Rules of The Election Commission

Section One: Chief Election Commissioner
1. Whenever the position is vacant, the Election Commissioners will determine which of them will serve as Chief Election Commissioner and for how long. In the interim, the Election Commissioner with the longest tenure who is willing and not absent will serve as Chief Election Commissioner.
2. When the Chief Election Commissioner is absent, the Election Commissioner with the longest tenure who is willing and not absent will serve as a temporary replacement until the Chief Election Commissioner is no longer absent.
3. The Chief Election Commissioner will administer these rules, and use their discretion where no rules exist.
4. The Chief Election Commissioner will control access to forum accounts for the purpose of supervising elections, including The Voting Booth, The Polling Place, and The Ballot Box.
5. The Chief Election Commissioner will maintain a roster of current Election Commissioners, the date they began their tenure, and the date of their most recent oath of office.

Section Two: Election Supervisors
1. At least one week before any general or judicial election, the Chief Election Commissioner will designate two willing Election Commissioners to supervise the election. Whenever a special election is called for, the Chief Election Commissioner will promptly designate two willing Election Commissioners to supervise the election. Election Commissioners so designated will hereafter be referred to as “Election Supervisors” though this role is not distinct from their position as Election Commissioners, and is considered part of the regular duties of an Election Commissioner.
2. Election Commissioners who expect to be absent, or are unwilling to supervise a regularly scheduled election should endeavor to inform the Chief Election Commissioner at least two weeks in advance of the election.
3. If, during an election, an Election Supervisor becomes absent or vacates their office, the Chief Election Commissioner will promptly designate a willing replacement.
4. During any election, the Election Supervisors will have sole access to the account designated to supervise that election. At the end of the election, sole access will be returned to the Chief Election Commissioner.

Section Three: Appointments
1. The Prime Minister may reappoint an Election Commissioner who is already on the commission, following the same procedures as all other appointments to the Election Commission. A new six month term will begin from the date a reappointed and reconfirmed Election Commissioner takes their oath of office.
2. When temporary Election Commissioners are needed, the non-absent commissioners will come to a consensus regarding who to appoint. If no consensus can be reached, the Chief Election Commissioner will create a list of all suggested appointees, and hold a vote in which each Election Commissioner may vote for as many or as few as they wish. Those with the most votes will be appointed.

Section Four: Election Procedures
1. In advance of any regularly scheduled election, Election Supervisors will obtain lists from the Speaker's office of all citizens who are eligible to run for office. In the case of a special election, such a list must be obtained before the close of candidacy declarations.
2. After voting begins, Election Supervisors will promptly obtain a list from the Speaker's office of all citizens who are eligible to vote.
3. During candidacy declarations, Election Supervisors are obligated to include a list of declared candidates in the opening post of the thread for candidacy declarations. They are encouraged, but not required, to include lists of those who have been nominated, those who have declined nominations, and those who were nominated, but not eligible to run. In some circumstances, such as when all citizens have been nominated for office, it would be appropriate to omit such lists, or put them inside spoiler tags.
4. During voting, private ballots will be announced in separate posts. If a private ballot is changed, the corresponding post will be edited accordingly.
5. Public ballots may be changed by the voter either by editing the original ballot directly or by making a new post in the voting thread. Any time a voter casts more than one ballot, only the latest one will be counted.
6. Election Supervisors will endeavor to keep an up to date tally of votes available to the Election Commission at-large. The Election Supervisors may modify how each ballot is counted until they certify the final results, or present the results to the commission at large to be certified.
7. Any time during the voting period, or six hours thereafter, any Election Commissioner may privately challenge a particular ballot and submit an alternate interpretation of how it should be counted. The Election Supervisors may accept or deny any challenge.
8. If a ballot is modified by the voter, any prior challenge of that ballot will be null and void.
9. If the results of challenged ballots could change the outcome of the election, the results must be certified by the Election Commission at large. Otherwise, the Election Supervisors will promptly certify the results after the voting period ends.
10. To certify the results at large, the Election Supervisors will promptly present the results of the election to the Election Commission for certification by majority vote. Simultaneously, the Election Commission will also vote on the outcome of each challenged ballot. If the vote to certify the results fails, then each challenged ballot will be counted according to the outcome of their respective votes. The results will then be considered certified.

Section Five: Irregular Ballots
1. If a voter does not vote Yes or No to a question to re-open nominations for a given office, their vote for that office will not be counted.
2. In all other cases, any portion of a ballot that is properly completed will be counted, even if other portions of the ballot are not.
3. If a voter selects more candidates for a given office than are allowed, their vote for that office will not be counted.
4. If a voter selects fewer candidates for a given office than are allowed, their unused selections will be treated as abstentions, and their votes for that office will be counted.
5. If a voter misspells the name of a candidate on their ballot, their vote will be counted unless it is unclear which candidate they intended to vote for.
6. Any time a voter is at risk of having a portion of their ballot go uncounted, they must be promptly contacted by the Election Supervisors by private message and telegram.

Section Six: Citizen Petitions
1. Citizens may petition the Election Commission at large to review a decision of the Election Supervisors in a thread in the Elections forum.
2. When such a petition is submitted, the Election Commission at large will promptly vote between the following options:
a. Uphold the decision of the Election Supervisors
b. Overrule the decision and continue the election
c. Overrule the decision and restart the voting period
d. Overrule the decision and restart the election
2. During this process, if three or more Election Commissioners move that the election should be halted, the Election Supervisors will immediately halt the election.
3. Election Commissioners can only vote for one option, and if an option gains a majority, it will be put into effect.
4. If no option gains a majority, the election will be halted (if it has not been already) while the commission deliberates.
5. The Chief Election Commissioner will endeavor to efficiently determine a course of action that has majority support of the election commission, and put it to vote.

Section Seven: General Provisions
1. By default, votes to amend these rules will last five days, and amendments can only take effect when an election is not in progress. Other votes will last three days by default.
2. Official business of the Election Commission must be conducted in public, and votes of the commission must take place on the official forum.
3. If, during any vote of the commission, an absolute majority is reached, the Chief Election Commissioner may end the vote early at their discretion.