Fwurg

[Nehket Aeka]

"We propose to amend the union voting laws to remove ambiguity from the law text.

We propose to replace article 7 with the following rewrite proposed by the committee chaired by senator Anselim of the Free Peoples of Wrarrbo:

Proposal for clarification of article 7 of the Union Voting Law

7. Tallying

After the vote has been closed, the votes will be tallied.

1. Tallying is done as follows:
   
   1. All legal votes are weighed equally.
   2. All missing votes default to 'abstain'.
   3. All illegal votes default to 'abstain'.
2. An absolute majority (more than half) of the cast votes is required for an option to win. Abstentions are not counted towards the total number of votes.
3. If a vote has exactly 2 options and ends in a tie, the Chancellor casts the deciding vote.
4. If a vote has more than 2 options and ends without a single option having an absolute majority, the following procedure is used:
   
   1. First, all options with 0 votes are removed from consideration.
   2. If after this removal, exactly 2 options are left - these necessarily being tied - the Chancellor casts the deciding vote between the two.
   3. If after this removal, more than two options are left, the half of the options with the most votes proceed to a new round of voting.
   4. In case there is an uneven number of options, the fraction is rounded up for the number of options to proceed.
   5. In case there is a tie in the number of votes between options to be eliminated and options to proceed to the next round, the Chancellor decides how many of the tied options proceed to the next round.
      
      1. The Chancellor may in this case pass all tied options, none of the tied options or some number in between. This is an exception to the rule regarding half of the options proceeding. However:
      2. The new vote must always have a minimum of two options.
      3. At least one option must be eliminated above and beyond all options with 0 votes. This may either be one of the tied options or an option with more than zero, but fewer than the tied votes, if available.
      4. If the number chosen by the chancellor eliminates at least one but not all of the tied votes, the actual options that are removed are determined by an objectively random method, chosen by the Chancellor, such as a dice roll. All options must have equal odds of being eliminated in this fashion.

the Chancellor paused a moment.

"The options for this vote are 'yes' in favour of disambiguating the law text and 'no' against the change.

The following member worlds may vote:

• Astai Republic
• Confederacy of Excaria
• Federal Republic of Bisidn
• Free Peoples of Wrarrbo
• High Chiefdom of Skuldda
• Hiocan Society
• Interregnum Democracy of Scir
• Kingdom of Komès
• Kingdom of Meritonia
• Liberal Assencia
• Miomanian Colonists
• New Communist Imperium of the Rising Suns of Deominius
• Principality of Suma
• Silver Forests of Remunzia
• Socialist Republic of Niom
• Sundarian Federation
• Teprogrenaian Consensus
• Unified Republic of Darya

Voting closes on wednesday 16 September."

[Former Senator Aunzora of the Confederacy of Excaria]

The Confederacy of Excaria votes 'yes' in favour of this proposal.

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

The Sundarian Federation votes 'Yes' in favour of this proposal.

[Senator Harek]

"Laws could be clear, so the Hiocan Society votes 'YES'"

[Senator Arzag of Suma]

"The Principality of Suma votes 'Yes'."

[Senator Enrorgh of Meritonia]

I applaud the Chancellor and the Committee under Senator Anselim for their adequate and swift actions in order to clarify this law and wholeheartedly support this new amendment. The Kingdom of Meritonia votes 'Yes' in favour of this bill.

[Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès]

'The Kingdom of Komès votes 'Yes' in favour of this proposal.

[Representative Anselim of the Free Peoples of Wrarrbo]

"The Free Peoples of Wrarrbo fully support this new law and vote 'yes' on it.

We furthermore propose that the obvious clerical error listing the closing date of this vote as Wednesday the 16th of September, which would be in 2015, be corrected to Wednesday the 16th of January 2013, which we believe is the intended closing date.

As we believe the Chancellor would never make such a mistake herself, may we furthermore suggest that the people working in the Chancellors office, who also seem to have given trouble to Chancellor Bolv'ar in the previous electoral period, receive a stern and formal letter of reprimand?"

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

"January 16th 2013... Niom had committees set out to research this question in the 2013-2015 period... bureaucratic processes were started... a building to house the committee has already been purchased... I am not sure if we can... this is most unexpected and..."

Finally the Niom Senator, clearly brought off balance by the point raised by Wrarrbo's senator, managed to gather his wits:

"Niom requests that the voting period be extended to January 18th..." Though the words came from Senator Ght'Twwf, it was clear they were whispered in his ear by one of his aids, who unlike the senator seemed more capable of thinking on his feet. "so that it can deal with this unexpected... uhm... change."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Fellow senator,

My humble apologies for this mistake. Though it is easy to assign the blame to administrative officials, as elected Chancellor, I take full responsibility for this.

I propose that the closing date is corrected to the 16th of January, as was intended. Per the current union voting laws an extension of two days is allows at the leisure of the chancellor, without a statement of reason. I fully intend to use this period, so the vote will stay open until the 18th.

Should anyone object to this, I shall open a new vote with the exact same options and the correct closing date, and leave this vote open as an administrative procedure until the 16th of september 2015.

Thank you."

[Atheos]

"Dear Chancellor, of course we raise no objection to this. Such unambiguous unmalicious clerical errors are best fixed so as to not waste too much time on them.

On the law itself the Astai Republic can only agree and vote 'yes' so that ambiguity in our laws can be cleared out."

[Senator Gregory Konev]

"We think that clear laws are important to the correct function of a govermental body so The Unified Republic of Darya votes Yes"

[Representative Lophos of the Interregnum Democracy of Scir]

"Scir votes yes in favour of this proposal."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"The Teprogrenaian Consensus votes YES."

[Senator Lonco Morubixaba of Skuldda]

"On regard of Skuldda, I vote YES."

[Senator Shahkra of the Federal Republic of Bisidn]

"The people of the Federal Replublic of Bisidn votes YES on the proposal."

[Representative Uriel of Liberal Assencia]

"Liberal Assencia votes 'Yes' on this proposal."

[Senator Acehtoo of the Miomanian Colonists]

"The Miomanian Colonists vote yes on this proposal. It solves an actual problem which has caused issues in the past."

[Senator Odakim V of the Rising Suns of Deominius]

"This law seems strange codified to favour the Chancellor. Clearly this vote should have had an option for a different person to have control in case of a tie. However as the odds are overwhelmingly against this vote being denied, we shall grant our mercy to this law and vote yes."

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"The Silver Forests of Remunzia abstain on this issue."

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

Panting like a man who had just ran the marathon, Senathor Ght'Twwf rushed into the Senate room, bathing in sweat as his body desperately tried not to collapse from the experience. In his hand was a set of papers, signed, with the proper stamps and seals and in triplicate.

"On the issue of... resolving the ambiguity... of the voting laws... the Socialist... Republic of... Niom... votes... 'yes'... in favour... of the... disambi... guation... proposal..." and with that the Senator collapsed, barely holding himself up against the side of the stand from where he had made his vote.

Exhausted from the physical and mental strain of having just barely made the deadline, he sat down for a while to catch his breath. The impossible had been done... And he would be all right, if only he could only have a few minutes to finally catch his breath.

[Nehket Aeka]

"The results are in:

Yes - 17 votes
No - 0 votes
Abstains - 1 votes

Absolute majority for the yes vote, motion carries."

[Nehket Aeka]

"The law has been officially updated."

((OOC: I have updated the wiki page.))