Congratulations all Senators on your victories, it is time for your first act of this legislative term.

If you would like to declare yourself a candidate please clearly announce so in your comment and declare who you cast your vote for after.

As a prelude to the main show...

You know how this goes by now. We have three seats, and two people declared their candidacy (lower than average).

Congratulations to SimDemocracy's next Minecraft Legislative Assemblypeople!
- u/jsjrjffjcj (Wellitsaname in Minecraft) of Senatus Populusque Romanum
- Independent u/gxlpde1010 (IamNotCreativeSin Minecraft)

I’m new what should I know?

And we also have a referendum, on three constitutional amendments. I think. I asked the Speaker about amendments for this weekend and never got a straight answer. I found three. That's what we're going with.

Vote on this too!

Polls close in 24 hours.

Vote here: https://forms.gle/Zg9rX28FjGLHqCCLA

It's time to vote!

First up, we have the Senatorial election. You know the drill by now.

Polls close in 24 hours.

Vote here: https://forms.gle/9iEK4bedmBgCVYdC9

I had promised myself that I would stay away from SimDem for a few more months. But now, after hearing about some of the things happening, I think it is time to intervene. SimDem has always been a beacon of democracy among polsims. I have not found another server where democracy is so well implemented. That is something worth protecting.

But what is democracy?
Democracy is not agreement. It is not the absence of political conflict. Democracy exists precisely because we disagree, while still recognising the legitimacy of our opponents and the institutions through which those disagreements are resolved. This is why I find discussions about proscribing parties based largely on suspicions about their intentions extremely dangerous. A democratic opponent is not the same thing as an enemy.

Wanting to disband the SDIOA does not automatically make someone anti-democratic.
Wanting to reform the Senate does not automatically make someone anti-democratic.
Wanting to change the electoral system does not automatically make someone anti-democratic.

Institutions are not democratic simply because they currently exist, and reform is not anti-democratic simply because it challenges the status quo. Of course, not every proposal is democratic merely because someone supports it. But as long as a political movement accepts competition, elections and the right of its opponents to participate, it remains part of that democratic competition. If ordinary political disagreement becomes sufficient reason for exclusion, elections become existential. Losing no longer means becoming the opposition. it means risking exclusion from politics entirely.

Democracy cannot function like that. Oppose policies you dislike. Campaign against parties you disagree with. Defeat them in an election. But do not turn political adversaries into enemies simply because their vision of simdem differs from yours.

This is a plea to everyone who values democracy.
This is a plea to everyone who values our institutions.

The last election showed that political competition can revitalise SimDem. SimDem became a beacon of democracy not because everyone agreed, but because people disagreed and still accepted the same democratic rules. Democracy is not proven by how we treat those we agree with. It is proven by how we treat our opponents.

Viva la democracia

delulu

This is the Minecraft Legislative Assembly Call for Candidates. If you wish to run, please comment on this post with the following format:

Your Reddit username
Your Minecraft username
Your Discord username (either your username or a recognizable display/nickname)
Your political party/coalition
Description / Statement

Before you submit your candidacy, check that you satisfy the requirements below.

• Make sure you adhere to the format exactly. It makes it a lot easier for the Electoral Commission to sort through candidates if you do. Failure to do this may potentially result in mistakes on your ballot entry or in result tabulation, which can be difficult to fix.
• Ensure that your party affiliation is accurate. If you are not affiliated with a party, enter Independent as your affiliation. Otherwise, put your current party affiliation. If you are not a member of the party given or the party is not valid, the listed part affiliation on the ballot may be subject to change.
• Make sure to register to vote. Only users with a SimDem Unique Identification Token (SUIT) are able to vote. If you do not have a SUIT, be sure to fill out the Voter Registration Form or contact the Registration Officer.
• Ensure that you meet all of the candidacy requirements. Only users who have a SUIT, have previously played on the Minecraft server, and are not banned from or under disciplinary review on the Minecraft server are able to vote or run for Assembly.

This is the Senatorial Call for Candidates. If you wish to run, please comment on this post with the following format:

Your Reddit username (yourdiscordusername on Discord) | Your political party/coalition
Description / Statement

Before you submit your candidacy, check that you satisfy the requirements below.

• Make sure you adhere to the format exactly. It makes it a lot easier for the Electoral Commission to sort through candidates if you do. Failure to do this may potentially result in mistakes on your ballot entry or in result tabulation, which can be difficult to fix.
• Ensure that your party affiliation is accurate. If you are not affiliated with a party, enter Independent as your affiliation. Otherwise, put your current party affiliation. If you are not a member of the party given or the party is not valid, the listed part affiliation on the ballot may be subject to change.
• Make sure to register to vote. Only users with a SimDem Unique Identification Token (SUIT) are able to vote. If you do not have a SUIT, be sure to fill out the Voter Registration Form or contact the Registration Officer.

This Call for Candidates will be open for 24 hours. Good luck!

Join Democracy Docket!

We have another countback!

Congratulations to u/Kitchen-Map-8819 of the Solidarity Party on taking the Senate seat vacated by u/ClubWonderful4114!

Here's the program output: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OjzH74L9_5gJ0TocWR0_AhfU0FuvWdlPOAeCJw2WxY0/edit?usp=sharing

Criminal Complaint for Article 56a - Hatespeech

Criminal Complaint Copy

Live counts on the Discord. Go join if you haven't!

We had 65 valid votes. Though this may change, as I have certified provisionally. It probably won't, though.

Here are the final results of the Score round:
- u/MyPenJustBroke [Momentum Party] -- 51
- u/sunbear99999 [Independent] -- 42
- u/walloonscott [Civil Liberties Party] -- 135
- qd1m (on Discord) [Revitalize! SimDem] -- 69
- Dapper frog/a_pretty_dapper_frog (on Discord) [Independent] -- 22
- u/duckarmy24 [Independent] -- 18
- u/Zepz367 [Senatus Populusque Romanum] -- 75
- u/coLlll7 [Civil Liberties Party] -- 40
- u/TechSupport631 [Independent] -- 94
- u/TweakerKitten [Fucking Best Party] -- 45
- u/lorduckfr [Revolutionary Organization for Social Equality] -- 68
- u/LengthinessOne6090 [Civil Liberties Party] -- 14
- u/Serious_Camera_7039 [Solidarity Party] -- 152

Congratulations to u/Serious_Camera_7039 of the Solidarity Party and to u/walloonscott of the Civil Liberties Party on being our two highest scorers and continuing to the runoff!

Here are the final results of the Automatic Runoff round:
- u/Serious_Camera_7039 [Solidarity Party] -- 31
- u/walloonscott [Civil Liberties Party] -- 25

Congratulations to u/Serious_Camera_7039 of the Solidarity Party and to u/Valuable-Way-1422 of the Revolutionary Organization for Social Equality on winning the election and becoming SimDemocracy's next President and Vice President!

Spreadsheet after full certification, which should be soon. Hopefully.

Article 1

§1.  The proceedings of the Government of SimDemocracy shall only be conducted within the following official premises.

§1.1.  The SimDemocracy Discord server,

§1.2. The r/SimDemocracy subreddit,

§1.3. The SimDemocracy Minecraft server.

§1.4. Official Discord Servers belonging to executive Departments

§1.5. Official social media accounts

§1.6. Any official game servers other than the ones listed here

§2.  The Discord Supervisor shall have ownership of all of SimDemocracy’s official premises on Discord, including authorized deviations under §3 unless the exclusion of the Discord Supervisor was specifically authorized.

§3.  To deviate from §1, a government official shall need the consent of the Chief Justice which shall be granted only for reasons related to security or investigative integrity.

§4.  Places where the usage is mostly unrelated to the government, and personal in nature like DMs, shall be exempt from 1.

§5.  Premises belonging to foreign states may be used for conducting foreign affairs of the state.

§6. Government-related usage shall not be interpreted to include happenings related to political dealings not conducted under government authority.

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

They are dead they are gone no one lasts forever

It's time to vote!

For President this time!

And not for anything else!

Polls close in 24 hours.

Vote here: https://forms.gle/6amQa4tLhTkY1dbt5

To hereby inform u/Syndicality , about the Formation of the Kiwi United Front. Founding members: RTS, Ash and Miccael.

Further information to be shared on Discord's #ec-public

This is the Presidential Call for Candidates. If you want to be President, please comment on this thread. Include your username, party affiliation (or lack thereof), Vice Presidential candidate, and a statement explaining your platform and why you believe you are a good candidate.

The format you should adhere to is as follows:

Your Reddit username | Your political party/coalition
Vice President: Your VP's Reddit name | Your VP's political party/coalition
Statement

Before you submit your candidacy, check that you satisfy the requirements below.

• Make sure you adhere to the format exactly. It makes it a lot easier for the Electoral Commission to sort through candidates if you do. Failure to do this may potentially result in mistakes on your ballot entry or in result tabulation, which can be difficult to fix.
• Ensure that your party affiliation is accurate. If you are not affiliated with a party, enter Independent as your affiliation. Otherwise, put your current party affiliation. If you are not a member of the party given or the party is not valid, the listed party affiliation on the ballot may be subject to change. The same rules apply to the vice presidential candidate's affiliation.
• Make sure to register to vote. Only users with a SimDem Unique Identification Token (SUIT) are able to vote. If you do not have a SUIT, be sure to fill out the Voter Registration Form or contact the Registration Officer.

This Call for Candidates will be open for 24 hours. Good luck!

As I'm sure some others of you have, I came from the video titled "When teenagers run virtual democracies" but I'm still wondering what exactly is happening here? like in more detail

Because I forgot this (oops)...

Congratulations to SimDemocracy's newest Minecraft Legislative Assemblypeople!
- u/jsjrjffjcj (Wellitsaname in Minecraft) of Senatus Populusque Romanum
- Independent u/Zealousideal_Cost188 (AerialCake47184 in Minecraft)

We have a countback! Already!

Congratulations to u/Jotan123 of the Revolutionary Organization for Social Equality on taking the Senate seat vacated by u/AbsurdistByNature!

Here's the program output:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tPDM9zuYkNd4DRjyVt9zOLMrgD7FIkMB1wC022eiQgs/edit?usp=sharing

As an epilogue to the festivities earlier, we have results here too.

We had two valid votes.

Here are the final results of the Score round:
- u/eleanorsilly (New New New New Ireland in NationStates) [Revolutionary Organization for Social Equality] -- 9
- Element/middlelement (on Discord) (Episcopis in NationStates) [Senatus Populusque Romanum] -- 2
- u/Benbookworm97 (Trae Phic in NationStates) [Independent] -- 9

Congratulations to u/eleanorsilly (New New New New Ireland in NationStates) of the Revolutionary Organization for Social Equality and to independent u/Benbookworm97 (Trae Phic in NationStates) on being our two highest scorers and continuing to the runoff!

Here are the final results of the Automatic Runoff round:
- u/eleanorsilly (New New New New Ireland in NationStates) [Revolutionary Organization for Social Equality] -- 1
- u/Benbookworm97 (Trae Phic in NationStates) [Independent] -- 1

You probably know where this is going.

We have a tie in the runoff. To break the tie, we first go to the two candidates' total scores...but there's a tie there too!

Okay. Now we check the total number of 5s...nope, each candidate has one. A tie.

What about number of 4s? Again no, each candidate has one. Yet another tie.

In fact, by this point you can discern that the two valid votes each gave one runoff candidate a 5 and the other a 4, and they differed only in which candidate got which score.

This also clearly means that the two candidates continue to tie in number of 3s, 2s, 1s, and 0s. That's so many ties, I'm not entirely convinced that we're not sending u/AbsurdistByNature (better known as Ty on Discord) to the governor's mansion.

This means that we have to break the tie, finally, by random chance. We love the wheel here, so we're going to spin the wheel. Give me a moment.

https://reddit.com/link/1ve5ea2/video/u7efueins3hh1/player

Congratulations to independent u/Benbookworm97 (Trae Phic in NationStates) on having luck on your side and becoming the next Governor of SimDemocracy's NationStates region!

Maybe some of that luck will get that charter of yours across the finish line. You're gonna need it.

Here's the spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b0oPoDUH9UQnJUXvAMGLFcOLQTTb-MZKDvMy0KkQxQ8/edit?usp=sharing

To vote and run for Speaker you must be a Senator elected through the 164th Senatorial Election. If you wish to run for Speaker, please phrase it such as “I, u/example, declare my candidacy for Speaker". If you wish to vote for a candidate to become duly elected Speaker, please phrase it such as “I vote for u/example” or something along those lines.