APPROVAL POLL: Confirmation Polls

[Chieftess]

Discussion was here.

CoL 

A. Citizen Rights
  2. Confirmation Polls
    a. Confirmation polls are used in certain, specified situations 
      to challenge the decision of an elected official.  Confirmation 
      polls may be used only when explicitly allowed by law.  Any 
      citizen may  create a confirmation poll, should one not already 
      exist.  This poll must be created within 24 hours of the
      appointment or decision, and ask the question "Do you approve of the 
      <description of decision>?", with Yes, No and Abstain option. 
      If the confirmation poll directly concerns a citizen (e.g. 
      appointment), this poll is to be private, as it is a form of an
      election.  The poll will run for 2 days. At the end of the time,
      if a majority of the citizens vote "No", the decision is 
      overturned. Any other result approves the decision.

 

[DaveShack]

I would prefer to not have the 2 days specified, but can live with it to begin with. If a confirmation poll on a decision must be open for 2 days, then we have to hold off on implementing the decision. This usually means a play session will get postponed.

 

[MOTH]

This is a confirmation poll. There was a JR on this during DG5 where it was ruled that the decision stands until overturned. So, we would not have to delay a play session unless the confirmation poll finished before the play session and overturned a relavent ruling. Perhaps some clarification can be added to this CoL later.

 

[Donovan Zoi]

At the end of the time, if a majority of the citizens vote "No", the decision is overturned. Any other result approves the decision.

Due to this passage, I have to vote NO. This sets up the possibility for an appointment/decision to be confirmed despite garnering less YES votes than NO votes.

Let's say that a confirmation poll receives 22 NO votes and 19 YES votes. The Nays have it, right? Actually, not quite....if you add 4 Abstain votes. This brings the NO count to a mere plurality of total votes, and the confirmation would therefore pass even though more citizens refused it than supported it.

I am a little late on this one, so it looks like it's going in the books. However, we should consider an amendment for either:

1. Removing the majority restriction for NO votes
2. Removing Abstain from confirmation polls altogether

Doing so will lay to rest any doubt in how these polls are interpreted.

 

[Provolution]

Please remove abstain from confirmation polls. If you dislike the concept and want to block it, simply say no. I think Abstain is over-used to the comical.