The Proposed STF Charter

Article V, Crises, Amendments, and Elections.

Section A, The Advisory Committee.
Because of the importance of the Presidency in STF, it is necessary to have a semijudicial body to act as a check against the possibility of a bad President ruining STF. The Advisory Council is that body.

p1. Makeup of the Advisory Committee.: The Advisory Committee shall consist of one representative from each ship -- chosen by the ship's XO -- and the AC Chairman (ACC). The ACC is the highest-ranking (most senior) member of STF who desires the post -- but may not be the President or Vice-President. If the highest ranking member of STF is unable to serve as ACC or wishes not to, the second-highest member gets to choose to be the ACC -- and so on. The ACC may not be his own ship's representative. The ACC does not vote, but does moderate the AC sessions and make whatever reports to the Presidency and the Membership are necessary.
p2. When the Advisory Committee Acts.: The AC is STF's line of defense against any detrimental actions by the President. The Advisory Committee, however, exists only to pass judgement on the sitting President: The AC only takes action against the President if he acts against this Charter -- that is to say, he commits an unconstitutional act.
(Note that this bit applies to the "Duty to STF and the Membership" and the "Promotions/Demotions with good cause only" clauses of this Charter, also.)
p3. Procedure for Advisory Committee Judgement.: If the President is accused of having violated some portion of this Charter, the AC convenes and takes a vote; A 3/4 or more majority is required for the vote to pass. Once the vote passes, two actions take place: The President's action is "frozen" -- not carried out, or if it had already been carried out, undone -- and a call for new elections is issued (see "Elections"). If the elections are in the incumbent President's favor, the Advisory Committee may not challenge the President on the exact same issue again. It is possible for the Advisory Committee to "freeze" many actions at the same time, because the President stays in office as the election is going on, but each must be a separate vote.
p4. Additional Duties of the Advisory Committee.: The Advisory Committee may, by unanimous vote, dismiss a member of Command from his Command office.
p5. Independance of the Advisory Committee.: The President is barred from taking any action to influence unduly the Advisory Committee, to wit: Disbanding it, composing edicts regarding it, promoting AC his allies, or pressuring the AC Members.
p6. Location of the Advisory Committee.: The AC maintains an office in the STF*Prodigy subject "STF - AC OFC" but its main assemblyroom is in the WeBB's Club Government area.
p7. Emergency-Based Nature of the Advisory Committee.: The AC meets only when there is a topic to discuss, that is, only when the President has acted unconstitutionally or another AC duty must be discharged.

Section B, Succession.
Unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary for a member to leave Command under less-than-perfect circumstances. This section outlines the procedures for succession.

p1. If the President resigns or goes AWOL.: If the President leaves the club for any reason, the Vice-President becomes President and he (the new President/Ex-Vice-President) appoints a new Vice-President.
p2. If the Vice-President or any Cabinet member resigns or goes AWOL.: If any Cabinet office is vacated, the President appoints a new person to fill the empty position(s).
p3. If the President and the Vice-President resign or go AWOL.: If both the President and the Vice-President leave at the same time, the most senior member of STF (the ACC) becomes President and new elections are immediately called. If a Cabinet member has also resigned at this time, the Acting President (aPrez) appoints a new person to the empty position.
p4. If a Cabinet Member's Assistant resigns or goes AWOL.: If any position appointed by a member of the Cabinet leaves the club, his immediate superior appoints a new person to fill the role (e.g. if the AEDir goes AWOL, the EDir appoints a new one; If AFComm-1 resigns, FComm-1 chooses a new assistant, etc.).
p5. STF's Most Senior Officer.: The recognition of Most Senior Officer goes to the STFer who holds the highest nonelected rank and has held it for the longest time.
p6. Vacancies in Roleplaying Positions.: Vacancies in role-playing positions are handled by the club's Personnel Department, as outlined in Article II of this document.

Section C, Elections.
STF, being a democratic club, chooses its leader by plebiscite -- that is, by election. This section provides a framework in which to elect our leader.

p1. Length of the President's Term.

The President shall hold office in terms a maximum of 8 months long, though they could be shorter if the AC calls for elections under its Article V, Section A authority. There are no term limits; the President may serve for as many consecutive terms as the voters will allow. At the end of an 8-month term, the call for new elections is automatically made and the ACC appoints a new Election Coordinator (EC) from the pool of STFers who are not running for any office. Terms are rounded to the nearest month -- all "regular" (non-crisis-based) elections are carried out in such a manner as the President is installed in the first week of a calendar month.

(What the first bit here means is that if President J.Q. Public serves 2 months before being called out for incompetance by the AC, but wins the subsequent election anyway, the next automatic election is another 8 months away, not 6.)

p2. The Election Coordinator (EC).

If the AC finds it necessary to call for elections (and has verified the need with a vote, as described in Article V, Section A, Paragraph 3), or if an automatic call has gone out, the AC Chairman appoints an Election Coordinator. The EC is responsible for setting an election timetable and enforcing the Election Rules. He is also in charge of tabulating the votes and announcing a winner.

p3. The Election Rules.

All STF Presidential candidates must abide by the following rules:

Each candidate is allowed to set up one "campaign headquarters" in each STF club OOC area (this means one per medium . . . not one per ship). All campaign propoganda are posted there, and nowhere else.
Each candidate is allowed to attach one "bumpersticker" slogan, no more than ten words, to his signoff (e.g. "Lt. Frederick Foobar, Building A Better STF"). This slogan is expected, of course, to disappear after election season is over.
No mudslinging: No character attacks, no politically-charged arguments outside of the political headquarters, and no dirty tricks.
The candidates may NOT post "hey, go check out my campaign HQ" notes in RPG or OOC areas, but may make references to the campaign HQ in casual conversation in OOC areas.
Candidates may provide opposing viewpoints or questions in their opponents' campaign headquarters, but they are not allowed to post entire ticket manifestoes except in their own HQ.

p4. The Election Timetables.

The first day of the 8th month of a Presidential term, or the first day after the appointment of the Election Coordinator in the case of an AC-instigated election, marks the beginning of Election Season. This day is referred to as Day One.

On Day 1 both Nominations and Campaigns begin. This day is the first day that Presidential candidates are allowed to set up campaign headquarters, and the first day that nominations are accepted. A member may not nominate himself. As soon as the member has accepted the nomination, he may begin campaigning.
On Day 8, one week later, is the Nomination Deadline. No new nominations are accepted at this point, nor are nomination acceptances. Campaigning continues.
On Day 15, a week from then, Voting begins. Voting is by secret, Email ballot, collected by the Election Coordinator and cross-checked against the latest Personell Department report. One vote is allowed per member, no matter how many characters that member has.
On Day 29, two weeks from then, both Voting and Campaigning end. Election month is over. The Election Coordinator counts the votes and announces the victor within the week.

Section D, Amendments to and Ratification of this Charter.
In the future new problems may arise for STF that this Charter is not currently prepared to address, and in that eventuality the membership needs to be able to modify this document. Amendments provide a mechanism for doing so.

p1. Origin of Amendments.: All amendment-candidates must first be discussed in the President's Office with the President, who must approve of the Amendment.
p2. Procedure for Voting Amendments.: Amendment-candidates must be sent to plebiscite. The ACC shall appoint an EC to supervise the referendum on the amendment; A 4/5 majority of voting STFers must ratify it, including at least 3/5 of the voting members of each fleet.
p3. Placement of Amendments in this Document.: New amendments shall be added as new Sections to Article VI ("Amendments").
p4. Ratification.: A plebiscite shall be held, with an EC appointed by the President, to ratify this document as the Charter of STF. This document must recieve a 4/5 majority of voting STFers, including 3/5 from each fleet, in order to be ratified.

The Proposed STF Charter [Introduction|Article I, Role-Playing|Article II, Positions]
[Article III, Ranks & Recruiting|Article IV, Club Government]