WA General Assembly Vote: "Disabled Voters Act"

[Allama]

GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION AT VOTE

Disabled Voters Act

A resolution to increase democratic freedoms.

Category: Furtherment of Democracy

Strength: Significant

Proposed by: Christian Democrats

Description: The General Assembly,

Recognizing that many citizens of member states, in effect, are unjustly deprived of their voting rights because of common physical or mental impairments, such as blindness, that have absolutely no effect on their capacity for making reasoned choices,

Wishing to pass legislation preventing such forms of disenfranchisement,

Seeking to provide reasonable accommodations that enable such people to exercise their democratic freedom,

1. Declares that no person who is otherwise qualified to vote shall be denied the right to vote in a public election on account of blindness, deafness, developmental reading disorder, developmental coordination disorder, limited mobility, or any other physical or mental impairment that does not diminish general intelligence;

2. Requires that member states and their political subdivisions, in all public elections, allow any person covered by Section 1 the freedom to receive assistance in voting from an individual whom he or she has selected freely;

3. Permits member states and their political subdivisions, at their legal discretion, to prevent an individual from rendering assistance under Section 2 if that individual is:

• younger than the national or local age of majority;
• ineligible to vote because of a criminal conviction;
• guilty of committing electoral fraud in the past;
• the employer or an agent of the employer of the impaired person;
• an agent of the labor union or professional association of the impaired person;
• an agent of a political party or a political campaign; or
• an agent of the government or one of its instrumentalities;

Provided that no adult family member or cohabitant shall be denied the ability to render assistance if he or she is selected freely by the person who is receiving assistance;

4. Directs member states and their political subdivisions to make good-faith efforts to ensure that all persons covered by Section 1 receive appropriate accommodations allowing them to vote in public elections on an equal basis with voters who do not have physical or mental impairments;

5. Grants any person covered by Section 1 or an appropriate representative the right to sue the government in an appropriate domestic court and to receive appropriate equitable relief from that tribunal if the government does not meet its obligations under this resolution;

6. Affirms that this resolution does not prevent the passage of future resolutions protecting or promoting voting rights in public elections; and

7. Clarifies that this resolution does not affect private elections (such as elections for private clubs or organizations) and that it does not require member states or their political subdivisions to hold elections for public offices.

Don't forget to cast your own vote on "Disabled Voters Act"!

[Allama]

Voting has closed at 2 For, 1 Against, 0 Abstain.

I have therefore voted FOR the WA General Assembly proposal "Disabled Voters Act".

(click to show/hide)

Amongst Taijitu residents, voting is currently 37-4 (90% For).

[Delfos]

dayum, I'm concerned with the turn out, maybe we ought to debate this shit more, or a daily update to members with region-wide telegrams?

*me gives a shortly-intereted kick on the ball to keep it rolling*

[Allama]

People don't care as much about WA votes as much as they do votes on things that impact our community, it would seem. Nothing is preventing y'all from posting in these threads and having a discussion/debate.

As to member updates, I would not want to overwhelm people with messages constantly saying vote for this, vote for that. I'd rather reserve such a system for Ecclesia votes so people know when they get a poll alert that it's something important. Too many messages turn into visual white noise and get ignored.

[Allama]

Delfos and I were chatting on IRC and he mentioned sending out a weekly update instead of poll alerts for each WA proposal. This appeals to me much more! Maybe I could call it something cheesy like, "The Citizens' Revue".

It would be general, covering WA activity but also hitting on other topics like Ecclesia discussions and legislation up for vote, general regional info like, "Hey, we hit 4 million nations on Tuesday!", maybe the week's augury from Oz, etc. I'd love to include material written by people from all sorts of community roles, official and unofficial, but would also be willing to write it all myself.

What do you Taijis think overall? I'm pretty much going to do it unless people hate the idea.

If I do start sending these out, should they go to all Taiji nations on NS or just forum members? Or should I even further limit distribution and only send it to official Citizens?

[Wast]

I like the idea of a weekly update, particularly if it includes community contributions. Having something published at regular intervals will also help to create the illusion of activity - as much as I like the posting of cute animals, it would be nice to have more substantive regular content.

[Delfos]

I think this a great idea Allama.

Also, what Wast said, <3 it'd also help Myro in his job for the monthly foreign update.

This beautiful cat with a bow-tie has make a good point, we don't want to overwhelm people with messages. I do think we should send out region-wide telegrams, I'd say forum-wide would be unnecessary if we do the telegrams in NS.

Also I think Gazette, Revolutionary Gazette or something in those lines would be good names. I'd help with the format.

[Khem]

Delfos and I were chatting on IRC and he mentioned sending out a weekly update instead of poll alerts for each WA proposal. This appeals to me much more! Maybe I could call it something cheesy like, "The Citizens' Revue".

It would be general, covering WA activity but also hitting on other topics like Ecclesia discussions and legislation up for vote, general regional info like, "Hey, we hit 4 million nations on Tuesday!", maybe the week's augury from Oz, etc. I'd love to include material written by people from all sorts of community roles, official and unofficial, but would also be willing to write it all myself.

What do you Taijis think overall? I'm pretty much going to do it unless people hate the idea.

If I do start sending these out, should they go to all Taiji nations on NS or just forum members? Or should I even further limit distribution and only send it to official Citizens?

Overall this is a brilliant idea and I support it fully.

I would say though layout is easier if it is only on the forums, if we send it to all Taijitu NS nations we may get a larger draw to the offsite side of our community.