Salvete Quirites!
I have decided to publish this proposal for a "Lex Fabia de Ratione
Comitiorum Centuriatorum" for a open discussion here on the main
list. The Res Publica have during the last year been forced to go
through repeated elections in the different Comitia. As Consul I may
propose new "rules" for the Comitia Centuriata and Comitia Populi
Tributa. If I get an OK from the Populus with this proposal I will
get my "Officina Iuris et Rei Politicae" to start working on a new
lex for the Comitia Populi Tributa too.
I have been informed that the principles of the above lex proposal
has been presented to the Comitia Plebis Tributa. This was done with
my consent and I can only hope that this proposal will inspire the
Plebs to find a solution to the re-occuring problem with re-elections
that they have had. Still as a Patrician I may only share my ideas
with the Populus as a whole and hope that others will find good ideas
in this proposal.
To get started I have gave my "Officina Iuris et Rei Politicae" the
task to write a proposal for a law in Comitia Centuriata. This
procedure has been rather complicated, I have had input both from the
"Consilium Accensorum Magnorum" and different individual citizens, at
last these points of view have been "melted" together in this
proposal. Now I expect the Populus to look into this proposal.
The aim with this proposal is to get a lex that will make it quite
improbable that we will have re-occuring re-elections over and over
again and yet form a fair and quite historical system. For those who
want to find the arguments for this system I refer them to the two
last parts of this text (the Handbook and the Arguments). I think
that the voting system outlined in this proposal is rather easy to
understand for the voters, as they just need to know that they can
vote "yes" to as manyamong the candidates as they want.
I hereby freely acknowledge the good work done before by Illustrus
Flavius Vedius Germanicus, Illustrus Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix,
Illustrus Marcus Cassius Julianus and Illustrus Marcus Octavius
Germanicus with leges for the Comitia Centuriata and openly admit
that this proposal as most legal proposals must be built on work done
by others before.
Still I have decided to let all old leges that deal with the Comitia
Centuriata be superseded by "Lex Fabia de Ratione Comitiorum
Centuriatorum". I did this although I had a alternate lex with just
corrections and changes to old leges. I found out that such a
"corrected" lex would be over-complicated as it would have to be read
together with other older leges. That is the reason that I choose to
use this version.
.
Here is the proposal with accompaning texts:
*********************
Lex Fabia de Ratione Comitiorum Centuriatorum
I. All previous laws relating to the Comitia Centuriata are hereby
rescinded as they apply to the election of magistrates and the voting
of leges by the Comitia Centuriata. This Lex Fabia de Ratione
Comitiorum
Centuriatorum is hereby enacted to define the procedures by which the
Comitia Centuriata shall conduct the
business of electing magistrates and voting on leges.
II. Calling the Comitia to Order.
Either a Consul or Praetor may, as described in the constitution,
call the Comitia to order, to hold a vote on a lex or leges, or to
hold an election. The magistrate who calls the Comitia to order shall
be referred to herein as the presiding magistrate.
A. This shall be done by making a public announcement announcing the
call in those public fora which shall have
been designated for such purpose, in which must be included:
1. The names of candidates for office and the office for which they
are running (when the Comitia is being called
for an election);
2. Date of Citizenship of each candidate.
3. The full text of any leges, which are being voted on (when the
Comitia is being called to legislate);
4. The dates and time when the members of the Comitia shall begin and
finish voting;
5. Any special instructions that pertain to the mechanics of the vote, if any.
B. The presiding magistrate shall have the responsibility for taking
all reasonable precautions to ensure that
candidates for a vote hold whatever qualifications are required by
law. The Censors shall assist in such efforts as to the best of their
ability.
III. Timing of the vote.
A. The edictum containing the call to vote must be issued at least
120 hours (5 days) prior to the start of the
vote. This period shall be known as the Contio, and shall be used for
formal discussion of the issues and/or
candidates before the People for vote.
1. In the event that, in an election for a magisterial office, there
are not sufficient candidates elected to fill all vacancies in that
office, the presiding magistrate may call for a follow-up election
among those same candidates who failed to obtain that office in the
previous election. For these follow-up elections, the 120-hour
(5-day) requirement for the length of the Contio (official discussion
period) shall be shortened to 24 hours.
B. During the Contio, the following conditions shall apply:
1. Those constitutionally empowered to do so may exercise their
powers of intercessio or nuntiatio.
a. Intercessio may be exercised against either the entire election or
vote, or against one or more individual items
on the ballot. If there are any items on the ballot that have not
been subjected to intercessio, voting on them
shall proceed normally. The removal of an item from the ballot due to
intercessio shall not prevent that item
from being placed upon the ballot for a different vote at a later time.
b. The exercise of nuntiatio shall extend the Contio, postponing the
start and end dates of the voting period by 24 hours, during which
time nuntiatio may again be exercised.
c. Should the exercise of nuntatio cause the voting period to move
such that it conflicts with calendarical restrictions as defined by
the Collegium Pontificum, the presiding magistrate may change or
extend the dates of the vote and/or contio at his discretion.
2. A member of the Collegium Augurum shall be invited by the
presiding magistrate to seek favorable auspices for the conduct of
the vote, subject to those rules and regulations the Collegium
Augurum shall set forth by
decreta. Should the presiding magistrate himself be a member of the
Collegium Augurum, he may take the auspices for the vote himself.
C. The period between the start and end of the voting must last no
less than 120 hours (5 days).
D. The ability to vote during the voting period may be impacted
and/or suspended due to calendrical issues as enacted by decreta of
the Collegium Pontificum.
E. The rogatores shall tally the vote and shall deliver the results
to the presiding magistrate within 48 hours of the close of the
voting period.
F. The presiding magistrate shall announce the results of the vote
within 24 hours of receiving the results from the rogatores, in at
least the same venues as the original announcement calling the vote
was published.
IV. Voting procedures.
A. The censors shall issue to each citizen a unique voter
identification code. This code shall be used to maintain
anonymity in the voting process, and to minimize the possibility of
vote fraud. In a timely fashion prior to the vote, the censors shall
make available to the rogatores a list of valid voter identification
codes and the centuries with which they are associated. The rogatores
shall not have access to the names of the citizens associated with
particular voter identification codes.
B. In consultation with the rogatores, the curator araneum shall make
available a cista; a secure web-based form to allow citizens to vote
directly through the official Nova Roma web site. This form shall
record the voter identification number and desired vote(s) of the
individual. The information thus collected will either be forwarded
to the rogatores as it is gathered, or at the end of the process, at
their discretion. Alternative methods of voting may be enacted by
other legislation as required.
C. In the case of a magisterial election, for each candidate, each
voter shall have the option to mark the candidate 'yes (vti rogas)'
or to leave the candidate unmarked. In the case of legislation, for
each proposed law, each voter shall have the option to vote 'yes (vti
rogas)' or 'no (antiqvo) Once cast, no vote may be altered, even with
the correct voter identification code. Should multiple votes be
registered with the same voter identification code, only the first
one recorded shall be used when tallying the vote.
V. Procedures for counting votes.
A. Votes shall be counted by centuries.
1. In the case of a magisterial election, the votes of each century
shall be calculated as follows. For each century, the candidates
shall be ordered by the number of 'yes' votes they receive from
voters in that century, the candidate who receives most 'yes' votes
(ties being decided by lot) being numbered 1, and so on in descending
order. If any candidates have no 'yes' votes from voters in that
century, those candidates shall not be listed.
2. In the case of a vote on a lex, each century shall vote in favor
of the lex if a majority of the votes received by members of the
century are in favor. Otherwise, the century shall be considered to
have voted against the proposed lex.
3. The rogatores may decide how decisions by lot shall be made in a
fair manner.
B.
1. In the case of a magisterial election, the results are calculated
as follows.
a. In the first round, the number 1 preferences of the centuries are
compared. If at this stage any candidate is the number 1 preference
of more than fifty per cent of the centuries (not including any
'void' centuries - centuries in which no 'yes' votes were cast), that
candidate is elected. If no candidate has a majority of
first-preference votes, then the candidate who is the number 1 choice
of fewest centuries (ties being decided by lot) is eliminated. The
election or elimination of a candidate ends the first round.
b. If there are still vacancies to be filled, there is a second round
in which each century which voted for the elected or eliminated
candidate as its first choice is given to its second choice
candidate. If any such century has no second choice, that century
becomes 'void'. As before, if any candidate now has a majority of the
centuries (not including any 'void' centuries), he or she is elected.
If not, the candidate with the fewest centuries is eliminated. This
concludes the second round.
c. If there are still vacancies to be filled, each century held by
the candidate who was elected or eliminated in the previous round is
given to its second choice candidate or, if that candidate has been
elected or eliminated, to its third choice candidate. Any century
having no candidate as its next choice becomes 'void'. Any candidate
who now has a majority of centuries (not including 'void' centuries)
is elected, and if no candidate has a majority then the candidate
with the fewest centuries is eliminated, ending the third round.
d. This procedure is repeated until all the vacancies are filled.
e. If at the end of any round the number of candidates is equal to
the number of vacancies and all the candidates
have the same number of centuries, the tie is decided by lot, but
rather than eliminate the loser, the winner is elected, and the round
ends.
2. In the case of a vote on a lex, a simple majority of the centuries
casting votes must vote in favor for the lex to be adopted.
3. In the case of a magisterial elections, a "majority" is defined as
"one half of the number of centuries (not including 'void' centuries)
plus one, fractions being rounded down".
4. In the case of a vote on a lex, a "simple majority" is hereby
defined as "one half of the number of centuries
casting votes, plus one, fractions being rounded down". A century in
which no voters cast 'yes' votes shall not be counted toward this
total.
C. Votes may be tallied by automated means should the rogatores
determine such is preferable to, and at least as accurate as, a
manual count.
D. Only the aggregate votes of the centuries shall be delivered to
the presiding magistrate; the votes of individual citizens shall be
secret.
---
2. HERE IS THE VOTER'S HANDBOOK:
--
Elections in the Comitia Centuriata: A Voter's Handbook
Stage One: Voting
As in the ancient Roman republic, voting in the Comitia Centuriata
(Centuriate Assembly) of Nova Roma is a two-stage process. The first
stage begins with the voter.
In the ancient republic, voters apparently had to write out the
initials of their favourite candidates on wax tablets. When voting on
laws, however, they simply marked the letter V (for vti rogas,
meaning 'let it be as you suggest', or 'yes') or the letter A (for
antiqvo, meaning 'I support the old state of affairs', or 'no').
These methods both come to much the same thing, of course.
To combine historical accuracy with convenience, therefore, our
system combines the two methods. Each voter is given a list of all
the candidates (so you don't have to remember how to spell their
names) and can mark 'yes' (vti rogas) next to each candidate they
support. This is much closer to the authentic Roman method of voting
than the one used in most modern countries, in which voters choose
one out of a selection of candidates. Interestingly, a very similar
method of voting has recently been proposed in various countries
under the name 'Approval Voting'.
You can vote 'yes' to as many candidates as you want. Probably the
best approach is to vote 'yes' only to those candidates you would
like to see elected. We encourage you to vote 'yes' to at least one
candidate, but this is not compulsory!
Once all the voters have voted, the rogatores get to work. First they
sort the votes into centuries, in order to calculate how each century
votes. Then for each century they write a numbered list of
candidates. The candidate who received most 'yes' votes from members
of the century goes in first place; the one who was next most popular
goes second; and so on, until all the candidates who received 'yes'
votes are in order.
Example 1:
Let's imagine there are 10 voters in century z, voting on three
candidates for Praetor, called A, B and C. They vote as follows:
A B C
Voter 1 Yes - -
Voter 2 - Yes -
Voter 3 Yes Yes Yes
Voter 4 - - Yes
Voter 5 Yes - -
Voter 6 - Yes Yes
Voter 7 - Yes Yes
Voter 8 - - Yes
Voter 9 Yes Yes Yes
Voter 10 - - Yes
TOTAL 4 5 7
Candidate C got 7 'yes' votes, B got 5, and A got 4. So the list would be:
1. C
2. B
3. A
Example 2:
Here's an example with four candidates, A, B, C and D.
A B C D
Voter 1 Yes Yes - -
Voter 2 - - - Yes
Voter 3 - Yes Yes -
Voter 4 Yes Yes - -
Voter 5 Yes - Yes -
Voter 6 - Yes - Yes
Voter 7 - Yes - -
Voter 8 Yes - Yes -
Voter 9 - - Yes Yes
Voter 10 Yes Yes - Yes
TOTAL 5 6 4 4
Here, A got 5, B got 6, and C and D got 4 each. In this case the tie
would be decided by lot. If D won the tie-break, the list would look
like this:
1. B
2. A
3. D
4. C
Any candidate who received no 'yes' votes in a century is not listed.
A century with an incomplete list will drop out at some stage during
Stage Two and become a 'void' century. Don't worry - if your century
becomes 'void', this has no adverse effect on your vote, which
remains just as valid as everyone else's/ Any century with no 'yes'
votes at all is of course 'void' straight away.
Example 3:
A B C D E
Voter 1 Yes - - Yes -
Voter 2 - Yes - - -
Voter 3 Yes - - Yes -
Voter 4 - - - Yes -
Voter 5 Yes Yes - - -
Voter 6 - - - - -
Voter 7 - Yes - Yes -
Voter 8 Yes - - - -
Voter 9 - - - Yes -
Voter 10 - - - Yes -
TOTAL 4 3 0 6 0
In this example, D has 6 'yes' votes, A has 4 and B has 3. Neither C
nor E have any, so they are not included in the list, which would go:
1. D
2. A
3. B
Stage Two: The Centuries
In this stage, the centuries vote in rounds. The method used for this
stage is adapted from a system known as Alternative Vote or
Preferential Voting. It is used in Australia and the Republic of
Ireland, and has been proposed for the U.K. several times. It is
generally agreed by analysts to be the fairest and most efficient
variation on 'first past the post' or 'plurality' voting. It ensures
that no candidate is ekected who is not supported by a majority of
voters (or in our case a majority of centuries), but it also avoids
the multiple run-off elections of other majority systems. It is
effectively the same as holding many elections one after another,
except that the hard work is done by the rogatores, not by the
voters. It must be admitted that it is still possible, under this
system, for an election to fail to fill all the vacancies, making
run-off elections necessary; but this could occur if virtually no one
voted!
The system is best understood by looking at examples. In all cases,
the first round begins the same way: the rogatores sort the centuries
according to the number 1 preference in their list.
Example 4:
Let's go back to the race between A, B and C to be elected Praetor.
If there were 20 centuries (g to z), their preferences might look
like this:
g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
1st C A C B A C A C C B B C A C C B C A A C
2nd A B A C B B C B A C A A C B A C B C C B
3rd B C B A C A B A B A C B B A B A A B B A
In total, 10 centuries chose C as their first preference, 6 chose A,
and only 4 chose B. None of these has a majority (11 or more), so the
lowest candidate, B, is eliminated. That's round one.
Next, B's votes would be distributed between the other candidates. Of
the 4 centuries which voted for B as first choice, 3 (j, p and v)
gave their second preference to C, and 1 (q) preferred A, so C gets 3
extra votes and A gets 1. C now has 13 centuries and A has 7. C has a
majority, and is elected senior Praetor. That's the end of the second
round.
Finally, the 13 centuries which were voting for C are redistributed.
Of the 10 which put C as first choice, 5 (g, i, o, r, u) have A as
second choice, so these go to A. The other 5 (l, n, t, w, z) have B,
who has been eliminated, so they go to their third choice, who is,
unsurprisingly, A. And the 3 who originally voted for B and were then
given to C also all have A as their next choice, so they're given to
A. A now has 20 centuries - a comfortable majority! - and is
therefore elected junior Praetor.
First Second Third
round round round
A 6 7 20
(elected)
B 4 - -
(eliminated)
C 10 13 -
(elected)
Example 5:
Here are the centuries' preferences from the four-way election.
g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
1st A A C B D C A D C B C C A B A D B B B B
2nd C D A C B B C C D C D B B C C B C A C A
3rd D C B D A A B A B A A A C A B A A C D D
4th B B D A C D D B A D B D D D D C D D A C
7 centuries prefer B, A and C have 5 each and D has 3. No one has a
majority, so D is eliminated and his or her votes redistributed. In
the second round, 2 of the centuries that voted for D (k, v) had B as
second choice, and 1 (n) had C, so B gets 2 extra votes and C gets 1.
B now has 9, C has 6 and A has 5. Again, no one has a majority, so A
is now eliminated and we move to round three. Of the centuries that
were voting for A, 3 (g, m, u) had C as their next choice, one (s)
had B and one (h) had D. Of course D has already been knocked out, so
the rogatores give that century's vote to its third choice, C. B now
has 10 and C has 10. Neither has a majority, so the tie is decided by
lot. However, since there are only two candidates left, neither is
eliminated: the winner of the decision by lot (B) is elected senior
Praetor. In the fourth round, all B's votes go to C, who is then
elected junior Praetor.
First Second Third Fourth
round round round round
A 5 5 - -
(eliminated)
B 7 9 10 -
(elected)
C 5 6 10 20
(elected)
D 3 - - -
(eliminated)
Example 6:
The final example. The preferences of the centuries look like this:
g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
1st E D E D B B C D D D D C D D D E D E D
2nd C A D A E C A C E E C D A C E A A C A
3rd B C A E D E E E B C A E E E B D E D B
4th D B B C A D B A A B E B C B A B B A
5th A E C B C A D B C A B A B A C C C B
Note that centuries w and z are incomplete. In century z there were
two candidates with no 'yes' votes, as shown in Example 3. In century
W no 'yes' votes were cast, so the century is 'void'.
In the first round, D has 11 votes - a majority - and is therefore
elected senior Praetor. Note that because century w is 'void', the
minimum required for a majority is only 10 (half of 19 is 9 and a
half, plus one is 10 and a half, rounded down to 10). E has 4, C and
B have 2 each. In the second round, 5 of D's votes (h, j, s, x, z) go
to A, 3 (o, p, u) go to E, 3 (n, q, t) to C and none to B. This
leaves E with 7, C and A with 5 each and B with 2. No one has a
majority, and B is last, so B is eliminated. In the third round, one
of B's votes (z) goes to E, who now has 8. The other (l) goes to C,
who now has 6, leaving A with 5. Still no one has a majority, so A is
eliminated. In the fourth round, A's votes are distributed. One (h)
goes to C, and 3 (j, s, x) go to E. Century z's next choice, B, is
already out, and it has no further choices, so it now becomes 'void'.
This leaves E with 11 and C with 7. With two centuries 'void', the
minimum for a majority is still 10 (half of 18 is 9, plus one is 10),
so E is now elected junior Praetor.
First Second Third Fourth
round round round round
A 0 5 5 -
(eliminated)
B 2 2 - -
(eliminated)
C 2 5 6 7
D 11 - - -
(elected)
E 4 7 8 11
(elected)
Void 1 1 1 2
Conclusion:
Hopefully you now understand how to complete your ballot, how your
vote will contribute to the over-all vote of your century, and how
ultimately your vote will contribute to the end result of the
election. The examples have all dealt with elections in which there
are only two vacancies, but the process is exactly the same however
many there may be.
If you have any further questions, we advise you first to consult the
text of the lex Cornelia Octavia de Ratione Comitiorum Centuriatorum,
which sets out the rules of the system. If this does not answer your
questions, you should contact the rogatores.
---
3. THIS IS THE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THE NEW SYSTEM:
---
--More Historical
Currently the method of voting, which requires voters to choose
between the available candidates, is different from the method the
Romans used. In elections they wrote out the names of all their
preferred candidates on a tablet; when voting on laws they marked 'V'
for 'vti rogas' ('let it be as you suggest') or 'A' for 'antiqvo' ('I
prefer things how they were before'). These two methods have much the
same result, and the method adopted in the proposed new system is a
combination of both. It is therefore much closer to historical voting
procedures.
--Fairer Voting
Many voters in past elections have been dissatisfied with their
inability to vote for as many candidates as there were vacancies to
be filled. This restriction is frustrating for voters, and means that
the results cannot accurately reflect each voter's range of
preferences. It was not possible to change this using the previous
method of calculating the results, because it would have resulted in
many more tied centuries. Using this new method, voters can vote for
as many candidates as they want without causing problems when the
votes are counted. The voting is therefore fairer, more satisfying
for voters and more sensitive to voters' preferences.
--Fairer Result-calculation
With the existing method of counting the centuries' votes, candidates
who don't gain a majority of centuries are not elected. This ensures
that all successful candidates are supported by a majority, but it
results in the frequent and endemic need for run-off elections. The
system before that, using the 'first-past-the-post' principle, was
more efficient but enabled a candidate to be elected without a
majority, and in some cases with very little support. The proposed
system is based on a system called Alternative Vote or Preferential
Voting, which is used in Australia and Ireland. It is widely agreed
by analysts to be the bst electoral system available for elections of
this kind. It is much fairer than first-past-the-post, because it
ensures that no candidate is elected without majority support, but
without sacrificing efficiency.
--Reduces Run-off Elections
The method used to calculate the results, combined with the new
method of casting votes on the ballot paper, means that there is very
unlikely to be any need for run-off elections. There are only two
ways an elections could fail to fill all the vacancies. One is if not
enough candidates are standing - there's nothing a voting-system can
do about this! If there are enough candidates, and as many candidates
as there are vacancies receive 'yes' votes, all the vacancies will be
filled. If there is one vacancy, it can only fail to be filled if no
one votes at all. So long as one person casts one 'yes' vote, the
election will be successful. If there are two vacancies, there would
need to be two 'yes' votes, at least one for each of two candidates -
they could both be cast by the same voter, or by two different ones,
but two 'yes' votes is the minimum for a successful election to fill
two vacancies. Essentially, the
election will succeed if there are as many or more candidates
recieving at least one 'yes' vote as there are vacancies. It's true
that not very many people vote, but I don't think there's been an
election yet where the number of voters has been that low, or where
there has been absolutely no support for the necessary number of
candidates, where enough candidates present themselves. So within
reasonable limits, the proposed system effectively eliminates run-off
elections.
--
Vale
Caeso Fabius Quintilianus
Senior Consul et Senator
Propraetor Thules
Sodalitas Egressus Beneficarius et Praefectus Provincia Thules
Civis Romanus sum
************************************************
Cohors Consulis CFQ
http://www.insulaumbra.com/cohors_consulis_cfq/
************************************************
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam
"I'll either find a way or make one"
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Dignitas, Iustitia, Fidelitas et Pietas
Dignity, Justice, Loyalty and Dutifulness