General Principles of State:: The State --------- The state is that organization, unique and sovereign for a particular geographic domain, whose members, in strict accordance with a formalized standard applied uniformly for a particular location within the domain, and strictly constrained by a constitution enacted in accordance with, (1) have unique authority to incarcerate those who violate the individual rights of others, (2) have unique authority to use force, or the threat thereof, to compel an individual to perform an act that is not an immediate situational remedy for a crime, or to compel surrender or otherwise deprive an individual of material or assets not known to be stolen from the compelling agent, (3) are uniquely responsible for, though are not uniquely permitted, the use of force and the threat thereof, to protect the geographic domain from ecological or forcible encroachment or compromise, and (4) uniquely, maintain a policy infrastructure enforced by force and the threat thereof for avoidance and resolution of conflicts among inhabitants involving activities that significantly impact property not owned by the actor, that are inherently deleterious, or potentially so, for others. Containment of State Authority ------------------------------ The state has no authority beyond that generally or specifically granted to it by this document. Compartmentalization of the State --------------------------------- The state consists of a legislative infrastructure, an enforcement infrastructure, an investigative infrastructure, and a military infrastructure. These are known as branches of state. The legislative branch is responsible for the invention, and recommendation for enactment, of new statutes (though citizens can perform this function directly, as detailed in ). The enforcement branch operates all courts and all jails and prisons. It is responsible for the examination of particular instances of allegedly unlawful behavior which have been brought to its attention by the investigative branch or by a private individual. Reports pertaining to the behavior are given and examined in formal trial, and it is determined which, if any, laws are violated by the behavior, and what corrective action will be taken to discourage and restrain the behaver from repeating the behavior, discourage the behavior among the population, and in certain cases, compensate a victim. The highest court in the enforcement branch of a particular unit of state (as defined in ) is also responsible for the examination and confirmation of statutes approved by the legislature of that unit of state, and must confirm the statute unless it can provide a formal explanation for how the approved statute conflicts with applicable statutes or the constitution. At its discretion, that court can review any instrument of state policy of the same or a contained unit of state, and suspend it if it is shown to conflict with an instrument of state policy that has priority. The investigative branch acts to monitor compliance with law. This consists of provision of infrastructures to implement, facilitate, and assure compliance, including state document publication, maintenance of disciplined, skilled, and coordinated investigative forces, coordination and facilitation of tax collection, etc., as authorized and mandated by this document. The military branch is unique to the national unit of state, and deters and responds to military aggression by external forces, working in a principally indirect manner to assure the safety and integrity of the domestic economy, rule of law, culture, and quality of life. The national legislature, acting in concert with the contained legislatures, can direct the military to assist in survival and recovery operations relating to a particular internal natural disaster. The employees of a unit of state can appoint officers only to positions within that unit of state (as defined in ). A member of the investigative, enforcement, or military branch, can appoint officers only to positions within his own branch, and only as specified by law. Regulations authored by agents and members of the investigative, enforcement, or military branch apply only to agents and members of the author's unit and branch of state. The Unit of State ----------------- A unit of state is the full or partial set of branches (legislative, enforcement, investigative, and only in the case of the national unit, military) of the portion of the state corresponding to a particular official region (as defined in ). A state employee must be employed by exactly one unit of state. Granularities of State ---------------------- The country is officially delineated generally into the following regions, in order of increasing size: towns, counties amounting to groups of towns plus adjacent unincorporated regions, provinces consisting of groups of counties, and the whole country consisting of all the provinces. All regions are geographically contiguous, except for islands less than 20 miles distant from other land within the region, and the whole country which can consist of regions separated by arbitrary distance. Additionally, where appropriate and desirable because of logical (geological/ecological or cultural) divisibility/separability, or paucity or abundance of population, regions within towns (known as boroughs), groups of counties smaller than a province (known as divisions), and groups of provinces smaller than the country (known as departments), can be officially delineated, named, and endowed with state institutions including those described in . Regions must be delineated such that if one region overlaps a second, either the first fully contains the second, or the second fully contains the first, but not neither and not both. Any region that is completely surrounded by territory of one nation, is part of that nation and is, with its residents, subject, minimally, to the national constitution and statutes of the surrounding nation. Associated with each official region is a unit of state. A unit of state can have a legislature, and the country and each province must have legislatures. Any region with a legislature must have an investigative branch and an enforcement branch. The scope of the legislature or enforcement branch is the region to which it corresponds as explained above. The above also clarifies the precise import of . Regions can be officially identified and optionally endowed with investigative and enforcement branches and, optionally, legislature, only by the legislature of the smallest legislature-endowed region which fully contains the region to be identified and optionally endowed, or by the usual mechanism of direct citizen vote by the citizens of the smallest region which fully contains the region to be identified and optionally endowed. A region with a legislature can be officially dissolved only through passage of a statute to that effect by that legislature, or by the usual mechanism of direct citizen vote by the citizens of the region to be dissolved. Except as specified in this document, the agents of a unit of state cannot involve themselves in the internal and local affairs of a unit of state whose geographic extent is contained by that of the former unit of state. A description of any arrangement of cooperation or coordination between two distinct units of state must be published, and except as specified in this document, the personnel of one unit of state cannot be placed under the command of personnel of another unit of state. On Aggregation and Secession ---------------------------- Only a province can secede or aggregate. Secession is effected with 75% of eligible voters in a province affirming, provided a portion of the boundary of the province borders on a sovereign nation other than that from which the province is voting to secede, or borders on a body of water that such a sovereign nation borders, or borders on an ocean. The constitution that goes into force in the event of an affirmative vote for secession, must be published at least one week but at most one month prior to the opening of voting (though it can, of course, have also been published at an earlier time). Aggregation is effected with 75% of eligible voters in a province affirming, and 75% of eligible voters affirming in the nation with which the province will aggregate. Voting in the province and the nation must be simultaneous (beginning and ending within an hour of each other). The constitution that goes into force in the event of an affirmative vote for aggregation, must be published at least one week but at most one month prior to the opening of voting, and must be consistent with the constitution of the nation with which the province will aggregate. In particular, it must include the constitution of that nation in its unaltered entirety. On Annexation ------------- No other nation or portion thereof can become part of this nation except by the process delineated in . Constitutional Enactment, Amendment, and Extension -------------------------------------------------- The constitution of a particular unit of state is the parent constitution of the constitutions of the largest units of state contained by the instant unit of state. All child constitutions contain the complete parent constitution, and may contain an addendum peculiar to the unit of state corresponding to the child constitution. Voting on an amendment must be open for exactly one week, and the total voting tally must be published at the end of each day, or any higher frequency. The portion of the constitution of a unit of state particular to that unit of state can be amended with two referendums separated by exactly one and one half years, in each of which at least 75% of eligible voters affirm the amendment. Through the amendment process, a unit of state can enact or modify an addendum to its constitution consistent with and constrained by this document, and containing sections whose role is similar to that of the sections in this document. A nation with a constitution that is not a descendent of this document, and which meets the standard for secession enumerated in , can enact this constitution as sovereign law with a single referendum, in which at least 75% of those over 15 years of age and not mentally incompetent or violent criminals affirm the revolution. Lawful amendment to a constitution automatically and immediately results in the corresponding amendment of the parent-defined portion of each child constitution. Any time lawful amendment to a parent constitution results in an inconsistency with the addendum to a child constitution, that portion of the child constitution is void until further lawful amendment to the addendum restores consistency. The constitutional amendment that is the subject of a constitutional referendum can specify alterations, deletions, or additions, of arbitrarily many sections or chapters, except that sections within the constitution of the national unit of state marked as insusceptible to removal or alteration by amendment are thusly insusceptible, and no section can be added by amendment to any constitution or addendum that is thusly insusceptible. Applicable to a particular constitution, voting can be open for only one amendment at a time. In particular, voting cannot be open for an amendment to a lower constitution if voting is open for an amendment to a higher constitution inherited by the lower constitution. At least one week must elapse after voting closes on an amendment applicable to a particular constitution, before voting can open on another amendment applicable to that constitution. If the first vote on an amendment to a higher and inherited constitution occurs after the first vote but before the second vote on an amendment to a lower, inheriting constitution, the second and final vote on the amendment to the lower constitution is postponed until one week after the close of the second and final vote on the amendment to the higher, inherited constitution. If more than one vote must be rescheduled to follow the close of a higher final vote, they are rescheduled preserving the chronological order in which the referenda were approved, with a one week interval between the close of one vote and the opening of the next vote. If any constitutional referenda were already scheduled for the above postponed voting intervals or the weeks separating them, they are rescheduled similarly, preserving their initial chronological order of approval, opening one week following the close of voting for the last of the above postponed referenda, with opening of voting for a particular rescheduled referendum following closing of voting for the previous refendum by one week. A constitutional referendum is approved and scheduled by the legislature constrained by the subject constitution according to the process specified in , or by a collection of the supporting signatures of least 25% of those who would be eligible to vote in the referendum. The first vote on a constitutional referendum for town or smaller units of state takes place one month after approval of the referendum. For units of state larger than towns but not larger than counties, the interval is two months. For units of state larger than counties but not larger than provinces, the interval is three months. For units of state larger than provinces and smaller than the nation, the interval is four months. For a national constitutional referendum, the interval is six months. Contained units of state are constrained by the referenda schedule of containing units of state. Locality of Law and Conviction ------------------------------ The state cannot impose penalties in one unit of state, for actions neither unlawful according to the policy of that particular unit of state nor unlawful according to the policy of a unit of state that contains the instant unit of state. Information regarding the investigation, indictment, conviction, and/or sentencing, of an individual for an act unlawful according to the policy of one unit of state, but not unlawful according to the policy of some other unit of state, cannot be made available to the public, or to state agents, of the other unit of state. However, such information can be made available to a larger unit of state if the act is unlawful according to the policy of all constituent units (in addition to the obvious acceptability of such information if the act is explicitly unlawful according to the policy of the larger unit of state). Duration of Terms of Office --------------------------- Except as specified in this document, no law can restrict the maximum duration, cumulative or contiguous, that an elected office can be held by a particular individual. The frequency of elections for a particular elected office or set of offices is to be specified by constitution or statute, but must be between 1 year and 8 years inclusive. The frequency and procedure of formal performance review for a particular appointed office or set of offices is to be specified by constitution or statute, but such frequency and procedure must be specified for all appointed offices, and the frequency must be between 3 months and 2 years inclusive. Voting Procedures ----------------- Votes by citizens for legislators can be cast, or retracted and recast, on the first day of each and every month. Other citizen polls must remain open for at least one week. Legislator polls vote must remain open for at least one day. All municipal voting by citizens or legislators can be performed remotely. Any adult is eligible for an office in a particular unit of state, if his primary residence (more than 180 days of residence within any 365 day period) is within the geographic boundaries to which that unit corresponds, and if he is not debarred from holding that office, as specified in this document. Any adult is eligible to vote in any referendum or election within a particular unit of state, if his primary residence is within the geographic boundaries to which that unit corresponds, and if he is not debarred from voting, as specified in this document. No action (in particular, no collection of signatures) can be required for an individual to be a candidate for an office, except that the individual must record in the election coordination database, before the opening of voting, that he is willing to occupy a particular office. No fee or other barrier can impede the right of the adult individual to officially declare his will to occupy an office. The declaration is automatically removed after the corresponding election has been completed and the office occupied by a properly elected candidate. No individual who is not an appropriate resident, or debarred by constitution or statute from holding that office (as explained in this document), or who has not properly recorded his will to occupy a particular office, can be construed as eligable for that office. No ballot can name a candidate. All voting must be by explicit identification (written, typed, or spoken), by name (last name only, or any number of given names or initials thereof, in order, followed by last name), of the individual or individuals for whom the voter is casting his vote. When the voter uses initials, or skips one or more given names, the full name of the candidate must be presented to the voter for confirmation. When the voter's identification is ambiguous, all candidates that match the name specification must be listed and the voter permitted to chose from among them. If a set of candidates have precisely the same name, then the voter must be presented with a facial image provided by each candidate, to permit differentiation. If the voter identifies an individual who is not a candidate, he must be alerted to this and permitted to recast his vote at any time before the close of voting, until it has been cast for a proper candidate. In elections to offices or sets of offices, where a fixed number `n' of positions are being filled, the following procedure is used. The first round of the election is as described above. If the aggregate share of votes cast for the top-voted `n' candidates exceeds 50%, those `n' candidates are elected. Else, the smallest number of top-voted candidates whose aggregate share of the vote exceeds 50%, are the candidates in a subsequent election, and the process repeats until the aggregate share of the top-voted `n' candidates exceeds 50%. If the election is a citizen poll, the interval between closing of voting in one stage of the election and opening of voting for the next is one week. Any employee of the state can be removed from office by a direct vote exceeding 62.5% of registered voters eligible to vote in elections to the unit of state of that employee. The legally specified penalty for any conviction can be cancelled by a direct vote exceeding 62.5% of registered voters within the unit of state of the court that decided the conviction. The conviction stands, and only the penalty is cancelled. No appeal by the prosecution can cause reinstatement of the penalty. No one can offer or accept payment in cash or kind for a guarantee of a position in a public or legislative vote. A public or legislative voting position cannot be directed or specified by a contract, except that a legislative voting position can be directed or specified by the contract a legislator enters with his constituency (those who vote for him). No one can delegate to another party eligibility to cast a public vote, and no legislator can delegate to another party eligibility to cast a legislative vote. No one can be a candidate for more than one elected office at a time; however an individual can occupy more than one office at a time, and can run for an office while occupying another office. Any broadcaster, cablecaster, or media outlet with a monopoly, as defined in , who sells time in an advertising arena for promotion of the candidacy of a candidate for election to a particular public office or fixed set thereof, or to a particular legislature, must make available the same amount of time in the same arena for promotion of the candidacy of another candidate for election to that particular public office or fixed set thereof, or to that particular legislature, at the same price during the same hour as advertising time sold for promotion of the first candidate, except as rendered impossible by length and number of advertisements, in which case the advertisements must, on request, run as near in time to each other as possible, on a first come first served basis. Booking of time in an advertising arena by a candidate must be published at the time of booking, revealing the identity of the candidate, and the price, date, time, and duration, of the advertisement, and this information must be accessible without a fee. No censorship or editing of candidate advertising by the owner of the advertising arena is permitted, though the candidate can be required to supply advertisements that conform to the requirements of the medium, particularly regarding running time in audio and audiovisual advertising arenas. The Public Voting Process ------------------------- Votes by citizens are secret and tallied without record of which voter voted for whom. Voting can be performed remotely by personal computer, and the link between a remote computer and the voting machine must be encrypted to prevent eavesdropping. If before completion of stage 8 (described below), one minute of idle time elapses without the voting machine receiving a message from the voter, the voter's authoritative record for that ballot item is cleared, the session ends, and the voter can begin his vote on that item again. To vote, a voter engages in a session as follows, with stages identified in parentheses preceding the description of the stage. Upon establishment of an encrypted connection to the voting machine (the same encrypted connection can be used for multiple sessions), the session begins with (1) the voter providing his ostensible identity to the voting machine, (2) the voting machine producing a cryptographic challenge, and (3) the voter proving his identity by solving the challenge. The session ends if the solution is incorrect. The voter then (4) specifies what poll item he intends to vote on, and (5a) the machine then verifies the voter's eligibility to vote on that poll item, by accessing a coherent authoritative database (voting on the item must be open, the individual's record with respect to that poll item must not be locked, the voter must be properly registered with no current disqualifying legal handicaps, and must not have already finalized a vote on the item). If eligibility is confirmed, then (5b) the individual's record with respect to that poll item is locked for the duration of the session and (5c) the voter is informed of his eligibility, else the session ends. If the poll item at issue is a vote for a legislator, the voter has previously cast a vote for a legislator in the same unit of state, and that vote has not yet expired, then (5d) the voter must provide the voting machine with the receipt received at stage 9e in the course of casting that previous vote. (5e) The voting machine verifies the encoding and signatures of the 5d receipt, if any, and verifies that the 5d receipt, if any, has not previously been submitted to effect vote revocation. If verification fails, the session ends, otherwise it continues. In either case, (5f) the voter is informed of the results of his 5d submission, if any. Next, (6a) the voter completes the specified poll item (specifies his voting position on one item in the poll), (6b) computes a digest of the completed poll item, (6c) computes an encryption of that digest with a random symetric key of his choice, and (6d) computes a decryption of that digest encryption using his private key using an algorithm with which decryption can be safely used to generate a signature. (6e) The voter provides the voting machine with the completed poll item, the above random symmetric key, and the fully processed digest (the assymetric decryption of the symmetric encryption of the digest of the completed poll item). The voting machine verifies the validity and consistency of the data. Validity is determined by (7a) confirmation that the name given for the item unambiguously identifies a candidate, or the response given for a non-election item is a valid response. Consistency is determined by (7b) confirmation that the cryptographic relationships among the data are mathematically valid. If the poll item as completed is not valid, or the consistency check fails, the voter's authoritative record for that poll item is cleared, this session ends, and the voter can begin his vote on that item again. (7c) The voter is alerted to each invalid name in the previous completed poll item (if any), and is alerted to each ambiguous name (if any) as described above. If validity and consistency are verified, the voting machine (7d) generates a string with a random portion, a timestamp portion, a portion identifying the precise poll item completed above (but not including any information about how the poll item was completed), and a portion fully identifying the individual, and (7e) demands that the individual sign this with his private key. If (8) the individual properly signs this string and forwards the signature to the machine, then (9a) the signed string is archived by the machine and (9b) the authoritative database is notified that the individual has completed his vote on that particular item and cannot vote on it again, or if the item is a vote for a legislator, the authoritative database is provided with the receipt from stage 5d, if any. Next, (9c) the voting machine computes an encryption of the above random symmetric key using the individual's public key, and (9d) produces a cryptographically verifiable receipt consisting of a machine-signed record consisting of the completed poll item, the above fully processed digest, the above timestamp, and the above assymetric encryption of the symmetric key. (9e) This receipt is delivered to the voter, and the session ends. With this receipt, the individual can prove that he cast a vote on this particular item and how it was cast. The machine then (10) irreversibly discards its copy of the stage 6c random key and archives a record consisting of the stage 6a completed poll item and the associated stage 6d fully processed digest. The individual (11) archives a copy of the stage 9d receipt. When voting closes, all stage 10 item-digest pairs, and all stage 8 signed strings, are made anonymously and immediately available to the public at large. For a particular item, the number of counted and published stage 10 item-digest pairs must precisely equal the number of stage 8 signed strings. An individual can verify that his vote was registered correctly by retrieving the completed poll item which has associated with it a fully processed digest that matches his archived fully processed digest (included in the receipt). The stage 6c symmetric key is recovered by decrypting the stage 9c encryption of it found in the receipt. Using the recovered stage 6c key, the voter ascertains whether the published completed poll item matches. The individual can prove that his vote was fraudulently registered by producing the receipt the voting machine gave him, and showing that the fully processed digest for which he was given a receipt was not published, or that the completed poll item accompanying the fully processed digest does not match the fully processed digest, in which case he must provide the recovered stage 6c key. Votes cannot be tallied or published until after the voting period has ended, and must be tallied and published within 24 hours of the close of voting. If within one week following closing of a vote, more than 1% of voters eligible to vote on an item demonstrate fraud in the vote on that item, then the entire vote on that item is repeated. Competency of State Employees ----------------------------- All employees of the state who have authority or responsibility for appointment (including all hiring decisions), regulatory authorship, law enforcement, voting in a legislature, voting at trial, or issuing military orders, must demonstrate thorough knowledge of this document once every year, through performance on a thorough test with a written (or typed) and spoken component. The President and Lieutenant ---------------------------- For each branch of the state, and within each unit of state when that unit has that branch, this document describes a president. Each candidate president, except for the presidents of the legislature, must identify and publicize a lieutenant at least one month prior to his appointment. In the event that the president is unable to attend to his duties for any reason, the lieutenant acts in his place.