Minor Procedural Question on Voting Credits

[Nathan of Natopia]

This just came to mind... what is the cutoff for recognizing a duchy's amount of VCs? For example, would it be ok for a duchy to wait til the 95th hour and then buy the necessary number of VCs to tip the scale to their side?

What about if a duchy gains more VCs while a vote is currently underway and their duke has already voted? Would their vote automatically get the extra VCs?



I think the first scenario is underhanded, sneaky, highly politikal, and therefore acceptable. But I think a vote's weight cannot be changed after the duke has cast it. ...Or should it?

[Andreas the Wise]

I believe the law states that only voting credits purchased at the start of the voting period count. That is, when you post the list, that's the credits for that vote. At least, that's how I wrote the law.

There is, of course, the potential that one Duchy could buy twenty credits at once, and thereby open a vote with that, making their vote the casting one. In those circumstances the Praetor should exercise care in when he takes opens the vote, and if someone appears to be skewing the system, be a little more lenient in asking other Dukes if they want to be begin voting yet, and thereby allowing time for them to purchase their own credits if need be. Of course, no current Duke would be so underhanded, and such a proposal could always be overturned the next month when the credits reset, but I leave that for the Praetor to think on.

[Nathan of Natopia]

Ok yea... the procedures do say only VCs at the start count.

However, the Praetor has no control over when the voting starts, the procedures still say voting begins immediately after the bill has been proposed. So a duke can buy 20 VCs then put a bill on the landsraad... and pass it himself....??

[Andreas the Wise]

There is the potential. Of course, someone could then buy 30 and reverse it. But to avoid that sort of situation, I'd propose the following ammendments.

1. After a bill has been presented to the Landsraad, it is the duty of the Praetor to open the voting by posting the amount of voting credits held by each Duke at that time. There is a period of exactly four days (96 hours) during which the members of the Landsraad can then vote on it. Each member has one vote with a value outlined below, which he or she may cast in any unambiguous way to represent a vote of aye or nay, on any bill during the voting period. A vote only applies to a bill exactly as it has been presented. At the end of the period, the Praetor counts the votes, announces the result, and if the weighting of the ayes outnumber the weighting of the nays, updates the LawBook with the changes.

2. The weighting of a vote in The Landsraad shall be pegged to the amount of Voting Credits held by each Duchy, such that each Ducal vote cast counts as as many votes as the number of Voting Credits held by the Duchy. Only Dukes have a voting right in the Landsraad, either Aye or Nay.
a. The only exception to this weighting is that no vote may pass when only one Duke has voted in support of it.

The first part clears up that you start the voting, not any Duke. With a deputy Praetor around, that shouldn't cause undue delays.
The second part means that at least two Dukes have to support a bill for it to pass. Effectively, if Duke A has 5 votes, and the other four Dukes only 1 each, even though when Duke A votes yes and all the other four vote no, the score is 5-4, the bill doesn't pass because only one Duchy has supported it. Thus, though Duke A can have 100 votes to the other Duke's 4, it still makes no difference - two people must support it.
Two people supporting a proposal should stop anything that is biased in particular towards one Duchy. While two Duchies could ally and get around this, restricting it any further removes the point of having a vote based economy.

Would those ammendments be satisfactory in addressing the perceived problem?

[Nathan of Natopia]

I think those are fine safeguards.

[Andreas the Wise]

I'll take it to the Landsraad then.