[EM] Trees by Proxy - formal

[Dave Ketchum]

I have arranged this more neatly - hopefully covering all my previous 
thoughts:

LEGISLATURES "ELECTED" VIA PROXY RATHER THAN VIA BALLOT BOX

HOW THEY OPERATE - GOALS

Much the same as presently - the goal here is better control as to who 
gets to be legislators.   Whatever other changes may make sense can be 
added to these early or later.

I will talk of:
      Ds - Districts - the whole village, town, etc.  For example, a 
prospective town Trustee can accept proxies from any place in the whole town.
      LCs - Legislature Candidates - those who have signed up to collect 
proxies, hoping to get enough to qualify as Ls.
      Ls - Legislators - regardless as to boards, whether Elders in a 
Village, Trustees in a Town, or even  Senators.

I see this starting in villages and towns, and spreading up the ladder as 
people learn to use and trust this system.

VOTERS DOING PROXIES

Rather than getting nominated, LCs simply register their interest in the 
job, together with an identifying public campaign statement.  Voters 
simply file original or replacement proxies at any time.

I assume a delay, perhaps 10 days, between a voter's change in registered 
proxies and their actually taking effect at all levels covered by the 
proxy (at midnight - thus meaning changes in effectiveness once per day). 
  This covers both the time to record the proxy and for all concerned  to 
prepare to respond to the change.

For Elders in a village, or Trustees in a town outside a village,  voters 
simply register their approval of a candidate for either job.  LCs with 
the most effective proxies have the jobs so long as they hold the most 
effective proxies.

How about voters in a village electing town Trustees?  Such a voter could 
do either of:
      Authorize the proxied Elder to choose what Trustee to proxy.
      Directly proxy town Trustee, just as would a voter outside any village.

LCs for a county board as a final example:
      Proxy village or town LC, giving them authority to proxy county LC.
      Directly proxy county LC.

LCs DOING PROXIES

An LC can do proxies for boards below their own level (i.e., Trustee 
candidate doing proxy  for village Elder) the same as any other voter.

Likewise for higher levels (i.e., Trustee candidate doing proxy for county 
board).  The difference is that these include all the proxies the LC holds 
that include authorization for this passing on.

Often there will be more LCs than can fit available slots for Ls.  LCs can 
use proxies to create LCs with more muscle, and thus more chance of 
fitting in available slots.  Note that these proxies have a different 
purpose than those discussed above, and thus no need for the same 
recording or delay before taking effect.

Note that it is permissible for an LC to offer to support a minority with 
no expectation of enough proxies to become an L - combining with other LCs 
is discussed above.

PROXY RECORDS

Need records as to who offers to be an LC, how many proxies they hold now, 
and how many they will hold over the next 10 days as filed changes take 
effect.

Need thought as to how public this information should be, while ensuring 
that records for each candidate are correct.

HOW THEY OPERATE - DETAILS

Size could be the same as for the elected legislature, which presumably 
was large enough to attend to its responsibilities.  Could be a bit bigger 
because proxies are easier to attend to than traditional elections.  The 
LCs with the most effective proxies become Ls.

Fact that there could be too many LCs should have no effect here - the LCs 
are responsible for combining forces to attend to this problem.

Could let the Ls have equal votes.  Legislators in the previous 
legislature had such and some must have been liked more than others.

Could let the Ls have voting power  based on effective proxies.  This is 
more doable with computers  to do the counting.  May still want equal 
votes for some trivial decisions.

With the latter there should be a limit on voting power of strongest Ls - 
perhaps 35 or 40%.  This both prevents an individual from having monopoly 
power, and discourages trying to accumulate such power.

Pay - Ls are performing tasks for their community, and therefore should be 
paid accordingly, just as should have happened with their elected equivalents.

Formality of interface between voters and Ls - this needs thought, but 
does  not necessarily change from what happened with legislatures. 
Village boards need little formality, likely having a period at meetings 
for citizens to speak up without advance notice.   As you go up the 
ladder, more formality becomes essential.

TRANSITION

Need any required changes in law, approval by voters, enough time to 
complete the transition before next campaign season, and at least enough 
present legislators signing up as LCs to be ready to keep the legislature 
operable.

Legislature  approves collecting proxies.

Once enough proxies have been collected, legislature transfers control to 
the new legislature composed of enough proxied members to continue 
control.  Note that all members of the new order should have enough 
experience with the old order to understand their duties.

Now anyone qualified for such can sign up and, provided they collect 
enough proxies, become a member of the legislature.

EXCLUDED

Having a difference between LCs having voting power, and being full Ls.  I 
now propose a simple boundary - as many LCs as can become full Ls, and the 
remainder simply remain LCs.

I exclude several somewhat relatable topics:  Delegable Proxy, Asset 
voting, Direct voting, and Free Associations - not as bad ideas but as 
confusing and/or conflicting.

Delegable proxy - confusing because proxies, as used here, have specific 
rules and abilities as stated here.  One exception would be if the rules 
here could mean too many proxy givers associated with one LC, delegable 
proxy would make sense for that collection of givers.

Direct voting - that a voter, having given a proxy, could then substitute 
his personal vote in place of the vote he has authorized his proxy to 
make.  I reject such as to being made part of this proposal:
      It adds a complication that is not needed for what I propose, and 
could impact my primary goal.
      I would not object to it if proposed as an addition, so long as it 
did not get in the way of the basics.

Free Association - a possible grouping of individuals with other choices.

Initiative, Referendum, and Recall - simply not affected by this proposal.

ende
-- 
  davek at clarityconnect.com    people.clarityconnect.com/webpages3/davek
  Dave Ketchum   108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY  13827-1708   607-687-5026
            Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
                  If you want peace, work for justice.