Tie-breaking vote ammendment proposal
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Tie-breaking vote ammendment proposalExpand / Collapse
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7/27/2007 12:54 PM


sweetP

sweetP

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This has been brought up in the Senate, and as Constitutional Ammendments need to be passed by the people, I thought it was best that it be presented here.

From the Senate floor: http://1bcciv.com/Topic2240448-93-1.aspx

Princep's Tie-Breaking Vote:

4. The Senate shall elect from their number, by simple majority, a Princeps, who shall:

- Hold votes among the Senators on such issues as presented before them, which require a decision by majority.

- Confirm the outcome of votes among the Senators and present the outcome to the People and to those parties whom it may concern.

- Receive one additional vote in the event the Senate is unable to reach a simple majority due to a tie.

- Take upon himself all duties of the Presidency, should the President and Vice President become absent, with the special responsibility of requesting that the Supreme Court hold new Presidential elections as soon as possible.

- Organize and oversee the elections of the Supreme Court, and execute the outcome thereof.

- Organize and oversee such plebiscites as necessary to approve alterations to the Articles of Constitution.

President's Tie-Breaking Vote

5a. The President may veto the Senate once per term, on any one of the actions described in II_5, unless the Senate vote was unanimous.

5b. A Presidential veto must be made public before the President executes the action, allowing the Senate ample time to disband the office of the Presidency (per III_5).

6. The President must appoint for himself a Vice President, who shall take upon himself all duties of the Presidency, should the President become absent.

6a. The Vice President shall be considered a member of the Presidency, should the Presidency be disbanded.

7a. In the event the Senate is unable to elect its Princep without simple majority due to a tie, the President will be included in the ballot and allowed one vote. 

7b. This vote will only be used to determine the result of any tie and the President will be unable to abstain. 

7c. The President must only vote for one of the candidates involved in the tie.

Let the discussion commence!

7/27/2007 3:17 PM


General

General

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Wow, look at that senate going...

It should be possible to use about half the words for 7.

Also, it's possible that a simple majority cannot be reached for other reasons than a tie, say that there are 4 seats and the leading candidate has 2 votes, his rival 1, and one senator abstained. That would not be covered under the proposed change.

7/27/2007 7:37 PM


sweetP

sweetP

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Also, it's possible that a simple majority cannot be reached for other reasons than a tie, say that there are 4 seats and the leading candidate has 2 votes, his rival 1, and one senator abstained. That would not be covered under the proposed change.

True, but the Senate doesn't have 4 seats.

7/27/2007 8:02 PM
Bismarcko' Magnifico

Bismarcko' Magnifico

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Also, it's possible that a simple majority cannot be reached for other reasons than a tie, say that there are 4 seats and the leading candidate has 2 votes, his rival 1, and one senator abstained. That would not be covered under the proposed change.

If there were four seats in the Senate, the one who received two votes would win in that scenario.  Just because the fourth senator abstained,  it doesn't mean his rival received the vote either (he just opted not to vote for either candidate).  Thus, the final count would be 2 against 1 with 1 senator who opted not to have their vote counted for either candidate.

I could see how someone could argue 'abstain' is the same as nay.  However, even if we detracted one vote from each candidate, we would be left with the leading candidate winning.  There would be no tie if someone chose to abstain.

Candidate A: 2/4 votes = 50%
Candidate B: 1/4 votes = 25%
Neither, Abstain: 1/4 votes = 25%

7/27/2007 10:52 PM


General

General

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Crap, I suspected my example fell short; good thing my point still stands, um, tall. Here is my example[/take2]:

4 senators, 3 candidates

2 votes for A
1 vote for B
1 vote for C

This example is a bit further fetched but it does show that the wording complicates the matter, and needlessly at that. How about:

7. If no candidate for Princep wins a simple majority in the Senate, the President appoints one of the leading candidates.
7/28/2007 12:04 AM
Bismarcko' Magnifico

Bismarcko' Magnifico

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Oh no, I understood what you meant originally and I agree it brings up a valid point.

However, I think the main difference in our views, are that I consider the simple majority to be based on the vote's outcome instead of the number of Senators themselves.  In your scenario, 2/4 of the Senators that didn't vote for Candidate A,  also were not in agreement themselves and that leaves me semi-cautious in claiming 50% were not truly represent as opposed to 50% which were in agreement.

Let me try to explain:

2/4 of the Senators were in agreement to vote for Candidate A.
1/4 of the Senators were in agreement to vote for Candidate B.
1/4 of the Senators were in agreement to vote for Candidate C.

While 2/4 of the Senators did vote for Candidate A, 2/4 of the Senators didn't, however, that same 2/4 were not in agreement themselves and voted for separate candidates. Given that, I believe they should be considered separate percentages. 

It's probably my own way of looking at things...  because if any other Senator was elected in that group besides candidate A,  wouldn't the 2/4 against the winner change to 3/4?  Then we would have 75% of the Senate against the choice instead of just 50%.

My opinion, with this observation based on this game, is that the best majority is the most that are represented in contrast to the entire body which is in disagreement their selves. 

Then again, that's just my view on the subject and it's very likely people would/could disagree with that observation I just made if such happened.  All-in-all, I suppose I'm neither for nor against adding what you've mentioned to the Constitution, however,  it might just be best included to avoid possible scenarios as you've mentioned.

7/28/2007 10:07 AM


G'day

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So what would happen in this example?

1 Senator votes for candidate A
2 Senators abstain

does that mean candidate A wins? That is not a "simple majority", but the candidate did get the most votes. We could just let the president choose candidate A, since they were the leading candidate.

7/28/2007 5:22 PM
Bismarcko' Magnifico

Bismarcko' Magnifico

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Well, in my mind, there was no winner.  Unlike the other scenarios, the two people who chose 'abstain' in your scenario CD,  were in agreement and that is 66% of the Senate that didn't want that specific Candidate to win. 

Question is, does the President just appoint Candidate A because he was the only Candidate despite that fact?  Or, is the game forced to stagnate until one of the abstainers decide to run themselves?  Personally, I don't see this type of scenario happening anytime soon, however, it's indeed better to cover our bases at any rate.

7/31/2007 10:48 PM


General

General

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Perhaps these minor changes can be dealt with in laws, so that our actual constitution does not get too detailed. I'm thinking of making an additional annotated copy of the constitution, in which I paste the relevant bits of law where they belong (using a different color). Otherwise I fear it may become a navigational nightmare pretty fast. Would this (see first sentence) be ok with you guys?
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