Message posted on Stardate 06062.4 at 0329 hours
Posted by Fleet Admiral Jen Herr (President).
Edict #28
Legislative Edict Governing Official Elections 1.0
I. SUPERSCENDENCE OF PREVIOUS EDICTS
Edicts Bourdaa 2, Bourdaa 29, and Wyers 5 are hereby rescinded and superceded by this Edict.
II. DEFINITION OF TERMS
A. Election Season - The period starting with the announcement of an Election Coordinator, and ending with the removal of the election ship from public view.
B. Member - Anyone who has a user account with STF, who has had an active character or GM position within 30 days before the beginning of the election season, and who is not currently banned from the club.
III. ELECTION COORDINATOR
The Election Coordinator (henceforth knows as ‘EC’) is an Executive Assistant with complete powers over the Elections. However, their power is limited to the Elections only, and ceases to exist once the elections are over and all pending disputes are exhausted.
The EC is the sole member responsible for all aspects of the Election, and may not delegate any tasks unless specific assistance or expertise is required. The Cabinet, specifically the Internet Director (?IDir?), is required to cooperate with the EC on matters where specific expertise is required, such as navigating through the shell of the WeBB, uploading files, investigating member accounts, giving the EC operator status in IRC during the entire election season, and running election relevant software.
The EC’s duties include but are not limited to: announcing an election timetable, ensuring election security, tallying election results, holding election debates, maintenance of the Election Ship, defining election policy, and enforcing election policy and rules. The EC’s power of enforcement include official warnings or reprimands, removal of election related material from the STF server, loss of voting privileges, loss of posting privileges to the election ship, and in the most extreme cases nullification or voidance of a campaign ticket. The EC’s power does not expand beyond the realm of the Election, and the President must be called upon for any punishment outside this realm. All rulings by the EC are final and are not subject to appeal.
The EC is forbidden from running for President or Vice-President, from nominating or seconding any candidate, from campaigning for any candidate, and from openly endorsing any candidate.
IV. PROCEEDURE
Elections will be held once every eight months. The President must name an Election Coordinator via edict at least two weeks prior to the beginning of their eighth month in office. Once an Election Coordinator is named, the Internet Department will open the Election Ship. The Election Coordinator must announce, in Command and on the Election Ship, an Election Timetable at least one week prior to the commencement of said timetable. The timetable will last a minimum of twenty-eight days, and no more than thirty-four days. The Election Ship will be removed a minimum of seven days after the election has concluded.
A. NOMINATIONS
Any member can nominate or second another member. Another member of STF must then second the nomination for the nomination to be valid. A prospective presidential candidate may not nominate or second their own ticket, however a prospective vice-presidential candidate may nominate or second their ticket. A member may only nominate or second one individual. However, if that individual or ticket declines the nomination, the nominating members are free to nominate another individual.
Once the nomination has been seconded, the candidate must publicly accept the nomination in the Election Ship and declare a Vice-Presidential running mate. Upon validation from the EC, the candidate may begin campaigning, and is considered a valid candidate for the office of STF President. If a candidate does not publicly accept the nomination by the end of the nomination period, they are disqualified.
B. CAMPAIGNS
Every person who posts on the Election Ship is expected to keep their posts to the point, truthful, and within the bounds of common courtesy. Attacks, mudslinging or other kinds of rudeness will not be tolerated and may lead to penalties at the Election Coordinator’s discretion. (Example: “Candidate X is a horrible person…” will not be tolerated. However, “Candidate X has made several mistakes as QDir. They are…” will be tolerated within the bounds of common courtesy). Character attacks, dirty tricks, and inflammatory finger-pointing will not be tolerated. Campaigns can be held liable for actions of their supporters at the Election Coordinator?s discretion. The Election Coordinator is responsible for ruling on questionable instances should they occur.
Campaigning on the WeBB may take place on the Election Ship only. Any MOTD announcements implying support for or voicing opinions against any specific ticket are expressly forbidden. MOTD announcements of upcoming Election Season events and timetables are permissible provided that they do not contain support for any ticket. Violations of these rules will result in sanctions from the Election Coordinator, and immediate removal of the announcement by the IDept or EC.
Use of any communications mechanism (e-mail, ICQ, AIM, IRC, etc.) to send unsolicited campaign-related information is considered spamming, and is strictly and expressly forbidden within STF. “Unsolicited” is defined as directed to multiple individuals (whether addressed individually or as a group) who have not specifically asked for these materials.
IRC quit messages are permissible, but limited to the following format: Prez Candidate/VP Candiate 20XX - “Candidate?s Slogan Here”. General election talk in IRC is also permissible so long as it does not imply support for or against a specific candidate. (Example: “Have you read the election ship lately?” or “It sure is an interesting election” are permissible. However, “I can?t believe Candidate X said that” or “Candidate Y sure had some good answer today” or “I think it?s clear who’s winning” are not permissible). Any member (the OPs in IRC being required) should report any violation of these rules to the EC along with relevant logs or e-mails.
All reported violations will be investigated by the EC. If it is found that a member (candidate or otherwise) did in fact send unsolicited campaign-related information, appropriate penalties will be given by the EC at the EC’s discretion. All rulings by the EC are final.
C. VOTING
During the Voting period, campaigning continues. Voting is by secret ballot, utilizing either the voting booth of effWeBB or an appropriate alternative that allows for votes to be “locked” and has appropriate security. Every STF member is eligible to vote once, save the EC who does not vote at this point. The EC may establish primary voting if there are more than two candidates running. A majority of the votes is all that is required to be determined the winner. The manner of tie-breaking votes must be established by the EC prior to voting.
If there is no candidate with a majority of votes, the current President retains their position for the next term.
D. RESULTS
The EC is responsible for tallying all votes cast and announcing the results publicly. The new President will be installed within one week of the end of the voting period, and during the first week of the first month of the new Presidential Term, on a date defined in the Election Timetable.
V. CONCLUSION
This edict may not be amended or replaced during an election season.
Jen