it to instead allowing for curing undervotes in a certain time limit.


For my part, I would argue that a system that allows undervotes but treats the first (and if necessary, second) choice as vacant is preferable; it balances a desire to avoid disenfranchising Belacostan citizens with concerns about how a "top-choice first" method of counting undervotes could distort electoral results. It could look a little something like this:

QuotePrefatory text goes here

BE IT RESOLVED by the Best Provincial Assembly In The Land etc. that Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution of Belacosta, which currently reads as
QuoteThe Provincial Council will be elected from among the citizens of the Province at each Cosă election, via a positional vote. Voters will name their first-, second-, and third-choice candidates. For each first-choice vote, the candidate shall receive three points; for each second-choice vote, two points; and for each third-place vote, one point. The three candidates with the highest point totals shall be elected to the Provincial Council, with any ties being broken by the number of first-choice votes received (and if necessary, the number of second- and then third-choice votes, with a coin flip being used past this if necessary). Provincial Consuls may choose to ceremonially represent any canton or sexteir of the Province, or to represent the Province at-large.

is hereby amended to read:
QuoteThe Provincial Council will be elected from among the citizens of the Province at each Cosă election, via a positional vote. Voters may name up to three candidates, in order of their preference. For each first-choice vote, the candidate shall receive three points; for each second-choice vote, two points; and for each third-place vote, one point. The three candidates with the highest point totals shall be elected to the Provincial Council, with any ties being broken by the number of first-choice votes received (and if necessary, the number of second- and then third-choice votes, with a coin flip being used past this if necessary). Provincial Consuls may choose to ceremonially represent any canton or sexteir of the Province, or to represent the Province at-large.

There could probably be some way to better tinker with BUS.E.2 just to make sure it's doing what we want it to in a constitutional fashion, but I have a few things I've thought of since we moved the BUS to a vote that could probably be incorporated into an omni...bus...
#38
Speaking for myself and not on behalf of the Assembly, this is a fair concern, though at least in the case of the last election, ballots cast for the Provincial Council that did not name three candidates ultimately did not affect the outcome of the race -- myself and Consuls da Schir and Taiwos would have still finished atop the count, albeit with slightly different point totals, and so the "harm" criterion in a lawsuit centered on this specific election would likely go nowhere (and the results themselves would not be invalidated or affected).

However, regarding the overall discrepancy, I would state that one, our provincial constitution itself states that as the province's supreme law, the order of precedence is clear, and thus this section of the BUS could be interpreted as being unenforceable without a constitutional amendment (not affecting the enforceability of the rest of the law); two, I am open to such an amendment; and three,  alternatively, could we allow people to cast votes for "present"? Interested to hear what other MPAs think.
#39
Quote from: Glüc on May 07, 2025, 05:26:49 PMThank you S;reu Autófil. I have read the bill. I am inclined to approve. I do however have one concern about the proposal, about which I would like to confer with His Majesty. Im also interested in the views of the assembly on this matter. I'd also like to confer with His Majesty more generally about the delegation of royal powers with regards to Belacostă. So those are the reasons for any delay, but know that I'm working on this.

Of course, Viceroy. I am sure that the Assembly would be happy to address any concerns you may have.
#40
Quote from: King Txec on May 02, 2025, 10:12:40 PMWhat we need is a Sheriff or a Bailiff. Someone whose job is to enforce Wittiquette with the proverbial drunk tank until a hearing or some other process takes place.

Basically, a sort of security officer within the Chancery who enforces public order?

Quote from: King Txec on May 05, 2025, 04:34:49 PMAlso, they should be accompanied by a list of penalties such as (examples only):

  • First offense: A written warning / post may be locked or removed
  • Second offense: Account locked from posting for 24 hours
  • Third offense: Account locked from posting for seven days
  • Fourth offense: Account permanently locked from posting except for X boards.

Would we want to consider these as "first/second/etc. offense within X amount of time"? In other words, if behavior improves over time, you back down from facing harsher penalties to facing lighter ones again should you reoffend some time in the future.
#41
Voting has closed; the proposal passed by a vote of 3-1 with two not voting.

As per our provincial Constitution, the bill now heads to the King or Viceroy for their approval or veto. Should no action be taken by either before the end of May, it will take effect anyway.

@King Txec
@Glüc
#42
Quote from: þerxh Sant-Enogat on May 01, 2025, 10:56:36 AMAt the time (in https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3628.30 ) I suggested to add :
QuoteAll political parties holding seats in the Cosă but not having representation in the Cabinet shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short El Contrapharti or "The Opposition". Unless and until the members of the Opposition decide otherwise by majority vote , the "Leader of the Opposition" shall be the leader of the party within the Opposition with a plurality of seats. Should more than one Opposition party possess a plurality of seats, Opposition MCs will hold a majority vote upon the seating of a new Cosa to select a Leader of the Opposition from among those parties tied for a plurality, including multiple rounds of balloting as necessary in the event more than two parties are initially so tied. In the event this vote results in a tie among the final two participants, one of those two shall be chosen by random draw conducted by the Chancery.
Question : As the PermSec of Propaganda is listed in Title D (Government) of The Seneschal's List, does this mean that the incumbent is not a member of the Opposition ? Is there a formal definition of Cabinet ? To avoid confusion, and to encourage cross-party collaboration (as spotted by Baron Alexandreu] I would replace the first sentence by :
QuoteAll political parties holding seats in the Cosă but not having representation in the Cabinet of Ministers shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short El Contrapharti or "The Opposition"


I have updated the proposed change to include a vote if necessary; while I did alter the language slightly, I believe it achieves your proposed goal, no?

As to the second part, I would argue that the clarification is unnecessary -- to continue the given example, the PermSec of Propaganda is explicitly not part of the Cabinet, as Permanent Secretaries are prohibited from holding Cabinet ministries. As a result, the incumbent remains a member of the Opposition, as does the rest of his party -- the Opposition is delineated on the basis of Cabinet, not on the basis of the broader Government at large.
#43
Quote from: Istefan Perþonest on May 01, 2025, 10:15:47 AMContra.

Nothing huge -- but it bothers me that it is specified that sentence in the case of falsely claiming membership in the Order of Belacostă can only be pronounced by the Cort pü Inalt, not any lawful court hearing the case. Especially since the same unified statutes then specify how the provincial-level courts work.

So, the "Contra" is as much my fault as anybody's, because I didn't actually look at this back when a revision in accordance with my objection would have been easy. Sorry.

Anyway, assuming this passes, I'd appreciate if the Consuls would soon propose an amendment to eliminate that specificity.

Noted! To be clear, I don't think anything prohibits Members of the Assembly from drafting legislation, just that it must be "sponsored" by at least two Consuls before moving to a vote. If you were to draft it yourself, I would sponsor it, because I think that's a reasonable change to make.
#45
I vote Per.