What did Cresti have against the Amada Merþedes bill, given that the King himself supported it?
It’s a mystery if you think my political views can be summed up by simply asking “what would King John do?”

The original amendment allowing senators to be elected before they could vote was (IIRC) introduced by Fritz but drafted by King (then SoS) John. During the discussion of that bill, I asked about the intent behind it. John said at the time that the intent behind the bill was to allow a province to elect a senator who would
shortly be able to vote, or concurrently with petitioning the King for a knighthood for the new senator. He didn’t actually say what would happen if a province elected a senator who wouldn’t be able to vote for a long time, but my guess is if I had followed up about that possibility he would have said no one would be stupid enough to do such a thing.
I voted against the amendment way back then because I didn’t agree with electing or appointing senators who would not be eligible to perform the duties of their office, so I think I’m consistent in not wanting to make that situation
worse today. Counting nonvotes against the senator as Glüc interpreted the law puts a natural limit on how long someone can serve without being able to vote, and I agree with his interpretation.