VOTING: The Ranked Choice Constitutional Referendum

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

If there's a legal theory that there are laws restricting who the Secretary of State can appoint to Chancery roles or reach out to for informal assistance, I think we should hear it now

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

For heavens sake. The ONLY person running this election is myself, with the help of my duly appointed deputy MPF. The Seneschal reminded me of it. She has no access to anything else. Hell, even I don't have full access to the database and I am the Secretary of State. We should move on.

The principle involved is pretty important, right?

Honestly, I think that this should have just been another pretty minor, "Whoops, you're right, another little mistake" moment.  But the Seneschal's desire to defend it makes me worried that we're setting a bad precedent where the Seneschal does help run elections in the future.

So just to be clear (you know what a constitutional worrywart I am): the exchange above was the sum of it, and it won't happen again, right?

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

If there's a legal theory that there are laws restricting who the Secretary of State can appoint to Chancery roles or reach out to for informal assistance, I think we should hear it now

Sorry, is that what happened?  This is interesting -- are you now saying that the Secretary of State appointed you to do this?

I'm not sure why this whole discussion is so evasive... can people please just say what they mean?

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

No, the SoS didn't appoint me to anything. I offered informal assistance. And I will do so again, as and when it is necessary or useful to do so, as long as there is no law against it; and if the Regent doesn't like it, I suppose he has certain options, one of them being "lumping it".

However, I should emphasise that this was a very special case. I recognized that one reason preparations for the referendum were not going smoothly was that the SoS really didn't know what to do; I expected him to fill the gaps with traditional practice, but that was possibly foolish. So this was a case of me cleaning up my own mess. I refuse any suggestion that there was anything improper about it; but it shouldn't happen on a regular basis, certainly not in general elections, and I am considering legislation which would regularise the conduct of occasional referendums.

[esbornatfiglheu]

From my point of view, the Seneschal mentioned that the 50 word statement for Diarchy had not been received.  So I shot it over so it could be included.  Easy peasy lemon-squeezy.

I'm sorry, but the Regent's slimy insinuations and general mieda are one of the major reasons I'd rather do just about anything than check Witt.  This is the same Regent, I may add, that went behind the Seneschal's back to coordinate activities with my own Ministry.  There was grace then when sorting things out, but evidently it all got used up.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

No, the SoS didn't appoint me to anything. I offered informal assistance. And I will do so again, as and when it is necessary or useful to do so, as long as there is no law against it; and if the Regent doesn't like it, I suppose he has certain options, one of them being "lumping it".

However, I should emphasise that this was a very special case. I recognized that one reason preparations for the referendum were not going smoothly was that the SoS really didn't know what to do; I expected him to fill the gaps with traditional practice, but that was possibly foolish. So this was a case of me cleaning up my own mess. I refuse any suggestion that there was anything improper about it; but it shouldn't happen on a regular basis, certainly not in general elections, and I am considering legislation which would regularise the conduct of occasional referendums.

I'm glad to hear you recognize the impropriety of this activity, generally, even if this instance was innocent. Thank you very much.

And just to confirm, this was the extent of it entirely in this referendum?

[Eðo Grischun]

By the way, the Ministry of STUFF is working very closely with the Chancery on the question of integrating the Database, Wittenberg and talossa.com. I'll leave it to Senator Grischün to add the details, but if the Regent is going to set his hair on fire and declare it illegal and/or corrupt, then we should find out now.

I'll do so in a different thread so that the different discussions don't get confused with each other.  All I'll say on it in this thread is that the work being done is strictly technical and IT related.  Further, I have been appointed to serve as a Deputy in the Chancery for this explicit purpose so that I can legally perform tasks on the Wittenberg backend, such as coding.  There is zero reason anybody, including the Regent, should get upset at what we are doing.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

By the way, the Ministry of STUFF is working very closely with the Chancery on the question of integrating the Database, Wittenberg and talossa.com. I'll leave it to Senator Grischün to add the details, but if the Regent is going to set his hair on fire and declare it illegal and/or corrupt, then we should find out now.

I'll do so in a different thread so that the different discussions don't get confused with each other.  All I'll say on it in this thread is that the work being done is strictly technical and IT related.  Further, I have been appointed to serve as a Deputy in the Chancery for this explicit purpose so that I can legally perform tasks on the Wittenberg backend, such as coding.  There is zero reason anybody, including the Regent, should get upset at what we are doing.

I agree. You were legally appointed to the office in public, and you don't seem to be doing anything that would be problematic from the perspective of a separation of powers. I don't believe I raised any concerns about this?

[King Txec]

For heavens sake. The ONLY person running this election is myself, with the help of my duly appointed deputy MPF. The Seneschal reminded me of it. She has no access to anything else. Hell, even I don't have full access to the database and I am the Secretary of State. We should move on.

The principle involved is pretty important, right?

Honestly, I think that this should have just been another pretty minor, "Whoops, you're right, another little mistake" moment.  But the Seneschal's desire to defend it makes me worried that we're setting a bad precedent where the Seneschal does help run elections in the future.

So just to be clear (you know what a constitutional worrywart I am): the exchange above was the sum of it, and it won't happen again, right?

Respectfully, the only person making this any kind of a deal at all is The Regent. I also cannot say if I will ever be reminded of a duty again by anyone outside the Chancery as I cannot pretend to foretell the future. There are lots of duties the Chancery undertakes and being that I've not been in the job long I am still learning.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

For heavens sake. The ONLY person running this election is myself, with the help of my duly appointed deputy MPF. The Seneschal reminded me of it. She has no access to anything else. Hell, even I don't have full access to the database and I am the Secretary of State. We should move on.

The principle involved is pretty important, right?

Honestly, I think that this should have just been another pretty minor, "Whoops, you're right, another little mistake" moment.  But the Seneschal's desire to defend it makes me worried that we're setting a bad precedent where the Seneschal does help run elections in the future.

So just to be clear (you know what a constitutional worrywart I am): the exchange above was the sum of it, and it won't happen again, right?

Respectfully, the only person making this any kind of a deal at all is The Regent. I also cannot say if I will ever be reminded of a duty again by anyone outside the Chancery as I cannot pretend to foretell the future. There are lots of duties the Chancery undertakes and being that I've not been in the job long I am still learning.

I agree that I am the only one raising any objections to this ;)

I also 100% agree that someone just reminding you to do something isn't a problem. If that was the extent of what happened here, it doesn't seem like it would be an issue at all.

And just to confirm, since no one seems to be answering this question despite asking it multiple times: this was the extent of the Seneschal's private coordination with you about this referendum, right?

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

I reached out to the Chancery over the last week on the following issues:

1) questioning when the referendum would start, since it had to be during this Clark.
2) the aforementioned discussion of 50 word statements.
3) in the last few hours I offered my opinion that Sir Pol and the Regent were right and 1-option ballots were perfectly legal, and thus the ballots should be resent.

That's it.

[xpb]

My apologies. I'm not terribly familiar with ranked choice voting so I worded this thread poorly. Voters may of course rank as few or as many as they wish. One-option votes are completely valid.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I reached out to the Chancery over the last week on the following issues:

1) questioning when the referendum would start, since it had to be during this Clark.
2) the aforementioned discussion of 50 word statements.
3) in the last few hours I offered my opinion that Sir Pol and the Regent were right and 1-option ballots were perfectly legal, and thus the ballots should be resent.

That's it.

Thank you very much for this clear and complete response to my question.

[King Txec]

My apologies. I'm not terribly familiar with ranked choice voting so I worded this thread poorly. Voters may of course rank as few or as many as they wish. One-option votes are completely valid.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Your vote has been processed. Thank you.

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

Do the campaigns get to send out emails?

[Munditenens Tresplet]

I never received a new ballot by email, though I did receive an email stating I would be receiving a new ballot. I did vote my original ballot by ranking second and third options that I would not have chosen had I not been required to choose multiple options.

I would like to cast my only vote as follows:

Rank 1: Option 3: the King of Talossa shall continue to have the political powers granted by the current Organic Law.

(My personal preference would actually strike the words "the current", and revert to a previous iteration of Organic Law as it pertains to the powers of the King, but unfortunately I wasn't around to lobby for a fifth option when this bill was Hoppered.)

[King Txec]

Thanks for the info. I have updated your vote.

[xpb]

Thanks for the info. I have updated your vote.

Your service to the realm is very much appreciated - yours is a complex and administratively difficult task but all citizens respect your work.

[King Txec]

Thanks Sir Pol.

[Brad Holmes]

Option #3.