EGO elections shall be held at the expiration of an Egotists term or upon their resignation or impeachment from office and shall last a period of fourteen days. No campaigning is permitted before or during this time. No discussions may be held concerning EGO elections in public STF areas (including any area of the star-fleet.com website or officially controlled resources such as the #star-fleet IRC channel) which may imply support for or voice opinions against any candidate standing for selection. Neutral announcements concerning the election may be made. No support messages in IRC quit messages are permitted.

In order to be eligible, candidates must:

1. Hold a minimum member rank of Fleet Captain

2. Been an active member for at least eight continuous months prior to the election being held (excluding routine Leaves of Absence).

Voting members must:

1. Hold a minimum member rank of Fleet Captain

2. Currently be an active member as defined by MOO.

Should the vacancy in EGO occur through resignation or impeachment, the most senior Cabinet member not currently serving in EGO shall assume temporary office for the duration of the election to deal with all official matters in which EGO is required to function during this time.

Should the EGO elections occur concurrently with the Presidential elections, no EGO candidate may stand as a Presidential candidate and no Presidential candidate may stand as an EGO candidate.

Should the situation arise that only a single viable candidate from the eligible pool seeks selection, the Election Coordinator is granted the discretion to expand the eligible pool to the next lowest rank. In the case of the standard Fleet Captain and above pool, this would open selection to Captains and above. This procedure may be repeated as often as necessary to ensure that at least two candidates are available in any EGO election.

The sitting Egotists, one month prior to the expiration of a members term or immediately upon the resignation or impeachment of one of their number, shall call for an Election. The Election Coordinator who presided over the most recently held Presidential Election shall be appointed to serve in that capacity in the EGO Election. Should the Election Coordinator wish to be placed on the ballot or should they be unavailable (through real life commitments, LOA or resignation), they must contact both EGO and the President, making this wish known. In this instance, the Assistant Election Coordinator shall take their place. Should the Assistant Election Coordinator wish to be placed on the ballot or should they be unavailable (through real life commitments, LOA or resignation), they must contact both EGO and the President, making this wish known. In this instance, the President must then select a replacement.

Once an Election Coordinator has been named, the Election shall begin. Any eligible member wishing to stand for election must submit their name to the Election Coordinator within seven days of the Election being called. At the end of that seven day period, voting shall begin. Voting is by secret ballot, utilizing a method decided upon by the Election Coordinator that allows for votes to be "locked" and has appropriate security. The voting booth shall remain open for a period of seven days. Every eligible Member may vote once, with the exception of the Election Coordinator, who does not vote unless needed as a method of tie-breaking. Should the Election Coordinator hold a rank below that of Fleet Captain, they shall be permitted a vote for the purposes of tie breaking. During the voting period, the Election Coordinator shall post a message on the main club announcement area that voting has started and that eligible members should have voting access. The winning candidate is the one with the highest number of votes.

If there are more than two candidates standing in the election, the Instant-Runoff Voting system is to be used.

The Election Coordinator is responsible for tallying all votes cast and announcing the results publicly on the Command Ship. The announced results shall include the number of votes cast for each candidate. The winner shall take their seat at the formal expiration of the outgoing Egotists term. Should the election in question have been to replace a resigning Egotist, the winner shall take their seat immediately upon announcement of their win and shall serve only the remainder of that Egotists term.

In the event that the procedure outlined in this Edict is not properly followed, the Election Coordinator may note an irregularity.

If in the judgment of the Election Coordinator the irregularity does not violate the integrity of the election process then he must state so publicly and provide reasoning.

If in the judgment of the Election Coordinator the procedure outlined in this Edict may be adjusted to account for the irregularity without violating the integrity of the election process, he must state so publicly and explain what temporary adjustments will be made and why.

If in the judgment of the Election Coordinator the irregularity does violate the integrity of the election process or render a fair and honest result impossible to determine, the Election Coordinator may declare a Irregular Election. A Irregular Election may only be declared in extreme circumstances, upon the advise and consent of the sitting President or senior-most member who is not a candidate in the election, and must include a detailed explanation of why it is impossible to recover from the irregularity.

If an Irregular Election is declared, the election is considered void. The Election Coordinator must immediately restart the election process with fresh nominations. The new election process will follow the same procedure as a normal election unless explicitly stated otherwise by the Election Coordinator. Should the new election process extend into what would be the new Presidential term, the sitting president will remain in office for the duration of the new election process until a new President is installed, and the new President's term will be shortened by the amount of overlap.

This bylaw may not be amended during an election season, except with the posted consent of the President, Election Coordinator and sitting Egotists. No sitting President or Vice President may serve on EGO. Any Egotist wishing to run in a Presidential election must surrender their seat, providing enough notice to ensure that they can be replaced prior to the start of a Presidential Election Season.

• The Impeachment Process is established to remove the President and Egotists.
• A complaint may only be brought against a single official at a time

• A complaint must be lodged in Command by a member stating their desire to Impeach and a full accounting of their reasoning behind the complaint.
• The accused Official will be given a seven day grace period in which to address the complaint. This may take the form of corrective actions which address the complaint or convincing the Impeaching member that their complaint is in error.
• In order to proceed after that seven day period, a majority of EGO members must publicly validate the complaint by posting their agreement that the matter should proceed further in a reply to the original note. Should the complaint be made against an Egotist, the President shall serve in his place for the purpose of this procedure. Should the Impeaching member feel at this point that their complaint has been adequately addressed, they may publicly withdraw their Impeachment request.
• If the complaint is validated, a public statement of Investigation will be made and EGO will conduct a seven day investigation into the matter. The accused must be interviewed as part of this investigation. The investigation must include an examination of the circumstances which led to the complaint as well as discussions with those members involved. At this stage in proceedings, the accused shall have all administrative club access (server access, government access, IRC administrative access, but not that required to perform the duties of CO, XO or GM) removed until the final decision is made.
• At the conclusion of their investigation, EGO will publish their findings in Command. Should they determine that the cause for impeachment is valid at the conclusion of that investigation, a Notice of Intent to Impeach will be published in Command not to exceed 500 words. This notice of intent must include a full list of charges as well as the conclusions reached during the course of the investigation. If they deem the complaint to be invalid, a Notice of Failure to Impeach will be published in Command not to exceed 500 words This notice must include the conclusions reached by EGO and a full explanation of why they feel the complaint lacks merit. Should notice of Intent to Impeach be posted, the accused must be provided the opportunity to post a rebuttal not to exceed 500 words. Should the rebuttal not be posted within 72 hours, this procedure shall continue regardless.
• Within the seven day period following the publishing of Intent to Impeach and the rebuttal, ten endorsements must be posted in support of the impeachment to validate it. At least one of these must be from a member with at least the rank of Fleet Captain.
• Should the conditions of impeachment fail to be met within this period, the matter shall be dropped.
• Should the conditions of impeachment be met within the seven day period, Impeachment shall continue. The Notice of Impeachment and the rebuttal statement shall be posted within a publicly accessible area through which members must travel in order to reach the voting booth, and a seven day recall vote shall be held.
• Should the majority of votes cast call for Impeachment, the official in question shall be forcibly removed from his position and all presidential access and authority terminated.
• Should the votes cast in favour of impeachment not exceed 50%, the accused shall be exonerated and the matter shall be considered closed.
• No elected official may be Impeached for the same offense twice (Double Jeopardy)
• Successful Impeachment shall not reverse any actions taken by the official in question. However, failure to rectify a situation that led to an Impeachment may, if appropriate, be held against the successor to the position.
• In the case of President, the Vice President shall assume office, in the case of an Egotist, the election rules in place must be observed to provide a replacement to serve out the remainder of that members term.