[PASSED] Debtor Voting Rights

[United States of Americanas]

I am deeply offended that any nation would prohibit a person in debt from voting.

Next time you buy a car and have the debt of a car loan or a mortgage on your house you yes voters MAY NOT VOTE.

Voting is a fundamental right. All persons who are citizens of a nation have a RIGHT TO VOTE.

Here in United States Of Americanas ALL ARE REQUIRED TO VOTE AND THE DAY IS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY. THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE ARE FINED.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Okay, I'll be writing my repeal resolution soon.

[Falcania]

I am deeply offended that any nation would prohibit a person in debt from voting.

Next time you buy a car and have the debt of a car loan or a mortgage on your house you yes voters MAY NOT VOTE.

Voting is a fundamental right. All persons who are citizens of a nation have a RIGHT TO VOTE.

Here in United States Of Americanas ALL ARE REQUIRED TO VOTE AND THE DAY IS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY. THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE ARE FINED.

Voting is not a fundamental right under the existing body of WA legislation. The delegation from the Free Kingdom would like to remind the chamber that the General Assembly comprises nations of vastly differing cultures, and that consensus is not reached unilaterally.

[Wallenburg]

I am deeply offended that any nation would prohibit a person in debt from voting.

Next time you buy a car and have the debt of a car loan or a mortgage on your house you yes voters MAY NOT VOTE.

Voting is a fundamental right. All persons who are citizens of a nation have a RIGHT TO VOTE.

Here in United States Of Americanas ALL ARE REQUIRED TO VOTE AND THE DAY IS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY. THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE ARE FINED.

Voting is not a fundamental right under the existing body of WA legislation. The delegation from the Free Kingdom would like to remind the chamber that the General Assembly comprises nations of vastly differing cultures, and that consensus is not reached unilaterally.

Quite right. That's why each resolution has to gather a consensus among thousands of nations.

[Separatist Peoples]

I am deeply offended that any nation would prohibit a person in debt from voting.

Next time you buy a car and have the debt of a car loan or a mortgage on your house you yes voters MAY NOT VOTE.

Voting is a fundamental right. All persons who are citizens of a nation have a RIGHT TO VOTE.

Here in United States Of Americanas ALL ARE REQUIRED TO VOTE AND THE DAY IS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY. THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE ARE FINED.

"Compulsory voting makes about as much sense as the death penalty for attempted suicide."

[Bears Armed Mission]

"Bears Armed Mission has voted against the proposed resolution currently on the GA floor, 'Debtor Voting Rights', on the basis that it is unreasonable for the GA to tell its democratic members how to manage their elections while its many non-democratic members -- who would be unaffected by this measure -- are allowed to vote on this."

Artorrios o SouthWoods,
ChairBear, Bears Armed Mission at the World Assembly.

[Bananaaaaa]

Heill, even though this legislation is very short and straight to the point. Therefore there is no headache of reading all the normal legalities, so therefore The Principality has voted for.


- The Principality

[Blueflarst]

I am deeply offended that any nation would prohibit a person in debt from voting.

Next time you buy a car and have the debt of a car loan or a mortgage on your house you yes voters MAY NOT VOTE.

Voting is a fundamental right. All persons who are citizens of a nation have a RIGHT TO VOTE.

Here in United States Of Americanas ALL ARE REQUIRED TO VOTE AND THE DAY IS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY. THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE ARE FINED.

"Compulsory voting makes about as much sense as the death penalty for attempted suicide."

The gnome has his point here

[Dirty Americans]

In keeping with the spirit of brevity we have voted for this fine, short, and to the point resolution.

Oh and we actually agree on the subject at hand as well.
I mean you have to go out of your way not to read the whole resolution.
I think I will put this stuff in the spoiler box.
Because it's starting to look overly long.

[Velorum]

The Velorian Delegation argues against this resolution-at-vote due the lack of enforceability. If those in debt were to be jailed for failure to pay (as they can and often are in Velorum) then they would simply have the voting rights as criminals who, under law, do not have the right to vote.

At this time the Velorian Delegation must maintain a vote in opposition of passage until such a GA resolution comes to the General Assembly that states how the aforementioned loophole can be kept from being used to the disadvantage of those who owe even the slightest of debts to Government or Corporate entities.

[Arasi Luvasa]

"Further legislation addressing the issue of votes and imprisonment should be able to patch up the leaks. Just adress it that way and vote for this resolution."

[Separatist Peoples]

"Compulsory voting makes about as much sense as the death penalty for attempted suicide."

The gnome has his point here

"Gnomes are employees of the WA. I am not an employee of the WA. I'm not sure that makes any sense, ambassador. But that seems par for the course for you."

[Velorum]

"Further legislation addressing the issue of votes and imprisonment should be able to patch up the leaks. Just adress it that way and vote for this resolution."

The Velorian Delegation sees no reason to vote on what can only be described as incomplete legislation. If a more complete and comprehensive resolution reaches the Assembly floor, the Velorian Delegation will be more then happy to vote in its passage.

However, it would be irresponsible to let legislation pass on the basis of further legislation coming along to patch up the leaks.

[Scherzinger]

Well since here in our glorious forward thinking nation, voting is illegal and pretty much outlawed, i have no issues with this one.

Against

[Wabberjocky]

Unless they owe ME. Then all rights should be revoked.

[Arasi Luvasa]

Well since here in our glorious forward thinking nation, voting is illegal and pretty much outlawed, i have no issues with this one.

Against

If your nation doesn't allow voting, this legislation simply won't affect you.

[Durzan]

Category: Furtherment of Democracy
Strength: Mild

The World Assembly hereby bars member nations from invoking a person's debts as reason to deprive that person of the right to vote.

As a democratic nation in support of the right to vote, the Empire supports and applauds the underlying intent of this proposed resolution. However, the current proposal is a bit short and vauge in nature, nor does it provide any legal definitions. As such, we feel that it wouldn't prove all that effective in accomplishing its intended goal as written.

Thereby, we consider it incomplete legislation and regretfully inform you that the Grand Empire of Durzan must vote against this proposal at this time, and further call for this current version of the proposal to be dismissed by the secretary so it can be reviewed and fleshed out more thoroughly.

[DACOROMANIA]

I voted against this resolution. I expected much more from a WA Delegate. I'm expecting the Repeal because this resolution makes no sense without a legal form. Please, read FAQs on how a resolution/proposal is made.

[Jocospor]

This has a loophole.
Step 1: Criminalize non-payment of court fees or other debts owed to the government.
Step 2: Make the punishment two days of imprisonment for each day they don't pay.
Step 3: Disenfranchise incarcerated criminals.

This remains unanswered. Imperium Anglorum, why do you just ignore critique? Please address it.

Get used to it, that's all we'll say. I.A.'s got quite the reputation for ignoring people it doesn't consider to be worth it's time. Case in point, right here.

Congratulations, I.A, you've mistakenly submitted your "Tell us why the World Assembly is so flawed in 25 words or less!" entry to the General Assembly. What a pity! How will you win that cute holiday to the Maldives now?!

This "resolution" (which we're loathe to term as such) is, to us, completely and utterly pathetic. We'll quickly sum up why:

1. Clear evidence of I.A. just trying to add another "We passed this!" to it's name. It's badge-hunting in the extreme, with the resolution written insincerely at best.
2. I.A. mocks the World Assembly in a particularly snarky way. I.A.'s been accused of writing incomprehensible proposals, and now comes out with this? A one liner. Is that, in I.A.'s opinion, what the World Assembly is capable of understanding? It's the ultimate insult.
3. This resolution is fundamentally flawed. If a man is incarcerated on the sole count of his debts, he is, in fact, incarcerated. His voting privileges are denied of him given his imprisonment. If a member nation is now suddenly barred from "invoking a person's debts as reason to deprive that person of the right to vote," what happens to the incarcerated man? Is he allowed to vote while his inmates are not? He must be, since his debts can't deny him the right to vote and the only reason he's in prison is because of his debts. Or, alternatively, is he set free, completely undermining the criminal justice system and societal order? Or, is he not actually afforded a vote because he's in jail and the criminal code is upheld - but he's only in jail due to his debts, so then what must happen is...

Try more than 25 words next time.

This is getting plenty of support from all I.A.'s cronies and the WA Elite, and unfortunately you can expect it to pass, thanks to I.A.'s reputation. Now, that's a pity.

[Page]

The Pagian delegation supports the passage of this resolution, believing that outstanding debts is not just cause to deprive one of their rights. We also applaud the author's brevity, a welcome contrast to the unnecessarily verbose resolutions which usually come up for a vote in these halls.

[Kenche Gle]

This is short!
Yes it is. And the site has passed shorter.

You are despicable at best. You take a resolution that's over 15 years old, being one of the first resolutions in nationstates, and you think that it doesn't matter? NationStates is way different than what it was a decade ago. There are more members, different rules and different requirements. This resolution is insulting both to NationStates and the WA. Your resolution and by extension yourself is what NS should weed out instead of letting it spread their ill-advised ideas and resolutions.

tl;dr This resolution is stupid.

[Falcania]

I note that in the past 36 hours some Falcanian institutions have begun to debate policies that would make it a criminal offence to be in debt on the day of an election or policy vote, punishable by 24 hours imprisonment.

[Militarized Algerstonia]

"The People's Republic hereby votes AGAINST this proposal by Imperium Anglorum, due to it only affecting democratic nations and not autocratic nations, combined with the fact that there are several loopholes involved in this; including letting prison inmates vote."

[Mundiferrum]

We do not like a lot of the statements thrown around against this resolution. We ourselves see no problems with the proposal as written, and we do not have qualms regarding multiple political systems being so involved in our democracy, but we understand contentions concerning those issues. On the other issues, however, we made this statement in our RMB:

"In defense of the proposal at vote:
There is no defense, because there is no argument. The brevity of the totally legal resolution makes its logic foolproof; the only discussion surrounding it should be about whether or not one's nation agrees with the principles behind it. And the principles behind a proposal must not relate to the character of the author: that is ad hominem, a very bad logical fallacy. Imperium Anglorum might be snarky, but considering all members in the WA, past and present, he is certainly not the snarkiest; his means may be underhanded at times, but only arguably immoral and never outright illegal; and knowing just how many resolutions he has previously passed, how many previous resolutions he's attempted to pass, and how broad his presence in the WA has been and is, he is far from being a 'badge hunter'. Ad hominem attacks play no part in good judgement; Mundiferrum voted according to our good judgment, and we encourage the rest of our fellow WA-member nations to do the same."

[Wallenburg]

It's fucking delicious watching people accuse IA of "badge-hunting" when he's already passed 24 GA resolutions. Newsflash, you don't get additional badges for passing more resolutions in the same chamber.