Bill: Draft Countbacks Act

[rhein_FM]

A
BILL
To​

Amend the Constitution to add Countbacks

The citizens of Oakridge, through their elected Representatives in the Town-Council and the force of law ordained to that Town-Council by the people through the constitution of Oakridge, do hereby enact the following provisions into the by-laws:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Countbacks Act.'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Oakridge Chief of Staff Grey Frontier.
(4) This Act has been sponsored by Town Councillor rhein_FM, and co-sponsored by Town Councillor asdertplays.
(5) This Act amends

2 - Reasons
(1) Recently, the federal government passed the Redmont Electoral Act. The Act firstly changed how local elections work, overriding part of the Oakridge Constitution rendering some sections obsolete. This Constitutional Amendment seeks to fix those sections to match them to current law.

(2) Moreover, the Redmont Electoral Act also opened up countbacks as an option, so this amendment seeks to use countbacks to fill vacancies, having up to two countbacks per election.

3 - Amendments
(1) Article IV of the Town Constitution is amended as follows:

ARTICLE IV - ELECTIONS
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Section I:
Council Members serve a two-month term. Elections for Councilor shall begin in February, April, June, August, October, and December, on the 15th day of each assigned month. Elections for all Council seats shall be conducted in a single general election

There shall be 4 Councilors in the Oakridge Government.

Section II:
The Mayor serve a four-month term. Mayoral Elections shall begin in January, May, and September, on the 15th day of each assigned month.

Section III:
Elections shall be facilitated by the Department of State.

The Town Council shall be elected by a system of STV (Single Transferable Vote) as outlined in §5 of the Electoral Act. Part IV of the Redmont Electoral Act.

The Mayor shall be elected by a majority of votes by a system of IRV (Instant-Runoff Voting) as outlined in §7 of the Electoral Act.§26 of the Redmont Electoral Act.

If there is only one candidate for Mayor, a vote of confidence shall be held for that candidate. The candidate must receive a majority of votes in favor to be elected. If the candidate fails to receive a majority of votes in favor in the Vote of Confidence, a Special Election shall be held for that position.

If there are less than four candidates for Town Council, declarations shall be extended by 24 hours. This will repeat three times or until at least four candidates have declared for Town Council. After the third repeat, the declared candidates will all be automatically elected and a special election will be held for the remaining council seats.

If exactly four candidates have declared, they will be elected automatically.

Section IV:
All elections, except for special elections, shall have a nomination period of 7248 hours, followed by voting, which shall be open for 7248 hours.

All special elections shall have a nomination period of 2448 hours, followed by voting, which shall be open for 2448 hours.

A vote of confidence shall be open for 7248 hours.

Section V:
In case the Mayor position is vacant, a special election for the the Mayor shall be facilitated within 24 hours, given there is no Mayoral election scheduled in the following 7 days.

In case of a Council Member's seat being vacant, a special election for their seat shall be facilitated within 24 hours, given there are no Town Council elections scheduled in the following 7 days, excluding special elections.
Vacancies on the Town Council that arise mid-term are filled using countback as outlined in §25 of the Redmont Electoral Act. A special election is held instead if a total of 2 positions have already been filled through a countback during that Council's term.

Section VI:
No legislation shall be made into town law that amends the electoral process during an Oakridge election.