WHEREAS our electoral commission was created back when we thought the secret ballots would be handled by hand AND
WHEREAS when anything is handled by hand, mistakes are bound to be made AND
WHEREAS we cannot afford to make mistakes so every vote had to be validated AND
WHEREAS something else occured. Our Secretary of State used the power of his database to allow once again online votes without any human intervention other than that of the voter AND
WHEREAS these votes, if secret, are only reviewed because specifically, the law requires the electoral commission to do so AND
WHEREAS voters not only get a receipt but can validate their vote until the next election and eventually, forever AND
WHEREAS one of the members of the electoral commission is a party leader, causing discomfort to some citizens AND
WHEREAS the eletoral commission never changed the actual output of the election (number of seats of parties or Senator) AND
WHEREAS I proposed a sub-section in the organic law, forgetting it's not allowed
THEREFORE the Ziu resolves to propose in a referendum the following amendments to Article VII: Election to the Cosâ of the organic law:
Section 6 which currently reads:
Votes for the Cosa may be submitted either publicly or privately. Votes submitted privately shall be submitted to and available only to an Electoral Commission, consisting of the Secretary of State and the three Justices of the Uppermost Court. Should any Justice be unavailable to serve on the Commission, the King shall name a Magistrate judge of a subordinate court to replace that Justice, but should no such Magistrate judge likewise be available, the Commission shall serve as otherwise constituted. It shall be a criminal act, punishable as determined by law, for the contents of any such vote to be revealed by any member of the Commission to any other person. The members of the said Electoral Commission shall independently confirm the final tally and together shall certify the election. No member of the Commission may, whilst the Commission is engaged in the process of ballot validation, simultaneously serve as a leader of a political party. If at any point in the certification process, three of the members of the Electoral Commission agree that one of the members has become unresponsive, they shall notify the King, who shall in turn remove the named individual and appoint as replacement a Magistrate judge of a subordinate court or, should no such Magistrate judge be available, the Commission shall serve as otherwise constituted.
Is replaced by:
Votes for the Cosa may be submitted either publicly or privately. Votes submitted privately shall be submitted to and available only to the Electoral Commission of that election.
A new Section 10 is added, as follows:
The electoral commission of an election consists of the Secretary of State and three of the Justices of the Uppermost Court selected by the King within 10 days of the Writ of dissolution of the Cosa based on their availability and experience. No member of the Commission may, whilst the Commission is engaged in the process of ballot validation, simultaneously serve as a leader of a political party. Should less than three Justice be available to serve on the Commission, the Commission shall serve as otherwise constituted. If at any point in theconfirmation process, the majority of the members of the Electoral Commission agree that one of the members has become unresponsive, they shall notify the King, who shall in turn remove the named individual and appoint as replacement from one of the other Justices or, should no such Justices be available, the Commission shall serve as otherwise constituted.
A new Section 11 is added, as follows:
It shall be a criminal act, punishable as determined by law, for the contents of any private vote to be revealed by any member of the Commission to any other person.
A new Section 12 is added, as follows:
The Secretary of State shall initially, within 7 days of the election deadline certify alone the election. Once the Secretary of State has confirmed the election, the results are official and the Ziu can resume normal operations. If any ballots are in doubt over their validity, the Secretary of State may defer that ballot to the full Electoral Commission for a rapid review within those 7 days. If problems occur, the Secretary may, with adequate justifications, request from the Electoral Commission an additional delay to certify the election.
A new Section 13 is added, as follows:
The members of the Electoral Commission shall independently confirm the final tally and together shall confirm the results of the election. Should any errors be found after the election was certified, it shall be retroactively changed notwithstanding any other provisions of the law preventing such a change.
A new Section 14 is added, as follows:
Ballots may be cast via a secure online ballot with a voter receipt. These ballots need not be individually confirmed by the Commission or certified by the Secretary of State. Any such ballot system shall only be permitted once the Uppermost Cort has verified its reliability and unanimously approved the system with a public vote.
A new Section 15 is added as follows:
The electoral commission of an election is never fully disbanded and members of that commission remain in duty in case a citizen later contest the election results or the record keeping for that election.
Ureu q'estadra så,
Sir Martì-Páir Furxhéir (Secretary of State)