IN THE COUNCIL OF THE STAPLETON COUNTY
NOVEMBER 14, 2023
Chief Sponsor(s): Chairman b_aconxv
Co-Sponsor(s): Concerned Citizen dangerzone1111, Councilman thedamnfeds, Councilman jacksthedude1637, County Executive Jackfruitism, Speaker of the House CanadlanLaw
Author(s): Chairman b_aconxv, Former County Executive dangerzone1111
PREAMBLE: WHEREAS, we believe that more power must be given to the people.
By virtue of the County Charter of Stapleton County the Council hereby establishes that,
SECTION 1.
For short, this Bill may be cited as “Power to the People Act”
SECTION 2,
Upon passage of the Stapleton County Council this amendment shall be effective as
County law immediately.
SECTION 3.
a. The Stapleton County Charter shall be amended.
b. Article IV of the Stapleton County Charter, titled “Amendment”, shall be
redesignated as “Article V: Amendment”
c. Article IV of the Stapleton County Charter shall be created. Article IV shall be
titled “Recall Elections.”
SECTION 4.
a. Article IV, Sub-Section I shall state: “Any citizen of the County of Stapleton may
publish a recall petition against any sitting government official of either the Stapleton
County Government or any of the governments of its Municipalities. A recall petition
may only be brought forth against an elected member of government. Such a petition
must be hosted on the official Firestone Forums and outline the member of
Government whom the petitioner wishes to be recalled. Citizens may freely sign a
recall petition or retract their signature, this action must be done through the official
Firestone Forums; signatures of a recall petition through any type of proxy other than the Firestone Forums shall not
count.”
b. Article IV, Sub-Section II shall state: “For a recall petition to trigger a recall
referendum, the following requirements must be met within 14 days of the recall
petition being posted: the recall petition must have attained a total of 50 signatures
from citizens of Stapleton County; and the recall petition must have attained a total of
1 signatures from County Government officials, including municipal mayors or deputy
mayors but excluding legislature presiding officers and the County Executive. The
government officials outlined above may still sign recall petitions, though their
signatures shall not count towards the government official signature requirement. If a
recall petition does not meet these requirements within 14 days of posting, it shall be
considered failed.”
c. Article IV, Sub-Section III shall state: “Upon a recall petition passing and a recall
referendum being triggered, the County Executive (or in either absence or incapacity,
or if the County Executive is subject to recall themselves, the County Chairman)
shall have no longer than five days subsequent to the referendum being triggered, publish
and advertise a poll on the official Firestone Forums, linking to the recall petition, and
specifically asking if the member named is to be recalled from their government
office. The poll must have only two options (in favour of recall, or opposed to recall)
and must be set to automatically close between 71 and 73 hours after the posting of
the publish; “show who voted” or any other similar mechanism must be disabled,
there must be no restriction on those who can vote so long as they have a Firestone
Forums account (which are vetted as citizens by the community administration), and
votes must be private until the poll has closed. All votes must be cast through the
official Firestone Forums and this vote will be considered an official election; the
rigging or manipulation of such shall be a felony, as shall the act of threatening,
bribing, or criminally intimidating any individual for the purposes of voting in a
particular way. The official conducting the recall referendum shall be prohibited from
manually closing the referendum unless they are removing the posting in favour of a
newer posting (which will be considered a new referendum) for technical reasons or
if the automatic closing mechanism has failed to operate correctly.”
d. Article IV, Sub-Section IV shall state: “Upon the conclusion of a recall
referendum, if the vote is at least 70% in favour of recall and there have been a
minimum of 50 voters, the named member shall be immediately removed from office
and be ineligible to run for or hold elected office within the County and Municipal
governments for a fixed 14 day period.”
e. Article IV, Sub-Section V shall state: “The same citizen may not create two recall
petitions within 30 days. No member of government may have more than one open
(i.e. not failed or triggered) recall petition towards them. No member of government
may have a recall petition made against them if there is a pending or ongoing recall
referendum against that official. Whereas a recall petition or referendum has failed,
that same official may not be subject to an additional recall petition made against
them for 14 days. A recall petition may not be created against a government official if
that official is within their first 14 days of holding office. A recall petition may not be
created against a government official if articles of impeachment, conviction by
legislature, or expulsion against said member has failed within the past 14 days or
was proposed (and has not yet been voted on) within the past 5 days.”
f. Article IV, Sub-Section V shall state: “Should the County Executive be successfully recalled, the office of the County Executive shall be considered vacant.””
SECTION 5.
a. The County Executive, and the County Chairman, or an individual appointed to serve on their behalf, shall be charged with the primary enforcement of this amendment.