39RZ08 - The Musical Chairs Amendment

WHEREAS The Cosa has 200 seats, and the number of votes in a general election is not always divisible by 200, and

WHEREAS This means each political party's share of Cosa seats can come out to a fractional number, and

WHEREAS The method specified in the Organic Law for allocating fractional seats is confusing, and

WHEREAS We don't even seem to be following it;

THEREFORE Article VIII, section 2 shall be amended to read,

"Based on the final vote tally, the Secretary of State shall calculate the apportionment of seats among the parties. Each party shall initially receive a percentage of the seats equal to its percentage of the popular vote. This may result in one or more parties receiving a whole number of seats plus a fractional seat.

Each party shall receive a whole number of seats in the final seating of the Cosa. To allocate fractional seats, parties may caucus together and combine their fractional seats to create a whole seat to be filled by mutual consent of the party leaders of all parties contributing to the seat. The Secretary of State may set a deadline for parties to complete the caucus process. This deadline may be no earlier than 48 hours after the final vote tally is certified.

In the event that fractional seats remain after the caucus process, the Secretary of State shall randomly select which party or parties will receive whole seats. This random process shall ensure that each party that has a fractional seat will receive either zero of one seat in place of their fractional seat, that the probability of each party receiving one seat is equal to the value of their fractional seat, and that the total number of seats in the Cosa is 200.

The Secretary of State shall employ whatever mathematical formulae and calculations he or she wishes in implementing the random process, although use of percentile dice is encouraged to celebrate our national pastime. The Uppermost Cort shall be the final judge in case of mathematical disputes.

Uréu q'estadra så,
Roibeard Laira (MC-GRUMP)