Statement on Investigation into Fraudulent Ballot

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

The Office of the Seneschal and Avocat-Xheneral is aware that during the current General Election, a citizen's personal ballot link was inadvertently shared in a mass communication.  Evidence obtained from server access logs confirms that the ballot in question was accessed and submitted by a person other than the citizen to whom it was assigned.

This office is treating the matter seriously.  The unauthorized casting of another citizen's ballot potentially constitutes multiple offenses under El Lexhatx, including:

• Sedition (Lehx.A.7.2.3), the use of fraud to influence an election, a felony subject to penalties up to and including revocation of citizenship and banishment;
• Use of another person's identity on a Kingdom platform (Lexh.A.15.2), another felony subject to penalties up to and including revocation of citizenship and banishment;
• Improper access to a Kingdom information system with criminal intent (Lexh.A.7.2.6.3), a serious misdemeanour;
• Fraud against a citizen (Lexh.A.7.3.2), a serious misdemeanour.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone who received the communication containing the ballot link and has information relevant to this matter is asked to contact my office.  In particular, anyone who accessed the ballot link, even without submitting a vote, is encouraged to come forward so that they may be excluded from the investigation.

To the person who submitted this ballot: you know who you are.  The right thing to do is to come forward voluntarily.  Cooperation will be noted.  The alternative is that the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, and the penalties for these offenses are severe.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

After preliminary investigations, a charging instrument has been submitted to the Clerk of Corts.  We have worked with the Chancery to obtain a considerable amount of evidence, and we have further been contacted by people who wished to exclude themselves from the investigation.

It is not too late to come forward if you know something about this or if you want to acknowledge that you perhaps made a mistake.

[Iac Marscheir]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect either that the offender will, in fact, know who they are, or that they will even see these posts.

[King Txec]

The Clerk of Courts hasn't been in Witt in close to four months.

-Txec R

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

The Clerk of Courts hasn't been in Witt in close to four months.

-Txec R

Yes.  If too much time passes, their job is automatically vacated and they will be replaced.

But also if they don't respond in a timely manner, their deputy can act in their stead (and they can also lose their post without the wait, if His Majesty believes they're not fulfilling their duties).  Maybe this will be the thing that draws them back to activity?

Have to follow the rules, ultimately!

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

As a member of the Talossan Bar, I would like to register a formal protest at the Seneschál's aggressive announcements on this matter.  By far the most likely explanation here is that a citizen who was completely clueless about how the Database works clicked in good faith a link which was supposed to allow them to vote without reading it. Angry growls of you know who you are are likely to discourage cooperation with this investigation.

Everyone knows that I'm not particularly well inclined to the political leader involved, but I had no idea what the PSC at the end of the link entailed. Neither - and this is crucial - did the Secretary of State, who republished the "BREN" mailer on Wittenberg verbatim. And the SoS has just pointed out that there is no longer anything on the ballot which would have indicated it belonged to anyone else. The apparent presumption of the Government that a felony has been convicted will therefore have the effect of casting a shadow on the Chancery itself.

The Kingdom has @Munditenens Tresplet to thank for noticing what happened and telling me.

[Barclamïu da Miéletz]

As a member of the Talossan Bar, I would like to register a formal protest at the Seneschál's aggressive announcements on this matter.  By far the most likely explanation here is that a citizen who was completely clueless about how the Database works clicked in good faith a link which was supposed to allow them to vote without reading it. Angry growls of you know who you are are likely to discourage cooperation with this investigation.

Everyone knows that I'm not particularly well inclined to the political leader involved, but I had no idea what the PSC at the end of the link entailed. Neither - and this is crucial - did the Secretary of State, who republished the "BREN" mailer on Wittenberg verbatim. And the SoS has just pointed out that there is no longer anything on the ballot which would have indicated it belonged to anyone else. The apparent presumption of the Government that a felony has been convicted will therefore have the effect of casting a shadow on the Chancery itself.

The Kingdom has @Munditenens Tresplet to thank for noticing what happened and telling me.

I second this statement.

You can't just jump to conclusions and assume that the person is a criminal. How do you want to prove that there was malicious intent? How do you even want to get proof of that? This behaviour is eerily similar to that of the Law and Justice party in Poland.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Respectfully, there is information that is not public.  I'm not going to argue the point right now, but I do think it's important to take things like this seriously and vigorously, no matter who is involved.  If it turns out to have been a mistake, that's the best version of events and what I hope to have happened.

I do not think that any of this casts a shadow on the Chancery, either way.  The Chancery has performed in an exemplary manner the whole way through.  It is not the job of the Secretary of State to check every link in every message sent by political parties.

[Iac Marscheir]

I find it extremely difficult to believe that anyone here is petty enough to maliciously submit a vote on someone else's behalf. The only person I wouldn't put it past is Breneir, and he's the "victim".