Elections in Lower Columbia

Elections in Lower Columbia are held at several different government levels: national (for Parliament), state, county, and municipal. Various public and private organizations also hold elections, as do self-governing indigenous tribes. The modern electoral system in Lower Columbia has been in use since 1715, but some state and local elections have their roots as far back as 1648, when settlers established the Believers' Commonwealth of Pacifica.

Under the federal Constitution, all Lower Columbian citizens who are at least 18 years old and have begun their mandatory military or civil service are eligible to vote in national elections. The electoral franchise has gradually expanded over the nearly 300 years since the Constitution was originally ratified; its first draft restricted voting to adult male landowners who had begun their military service. Elections at the state or lower levels may have other restrictions, typically involving residency.

General elections
The Parliament of Lower Columbia has two chambers, of which only the lower one (the Federal Assembly) is directly elected; state legislatures elect members to the Council of States after they themselves have been elected. The Assembly currently has 512 members, elected in single-seat constituencies by residents of each constituency; the Council has 112 members. All members of Parliament are elected for a maximum five-year term and can serve a total of five terms.

As required by the Constitution, Lower Columbian citizens vote for their local Assemblymen to represent their parliamentary constituency. Elections for Assemblymen use the instant-runoff voting system in every constituency: voters rank each candidate in order of preference, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated in each round, and ballots for eliminated candidates are reallocated to the next-highest-ranked candidate who has not been eliminated. The leader of the party which wins the most seats in the Assembly becomes the Lord of the Assembly, although a party with a plurality of seats is required to form a coalition with at least one other party to form a majority.

After state legislatures are elected, they each elect seven Councilors to represent them in Parliament. All legislatures use the single transferable vote to elect Councilors. Since the Constitution requires legislatures to elect Councilors in roughly the same partisan proportions as their own composition, it is common for state legislators to vote for members of their own parties, and the composition of each state's delegation in the Council can therefore be accurately predicted as soon as that state's election results are returned.

Timing
General elections can take place no more than roughly five years apart, since all parliamentary terms are limited to five years, and it is common convention for the King to open Parliament exactly 40 days after the most recent general election. This delay gives state legislatures time to elect Councilors, and for all newly-elected MPs to travel to Kendall and take up residence in their offices. Elections conventionally take place on a Wednesday (in homage to the first general election, which took place on Wednesday, 30 September 1715), which results in parliamentary terms beginning on a Monday.

In practice, most general elections to date have been less than five years apart for a variety of reasons. All of these reasons rely on the Lords of Parliament requesting that the King formally dissolve Parliament, as such a dissolution must take place before an election can legally be held. The Lords of Parliament may request an early dissolution if their government loses a motion of no confidence, if the government's proposed budget is defeated (resulting in a loss of supply, and thus implying a loss of confidence), or if at least two-thirds of both houses of Parliament vote to call early elections.

Length of campaigns
Except when triggered by a loss of confidence in the government, campaigns for general elections typically last around three months. In such circumstances, elections are announced four months in advance, allowing one month for nominations. The previous Parliament continues in its term until four weeks before the election date, when the King formally dissolves it. This overlap is intended to put incumbents and challengers on a more equal footing, while also allowing the government to wrap up its business in advance of the election. In these circumstances, there is no sitting parliament for a total of 68 days (28 days from dissolution to election, then 40 more days to the opening of the new parliament), a period commonly called the interregnum.

Campaigns are much shorter when elections follow a loss of confidence, due to the need for Parliament to be dissolved shortly after the government loses its confidence. In this shortened schedule, nominations take place in the first two weeks after Parliament is dissolved, and campaigning lasts four weeks after the end of nominations. Votes are thus cast six weeks after Parliament is dissolved. However, the new government still takes office 40 days after it is elected, resulting in an 82-day interregnum.

Due to the length of this interregnum, it is possible for an election to take place before a defeated government can pass a budget for the next calendar year. To prevent federal government agencies from shutting down due to a lack of supply, the King appoints a caretaker government, typically by promoting the Official Opposition party to government. This temporary government's only purpose is to pass a budget before the general election; it is not reckoned among the kingdom's elected governments, and it ceases to exist once its budget receives royal assent. Budgets passed by caretaker governments cannot introduce significant or controversial changes to government fiscal policy, either in revenues or in spending. This restriction makes such budgets relatively simple to prepare, and so most caretaker governments do not last longer than two weeks.