Article 3 of the Alliance Charter

Article 3 of the Alliance Charter (abbreviated A3) is the third official article of the Alliance Charter.

Section 1.	Polls
P1.01	All polls added to membership applications and actions in the Senate shall have mandatory time limits added to them when posted, via the Run poll for: option, set to whatever number of days is appropriate for the specific type of poll, as follows: P1.02	A quorum of twelve (12) votes cast shall be sufficient to determine whether a measure has passed or failed, with a majority of yes votes, out of all votes cast, required for passage. P1.03	No member shall cast a vote, or change their vote, after the measure being voted on has passed.
 * C1.01(a)	Membership applications shall have their polls open for a maximum of fourteen (14) days.
 * C1.01(b)	Actions in the Senate shall have their polls open for a maximum of seven (7) days.
 * C1.02(a)	Members may choose to vote yes, no, or abstain in all such polls, with abstentions representing either (i) no preference or (ii) avoidance of a conflict of interest by all members who abstain.
 * C1.02(b)	Abstentions shall count as "no preference", counting as neither "yes" nor "no", but shall be included in the total vote count when determining whether a measure has passed or failed.
 * C1.02(c)	If the time limit on the poll expires before quorum is attained, the measure shall be deemed to have passed only if at least seven (7) yes votes have been cast.
 * C1.03(a)	Violations of this paragraph, referred to as illegal voting, shall be considered Class C offenses, as described in, and shall be punished accordingly.

Section 2.	Schedule of Elections
P2.01	General elections shall take place every 12 months, in February, and shall be scheduled as follows: P2.02	Governments elected in a given election shall take office on the day immediately following the end of that election, and their term shall continue until the end of the next election.
 * C2.01(a)	The first through the eighteenth (1st-18th) days of February shall be reserved for nominations and campaigning.
 * C2.01(b)	The nineteenth through the twenty-seventh (19th-27th) days of February shall be reserved for voting.
 * C2.01(c)	The last day of an election month shall be reserved for the Electoral Commissioner to announce the results of voting.
 * C2.01(d)	During leap years, the schedule given above for elections shall be shifted one day later than in other years, such that nominations shall begin on the second (2nd) day of February, and so forth.
 * C2.02(a)	Governments elected in an election shall take office at midnight GMT on the first (1st) day of March, and shall continue in office until 23:59:59 GMT on the last day of February.

Section 3.	Procedures for Elections
P3.01	Alliance members who meet the qualifications for candidacy may nominate themselves, or be nominated by another Alliance member, during the nominations period of an election. P3.02	 All candidates must post a campaign thread in the election sub-forum during the campaigning period. Such campaign threads must contain the candidate's manifesto. A lack of a manifesto will result in the candidate being omitted from the ballot.
 * C3.01(a)	Any member who is nominated by another must accept that nomination to become an official candidate for the position to which they were nominated.
 * C3.01(b)	All nominees for the offices of President, Vice President, and Speaker of the Alliance must satisfy the requirements of Article 1 of the Charter to be eligible for those offices, i.e. nominees must have most recently been accepted as Alliance members before the end of the previous general election.

P3.03	A ballot for all government offices shall be uploaded to Google Docs, or equivalent, and the Electoral Commissioner shall link to it in the Election Headquarters topic. P3.04	The candidate who receives the most votes for a given office shall be elected to that office.
 * C3.03(a)	The ballot shall list all of the eligible candidates running for each office (as determined by the preceding regulations), as well as options to indicate no preference for any candidate or to submit a write-in vote within the ballot form itself.
 * C3.03(b)	All ballots shall have a time limit of nine (9) days during elections, as well as allowing members to change their votes, in accordance with Section 1 of this Article.
 * C3.04(a)	If only one candidate runs for an office, they must receive a majority of the votes to be elected. If more members indicate no preference and/or submit write-in votes than vote for the only candidate on a ballot, that candidate cannot win by default.

Section 4.	The Electoral Commissioner
P4.01	Prior to the opening of nominations, the Executive Council shall appoint an Electoral Commissioner to oversee the upcoming election.

P4.02	The Electoral Commissioner shall be an active Alliance member in good standing, who shall not run for any office in the election which they are appointed to oversee, and who shall be active on the AIN forums throughout the election month. Prior service as an Electoral Commissioner shall not disqualify any member from being appointed Electoral Commissioner again.

P4.03	It shall be the Electoral Commissioner's responsibility:
 * C4.03(a)	to post the nomination and ballot threads,
 * C4.03(b)	to make known all rules and regulations governing elections,
 * C4.03(c)	to enforce said rules and regulations,
 * C4.03(d)	to maintain an up-to-date list of all nominees for all offices,
 * C4.03(e)	to ensure that the ballot is constructed correctly and in full compliance with the above regulations, and
 * C4.03(f)	to announce the winners of the election.

P4.04. The election commissioner shall exercise utmost due diligence and political neutrality during the duration of the whole election period. The election commissioner shall be barred from showing bias and inclinations towards any candidate or political party throughout the elections.

Section 5.	By-elections and Vacancies
P5.01	In the event that an elected officer resigns or is removed from office prior to the normal expiration of their term, a by-election shall be held to fill the vacancy. P5.02	The President of the Alliance (or the Vice President, if the office of President is vacant) shall have authority to set a schedule for all by-elections as they see fit, and to directly oversee by-elections, unless they shall choose to appoint an Electoral Commissioner for the by-election.
 * C5.01(a)	By-elections shall also be held if no one is elected to a given office during a general election, whether due to a lack of candidates or an unopposed candidate not receiving a majority of the votes for that office.

P5.03	By-elections shall be subject to the same regulations as general elections, except for those regulations that deal specifically with scheduling.

P5.04	Officers elected in a by-election shall serve for the remainder of the regular term of office, i.e. until the end of the next general election.

P5.05	If no member is elected to a particular office during a by-election, the President may appoint an active member to the vacant office on the advice of the Executive Council; or they may leave said office vacant if it is not an executive office.

Source
Article 3 of the Alliance Charter