Elections in Rutania

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The Commonwealth of Rutania is a Federal Republic with elected officials on the federal, provincial and local levels. The President and all members of the Parliament are directly elected as are the many elected offices at provincial level, each one having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties (or parishes) and cities.

Rutania has a multi-party system, with five parties represented in the Parliament, running the gamut from the centre-right Urban Party of Rutania (UPR) to the far-left Democratic Socialist Front (DSF). Political participation and voter turnout have been traditionally high, with turnout averaging 74% when averaging the turnout of all elections held, although it tends to decline when the number of parties shrinks.

According to current constitutional law, the next elections will be held in August 3647, barring an early election.

=Voting=

Method
Rutania uses the First-past-the-post (FPTP) in local, provincial and Presidential elections and Plurality at-large for Parliamentary elections.

Eligibility
Rutania has universal suffrage, meaning once a person is the age of 17, they are allowed to vote provided they register to do so. In Rutania, criminals are allowed to vote in general elections regardless of being incarcerated or being an ex-con. This has been a very controversial issue over the past 35 years as some view it as a way for parties to increase their vote total while others view it as a basic right

In order to vote, a person must be registered to do so and that is the responsibility of provincial government. A prospective person must be register a year before an election in order to vote in it. Voter registration is a free and short process that can be completed either through the mail, on-line or at a province's Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when one goes to obtain their drivers license.

A person registering has the ability to choose between being apart of the 5 major parties, a minor party/group or being an Independent, which means they aren't apart of any party. After successful completion, a person will receive a card a week later that details their Congressional district, their polling place and their party preference.

Types of Voting

 * Ballots-by-Mail: Voters unable or unwilling to vote at polling stations on Election Day can vote via absentee ballots. Voters mail the ballots to provincial agency that deals with elections.
 * Early Voting: Voters can cast their ballots 2 weeks prior to Election Day.
 * Election Day Voting: The most common and used method. Voters go to a polling place and use a machine to vote.

Election Schedule
=Levels of Election=

Federal
Rutania has a semi-presidential system of government, which means that the executive and legislature are elected separately. The stipulations put forth in the creation of the 5th Republic in 3079, require that elections must occur on the 10th of the month with inauguration taking place on the 30th of the mont, based on an election schedule. Although the months may change, the dates will not unless changed by law.

Members of the Parliament must be at least 21 years old, a legal citizen for at least five years, and be an inhabitant of the province and district they represent for three years. The President must be at least 30 years old, a legal citizen and a resident in Rutania for at least ten years. It is the responsibility of provincial legislatures to regulate the qualifications for a candidate appearing on a ballot paper, although in order to get onto the ballot, a candidate must often collect a legally defined number of signatures; however, some jurisdictions may require a nominal fee.

Local
=Features=

Campaign Finance and Governance
All elections in Rutania are handled, overseen and administered by the Federal Elections Board (FEB), a sub-agency under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

ScanID Cards
In 3219, the FEB introduced the ScanID Card, a scannable voter ID card that's used to operate a voting machine. The ID replaced a system in which a person would simply find their name on the voting rolls and place their signature next to it, while a polling place employee would cross their name off the voter rolls. Because there are no pictures on the cards, a person could have obtained the IDs of deceased people and used them to vote at different locations. Making the problems worse, was that not every polling station used a computeo automatically check the names off the rolls and that there was not a system in place that shared voter rolls between polling places. This lead to rampant voting fraud and voting irregularities.

The card, designed with the help of a company who creates credit and debit cards, was designed to cut down on fraud. The roll out of the system led to massive reports of crashes and other issues, when it was tested during the party primaries of the. By the time of the general election in 3221, the bugs had been ironed out, with the cards themselves, although people who were employees at the polling places had to be retrained in order to handle them.

Usage
The new system works like this: A person would go to a polling place and checking in with FEB sanctioned polling operator who takes the card and runs it through the card reader, activating it for that day. The polling worker then crosses the name off the list while the computer does the same, ensuring there aren't any irregularities. A person who's been activated then proceeds to the nearest voting booth and places the bar-code on the back of the card up to the scanner for it to be scanned; the machine will only work after the ID card is successfully scanned.

A scanned card is then "voided" meaning it cannot be used again to vote until it becomes activated again. The person will then be allowed to vote for their candidates. When they are finished, they are shown a screen which allows them to review their sections. Once they click finished, the screen goes blank and they leave the voting booth.

A "voided" card can only be activated by the computer at the check-in desk and the program on the computer which activates it is only programmed to work once (unless overridden by the polling place manager) every four years. Another thing working against fraud is the fact that there are visual, written and electronic conformations of a person voting in the election. The changes led to a 2000% decrease in fraud and the FEB to proclaim the system to be "impervious" to it.

Allegations of Fraud
However, although there have been 35 reports of fraud since 3600, mostly with people using the ID of deceased members whose cards weren't deactivated and were allowed to vote in the election. It's the responsibility of the person's family to deactivate the card whenever someone dies, because the system doesn't show a person's death until the rolls are updated after an election.

In 3510, a group of hackers successfully hacked into the system, exposing a flaw that allows for a person to remotely allow for voided cards to become activated again. The people were arrested and charged with. They claimed they were "exposing the flaws of the system." They received 6 months in jail and faced a fine of 2,500 RUT. The FEB did not make changes in light of the incident, claiming the system is "fool proof".

Cost
The entire overhaul of the system and purchase of new voting equipment cost an estimated 750 million RUT, although there are claims of a much higher number close to a billion RUT. The bar-codes themselves have a shelf life of 50 years and have to be replaced, costing the government approximately 100 RUT. The software used by the voting machines is updated every 10 years at a cost of 5,000 RUT and is expected to be usable by the current crop of card technology until the mid 3800s.

On average, a person will use the card in 12.5 elections before it has to be replaced.

=Links= Government of Rutania

Parliament of Rutania

President of Rutania

Rutania