Bill: Draft Electoral Transparency Act

[Omegabiebel]

A
BILL
To

Provided for Increased Election Transparency Requirements[/B]​

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Electoral Transparency Act'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Omegabiebel.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by <user>.

2 - Reasons
(1) Currently a FOI request needs to be sent if you want data, which may take a long time
(2) We’ve been relying too much on DOS policy to make sure their systems work, “trusting” secretaries to audit their systems.
(3) While Tech and his team have really turned the DOS around, DOS wasn’t always managed this well and there is no guarantee it will continue to be managed this well.
(4) Elections are enormously important and therefore justify the use of strict laws.
(5) To amend the Electoral Act.

3 - Transparency
(1) The following section shall be added to the Electoral Act:
“17 - Transparency Requirements
(1) The names of all Electoral Officers shall be published.
(2) DOS shall release all scripts, programs, spreadsheets, systems, code, manuals, processes, calculation methods, intermediate election result calculations and documents related to the election system, the recording of votes and the election result calculation, at least 7 days before a regular congressional election.
(3) DOS shall release the election or referendum result within 48 hours after the polls close.
(4) DOS shall release all scripts, programs, spreadsheets, systems, code, manuals, processes, calculation methods, intermediate result calculations and documents related to the voting system, the recording of votes and the result calculation, within 5 days after polls of an election or referendum close.
(5) The DOS shall release the anonymous votes of an election or referendum within 24 hours of results being published.
(a) This shall happen even if there are mistakes, disputes, election failures or any other event that challenges or contests the validity of the election or referendum.
(6) DOS shall only be exempted from releasing a script, program, spreadsheet, system, code, manual, process or document related to the election system, the recording of votes and the election or referendum result calculation if authorised by Staff.”

(2) Section 12 of the Electoral Act shall be amended as follows:

“12 - Electoral Officers

(1) Electoral Officers are charged with ensuring that elections are carried out in accordance with the wording and spirit of this act.

(2) Electoral Officers are charged with ensuring that elected offices with activity requirements are met and maintained.

(3) Electoral Officers are charged with serving as the stewards of free and fair elections.

(4) Electoral Officers are strictly prohibited from tabulating/calculating results for elections they are running in.
(5) Electoral Officers may facilitate an election in which they are running only under the strict supervision of another Electoral Officer. This conflict of interest along with the supervising electoral officer shall always be publicly disclosed.
(6) Electoral Officers shall have the obligation to report any and all appearances and actual violations of the Electoral Act and of the free and fair character of an election or referendum to the Secretary of the Department of State.”