Starting seed for discussion on a Con/CoL summary:
Here's how this Democracy works:
Anyone who registers in the Citizens' Registry a Citizen. Every citizen is able to vote in any poll. One Citizen = One vote.
The Elected Officials make up the Government. They are chosen through polls from among the Nominated Citizens. Here's the section of the Constitution that details the rules.
The Polls are set up by the elected goverment officials for various purposes, and there is usually a link from the poll to its particular discussion thread. The result of the poll decides the issue. If the debate was over a game action, the Designated Player will then implement the change in-game. If the issue was administrative, the Elected Official(s) then act accordingly.
maybe ravensfire has some summary ideas to help explain the Con/CoL?