The Democratic Process
All municipal voting can be performed remotely, and no vote shall
close less than one week after opening.
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%.
The interval between closing of voting in one stage of the election
and opening of voting for the next is one week.
All ballots of election must offer the option "No candidate is
acceptable" for each position being voted on. Candidates with a last
name of "acceptable" must, in elections, go by the last name
"unacceptable." In the event that "no candidate is acceptable" is
elected to a position, another election is held one month later to
attempt to fill that position. In the case that "no candidate is
acceptable" is elected to a position in a legislature, only those
voters who cast their vote for "no candidate is acceptable" can
participate in the subsequent election.
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, so no appeal by the
prosecution is possible.
No one can offer or accept payment in cash or kind for a guarantee of
a position in a public vote. A public voting position cannot be a
stipulation of a contract.
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 maintaining another office.
Only individuals can make donations to a campaign fund. The
identities of all donors must be published. An incorporated entity,
or other individual, cannot funnel a donation through an individual;
more generally, the donor must not be accountably rewarded for his
decision to donate. No one donor can account for more than 2.5% of
the total campaign fund; the maximum total that can be kept is
computed, and for any donation greater than 2.5% of this value, the
portion of that donation above the threshhold, and any interest earned
thereon, is returned to the donor within one week following the
relevant election.
Any broadcaster, cablecaster, or media outlet with a monopoly, as
defined in § The Monopoly, who sells time in an advertising arena to
any 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 to any other 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 to the
first candidate as designated by the other 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.
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