Constitution

Preamble

WHEREAS a constitution should exist to provide a framework for government upon which to build its specific workings,

WHEREAS we must protect the rights of our citizens by codifying them into the highest order of law,

HEREBY DECLARES that the Constitution, enacted with the will of the people and their representatives, shall serve as a foundation for the governance of SimDemocracy and to protect the rights and liberties of its citizens.

Part 1: The Legislative

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Article 1: Senate

§1. The Senate shall be the primary legislative body of SimDemocracy and shall represent the interests of the people by wielding legislative authority.

§2. The Senate shall have the power to pass legislation with a simple majority vote.

§2.1. A tied vote is to be broken by the Vice President.

§3. The Senate shall confirm any Executive Officer appointed by the president with a simple majority.

§3.1. Executive Officers shall be defined as any official directly responsible to the President with the power to delegate executive authority.

§4. The Senate shall have the authority to conduct oversight into government bodies and persons and shall have the power to subpoena current and former government officials.

§5. The Senate may impeach any government official for improper conduct, as decided by the Senate, with a 2/3rds majority; which shall be a power reserved only for the Senate, and shall always result in the removal of the official from the impeached position.

§5.1. If the vote is to impeach the President, the Vice President, a Senator, a Judge, or a Justice, the vote must also be confirmed by a two-thirds (⅔) majority in a public referendum.

§5.2. If the vote is to impeach a Supervisor, a three-fourths (¾) majority is required, followed by a two-thirds (⅔) majority in a public referendum.

§5.3. Senators may not vote on their own impeachment in the Senate vote.

§6. Senators may not concurrently be President, Vice President, Judge or Justice.

§7. All votes performed by the Senate must have a quorum in order for them to be valid.

§7.1. A quorum shall be defined as a simple majority of the members of the relevant deliberative body of the Senate (whether the full Senate or any officially established subdivision) casting a vote or formally declaring their intention to abstain.

§7.2. The absence of Senators from a vote shall not be taken into consideration when deciding the results of that vote except when determining whether there is a quorum, or when establishing a vote’s duration according to further legislation.

§7.3. Votes that do not achieve a quorum shall be repeated until a quorum is reached, except for any cases specified by further legislation.

§7.4. Further legislation may determine penalties and/or sanctions for Senators intentionally blocking a quorum from being reached.

Article 2: Speaker of the Senate

§1. The Senate shall elect one of its members to serve as Speaker of the Senate.

§2. The Speaker of the Senate shall be responsible for scheduling and holding Senate votes.

§2.1. The Speaker of the Senate may not delay votes on confirmation and impeachment for more than twenty-four (24) hours.

§2.2. The Senate may pass a discharge petition with a simple majority to force a vote on legislation.

§2.3. If there is no Speaker of the Senate, the line of succession outlined in §3 shall determine who assumes the Speaker’s duties.

§3. The Speaker of the Senate shall appoint a Senator to serve as Deputy Speaker of the Senate immediately after the election of the Speaker.

§4. If the Speaker of the Senate is absent, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to fulfil their duties, authority shall pass to the next available official in the following order:

§4.1. The Deputy Speaker of the Senate,

§4.2. The Vice President,

§4.3. Senators in order of how they placed in their senate election.

Article 3: Senate elections

§1. The Senate shall be elected in its entirety every two (2) weeks, and elections shall be available for twenty-four (24) hours.

§1.1. The candidates who wish to run shall come forward via a Call for Candidates post

§1.2. The call for Candidates shall last 24 hours

§1.3. There shall be a 48-hour period between the conclusion of the Call for Candidates and the start of the election

§2. The Senate shall be elected using the voting method described in the Appendix §1.

§3. The number of seats in the Senate shall be determined after the conclusion of a Senatorial election in accordance with the Appendix §2 and its subsection.

§4.1. In the event that a Senate seat becomes vacant, a by-election shall be held to fill the seat for the remainder of the original term.

§4.2 All eligible voters shall be allowed to vote in the by-election.

§4.3 By-elections must be initiated within 1 day of the vacancy being declared.

§4.4 A Call for Candidates may be issued in anticipation of a vacancy if sufficient notice of resignation or removal is provided.

§4.5 If no prior notice is given, the CFC must be issued within 24 hours of the vacancy being declared.

§4.6 The CFC period shall remain open for 24 hours.

§4.7 Voting for the by-election must begin no later than 48 hours after the close of the CFC.

§4.8 By-elections are exempt from the "Saturday Start" requirement in Part 7, §4 of the Constitution and may begin on any day.

§4.9 The Supervisor of Elections shall oversee the by-election process.

§4.10 If a by-election cannot be held within the specified timeframe due to extraordinary circumstances, such as a state of emergency, the President may appoint an interim Senator with the approval of the Senate.

§4.11 The interim Senator’s term shall expire upon the earlier of:

§4.11.1 The successful swearing-in of a Senator elected through the by-election.

§4.11.2 The conclusion of the biweekly senatorial elections, as outlined in Article 3, §1 and Article 3 §2 of the SimDem Constitution, and the commencement of the new Senate term.

Part 2: The Executive

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Article 4: President

§1. The President shall be the primary executive body of SimDemocracy and shall represent the interests of the people by wielding executive authority.

§2. The President shall have the authority to veto any votes passed by the Senate, with the exception of confirmations, impeachments and constitutional amendments within three (3) days of their passage.

§2.1. The Senate may override a veto with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.

§3. The President shall have primary authority over SimDemocracy’s foreign affairs and shall have the power to negotiate treaties and agreements on behalf of the State of SimDemocracy. Treaties shall be ratified into law upon a simple majority vote in the Senate.

§4. The President may not concurrently be Vice President, Senator, Judge or Justice.

Article 5: Vice President

§1. The Vice President shall be the secondary executive body of SimDemocracy and shall represent the interests of the people by wielding executive authority second only to the President.

§2. The President shall choose a Vice President to serve for the former’s term prior to the election.

§2.1. If the President is without a Vice President for any reason during their term they must appoint a Vice President, subject to a simple majority in a public referendum.

§3. The Vice President shall succeed the President in the case that the latter cannot complete their term.

§4. The Vice President may not concurrently be President, Senator, Judge or Justice.

§5. The President can choose to overrule any Supreme Court cases involving the usage of the discord emoji “Toast Dick”

§5.1 This only applies to cases related to Toast Dick, the President cannot overrule any other judicial proceedings.

Article 6: Presidential elections

§1. The President shall be elected every two (2) weeks, and elections shall be available for twenty-four (24) hours.

§1.1. The candidates who wish to run shall come forward via a Call for Candidates post

§1.2. The call for Candidates shall last 24 hours

§1.3. There shall be a 48-hour period between the conclusion of the Call for Candidates and the start of the election

§2. The President shall be elected using the voting method described in the Appendix §3.

Article 7: Presidential Succession and Incapacity

§1. If the President is temporarily incapable of conducting their duties, the next member in the line of succession shall assume the powers and duties of the President until the President is again capable.

§2. The acting official shall not hold the office of the President, only the responsibilities associated with it.

§3. This acting official shall hold the office of Acting President, not the office of the President, and only the responsibilities associated with it.

§4. The President shall resume their powers upon notifying the government of their ability to perform their duties unless otherwise ruled incapacitated by the Senate with a two-thirds (⅔) majority and judicial review by the Supreme Court.

§5. If the President is permanently unable to fulfil their duties or resigns, the next highest member in the line of succession as defined in §7 shall become the President, assuming the office, powers, and responsibilities.

§6. If the successor holds a position that constitutionally prohibits them from being President, they must either,

§6.1. Step down from their current position and assume the Presidency, or,

§6.2. Decline the position, in which case the office shall pass to the next eligible person in the line of succession.

§6.3. This process shall continue until a successor is found.

§7. In the event of temporary or permanent incapacity, the following line of succession shall determine who assumes the duties or office of the President;

§7.1. Vice President,

§7.2. Speaker of the Senate,

§7.3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,

§7.4. Secretary of Foreign Affairs,

§7.5. Attorney General,

§7.6. SDBI Director,

§7.7. National Archives Director,

§7.8. Treasury Secretary,

§7.9. Further Cabinet members in order of creation,

§7.10. Senators, in order of placement in the last Senate election,

§7.11 Supreme Court Justices, in order of seniority,

§7.12. Judges, in order of seniority,

§7.13. Discord Supervisor,

§7.14. Reddit Supervisor

Part 3: Incapacity

Article 8: Incapacity

§1. A government official shall be considered incapacitated if they meet one or more of the following conditions,

§1.1. They have publicly declared their incapacity,

§1.2. They have been inactive for a continuous period of 24 hours without prior notice and have not designated a temporary replacement.,

§1.3. They are banned, suspended, or otherwise removed from the official SimDemocracy platforms in a way that prevents them from fulfilling their duties,

§1.4. The Senate, by a two-thirds (⅔) vote, declares them incapacitated due to extraordinary circumstances,

§2. The provisions of incapacity shall apply to all government officials.

Part 4: The Judiciary

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Article 9: The Courts

§1. The Courts, consisting of the Inferior Courts and the Supreme Court, shall be the primary judicial body of SimDemocracy and shall represent the interests of the people by wielding judicial authority.

§2. Judges and Justices shall be appointed by the President, subject to a two-thirds (⅔) majority confirmation vote in the Senate.

§3. Judges and Justices shall serve indefinitely until resignation or impeachment.

§4. Judges and Justices may not concurrently be President, Vice President, Senator, Executive Officer or any other position that would result in a frequent conflict of interest.

Article 10: Inferior Courts

§1. The Inferior Courts shall possess original jurisdiction of all criminal and civil cases.

§2. The first round of a case shall be heard by a judge assigned through a rotating schedule, excluding inactive judges, who must affirm their impartiality and the absence of conflict of interest.

§2.1. Judges must recuse themselves in the event they may have, or may appear to have, a conflict of interest in the case except in the case where no other Judge can be provided.

§2.2. In the event that a Judge refuses to recuse themselves a separate Judge shall rule whether they have a conflict of interest and to forcefully recuse them or not.

§3. The presiding Judge shall interpret and apply the laws of SimDemocracy.

§3.1. In cases not covered by law, Judges shall use their best professional judgment.

§3.2. Judges must provide the legal reasoning behind their judgements, citing relevant legislation and precedent.

Article 11: Supreme Court

§1. The Supreme Court, composed of three (3) Justices, shall be the highest court and the final court of appeals of SimDemocracy.

§2. The Supreme Court shall elect one of its own members to serve as Chief Justice.

§3. The Supreme Court as represented by the Chief Justice may grant or decline petitions for but not limited to any of the following:

§3.1. Judicial reviews, which allow the Supreme Court to invalidate, reverse, and issue judicial remedies for any actions, omissions, orders, or laws which are incompatible with a higher authority or;

§3.2. Appeals of any decision made by lower courts, which allow the Supreme Court to force a retrial, overturn an inferior court decision, or amend an inferior court decision or;

§3.3. Reference cases, which allow the Supreme Court to issue a legally binding advisory opinion.

§4. Majority opinions, judicial opinions supported by a majority of the Justices, shall be legally binding on inferior courts as precedent.

§5. The Supreme Court shall have the power to determine its own procedures to meet its constitutional and legal duties.

Part 5: Supervisors

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Article 12: The Supervisors

§1. The Reddit Supervisor is to guarantee the subreddit’s democratic continuity by holding full head moderator power in r/SimDemocracy.

§1.1. The Reddit Supervisor may not use this power except to grant or revoke moderator status or perform other minutiae in accordance with legislation and pin election posts, or to enforce Reddit Terms of Service, unless explicitly permitted by legislation.

§2. The Discord Supervisor is to guarantee the Discord’s democratic continuity by being its owner.

§2.1. The Discord Supervisor may not use this power except to guarantee the Discord's democratic continuity, enforce the Discord Terms of Service, or grant/revoke moderation status and perform other minutiae in accordance with legislation and executive orders, except in exceptional circumstances.

§3. The Supervisor of Elections is to guarantee SimDemocracy's democratic continuity by administering its elections and referendums.

§3.1. The Supervisor of Elections may only use this power to hold fair and untampered elections and referendums, in full accordance with SimDemocracy law.

§4. Supervisors may not hold any elected office; nor may they have any political affiliation.

§5. Supervisors will be chosen by the President and confirmed by a two-thirds (⅔) majority in the Senate followed by a two-thirds (⅔) majority in a public referendum.

§6. Supervisors shall serve indefinitely until resignation or impeachment.

Repealed

§7. If a Supervisor does not step down swiftly and gracefully after their removal, they are to be declared a tyrant. All laws against rebellion are nullified while a tyrant is in control of r/SimDemocracy and/or the Discord, and a backup subreddit as well as Discord Server is to be created if one isn’t already present. Any and all actions taken by a tyrant are illegal.

§7. If a Supervisor does not step down swiftly and gracefully after their removal, they are to be declared a tyrant. And when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. All laws against rebellion are nullified while a tyrant is in control of r/SimDemocracy and/or the Discord, and a backup subreddit as well as Discord Server is to be created if one isn’t already present. Any and all actions taken by a tyrant are illegal.

§8. If for any reason there is no Supervisor, either for the Subreddit or the Discord, top moderator position, in the form of server ownership of the Discord and head moderator position on the Subreddit, must be handed to the President until the appointment of a Supervisor.

§9. No citizen may simultaneously hold multiple Supervisor positions.

§9.1. If the position of Supervisor of Elections is somehow unfilled, the Reddit Supervisor shall assume the responsibilities of the position. If the Reddit Supervisor declines or is unresponsive, the Discord Supervisor shall assume the responsibilities of the position.

Part 6: The Bill of Rights

Article 13: Equality before the law

§1. Every person shall be equal before the law and be entitled to equal protection of the law.

§2. Equal protection of the law, and equality of rights under the law, shall not be restricted or abridged on the basis of protected characteristics.

§3. Protected characteristics shall include, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or social origin, ethnicity, age, disability, religion, and political beliefs.

Article 14: Freedom of expression

§1. Every person shall have the right to freedom of expression, which shall include the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of faith and conscience, freedom of peacefully exercising religious beliefs, and the right to petition for redress of grievances.

§2. The state shall be prohibited from passing a law respecting an establishment of religion.

§3. No criminal conviction or impeachment shall be made purely on the basis of speech and the exercising of free speech, barring cases where the exercising of such free speech violates or attempts to violate the constitutional rights of other citizens.

§3.1. The existence of offense, or other distress, of another person caused by the exercising of free speech shall not be construed as a violation of constitutional rights of that person, unless such distress is serious, caused in an intentional and malevolent manner, and would also have affected the safety or well-being of a reasonable person.

§4. Every person shall have the right to express their opinion and participate in the political process through voting in free and fair elections.

§4.1. Every person has the right to secrecy of their unique legitimate ballot.

Article 15: Right to privacy

§1. Every person shall have the right to personal privacy.

§2. Only public bodies and organizations prescribed by law may collect, retain, process, and disclose personal data with the specific and unambiguous informed consent of the individual, which for non anonymized personal data may be withdrawn at any time, after which all personal data shall be destroyed.

§2.1. Personal data can not be sold to third parties or used for marketing purposes.

§3. Personal data shall include information which can identify a person’s real life identity directly, information which can make a person’s real life identity identifiable and information that can lead to indirect identification of a person’s real life identity in combination with other information.

Article 16: Right to whistleblow

§1. Every person shall have the right to whistleblow, and they may not be prosecuted, impeached, or otherwise punished for their whistleblowing..

§2. Whistleblowing shall be the public disclosure or release of classified or private information in the public interest.

§3. Whistleblowers shall be prohibited from disclosing personal data without consent.

Article 17: Right to a fair hearing

§1. Every person shall be entitled to a fair hearing by a competent court in accordance with law.

§2. Every person charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

§3. Every person shall have the right to defend themselves in person, and every person shall have the right to legal counsel for their defense.

§4. Every person shall have the right to adequate time for the preparation of their defense, and the right to private correspondence and communications with legal counsel.

§5. No person shall be guilty of a criminal offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offense at the time when it was committed, nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time when the criminal offense was committed.

§6. No legal entity may be tried again on the same or similar charges and on the same facts following a valid acquittal or conviction.

Article 18: Liberty and security of the person

§1. Every person shall have the right to liberty and security of the person.

§2. No person shall be deprived of their liberty unless the following due process is observed:

§2.1. The lawful suppression, detention, muting, fine, or ban of a person after conviction by, or on order of a competent court through the authorities as prescribed by law.

§2.2. The lawful fine or muting after issuance of a lawful ticket or penalty notice by a competent authority which summarily sanctions a person for a minor criminal offense.

§2.2.1. The issuing of such a ticket or penalty notice may be refused by the person, in which case charges may be brought against them.

§2.3. Under exceptional circumstances affecting public safety, a pre-emptive or summary mute or ban may be applied before a trial.

§2.3.1. After the issuing of such a suppression, a competent court must certify within forty-eight (48) hours that the pre-emptive ban is in accordance with this article. If such certification is not received, the person must be unbanned or unmuted.

§3. A person arrested or detained under due process as described in §2 for any reason, including issues affecting public safety and concerning the Terms of Service of the respective platforms, may appeal their arrest or detention to a competent court. If the detention is for the purpose of bringing the person before a court to face trial, they may also request to seek bail in a manner prescribed and regulated by law.

§4. No person shall be detained, imprisoned, muted, or banned merely on the basis of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation.

Article 19: Prohibition of slavery and forced labor

§1. No person shall be held in slavery or servitude or be compelled to perform forced or compulsory labour.

§2. Every person shall have the right to resign with immediate effect from any job or role, unless legitimately and proportionally prescribed otherwise by law.

Article 20: Protection of rights

§1. Any constitutional or lower laws which unlawfully infringe on these rights shall be void and of no effect.

§2. The enumeration of these rights shall not be construed to deny the state the ability to amend or remove rights.

§3. The enumeration of certain rights in the Bill of Rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage other implied rights possessed by the people.

§4. Every person shall have the right to petition a competent court for judicial review if their rights have been unlawfully infringed and the right to seek effective judicial remedy.

Article 21: Right to Toast Dick

§1. Every SimDemocracy citizen shall have the right to use the emoji Toast Dick in the SimDemocracy discord server

Part 7: The Constitution

Article 22: Constitutional amendments

Repealed
Chief Archivist Ferris' notes: This amendment reverted changes mentioned it. See the amendment cited for more info
§1. Within 48 hours of the Senate Elections Voting Method Amendment of 2025 being passed, a referendum shall be held to determine the new method of tabulation that will be used for Senate elections.

§1.1. The referendum shall have Single Transferable Vote and Threshold Equal Approval as the only two options.

§1.2. Voters will choose one of the two options to cast their vote for.

§1.3. If the Threshold Equal Approval option wins a majority of votes, then the Constitution shall be amended according to Parts 2 and 3 of the Senate Elections Voting Method Amendment of 2025 upon the completion of the first senatorial election held after the referendum has concluded.

§1.4. Otherwise, the Constitution shall be amended according to Parts 2 and 4 of the Senate Elections Voting Method Amendment of 2025 upon the completion of the first senatorial election held after the referendum has concluded.

§1. The Constitution may only be amended with a simple majority vote in the Senate, followed by a public referendum which shall have to pass with a two-thirds (⅔) majority vote in favor of the amendment.

Part 8: Appendix

Repealed §1. The Senate shall be elected using the STV (Single Transferable Vote) voting method where voters shall assign candidates a rank starting with 1 and continuing to rank the candidates in order of most preferred to least preferred using sequential numbers. Once all ballots are accounted for a quota is to be set which shall be equal to (total number of valid ballots cast/total number of available seats+1)+1. Following this each candidate shall receive a total number of votes equal to the amount of times a candidate has ranked them 1st. If at this point a candidate has received more votes than the quota has set out then they shall be awarded a seat and their voters shall have their ballot reweighted using the following formula (total value of the winning candidates vote-quota/total value of the winning candidates vote) x value of each vote. With the value of each vote being decided on a ballot by ballot basis. These reweighted votes shall then be transferred to their next highest ranking candidate. If no candidates have surpassed the quota or all candidates who have surpassed the quota have had their surplus votes redistributed and no new candidates have surpassed the quota then the candidate with the least current votes shall be eliminated and their votes redistributed to their voters next highest ranking candidate without reweighting. This process continues until enough candidates have surpassed the quota to fill the vacant seats.

§1.1. in the event of a tie the candidate to be eliminated shall be determined by whoever has the least votes of the highest rank category which the candidates are not tied in (i.e. if both candidates have the same number of first, second and third votes the one eliminated shall be the one with the least fourth votes). After all rank placements have been exhausted, if there is still a tie and one of the candidates is an incumbent they proceed to the next round. After all the previous methods have been exhausted the one eliminated should be decided at random.

§1.2. In the event of all votes being exhausted despite the existence of vacant seats then the seats are to be awarded to the candidates with the most votes.

§1.3. Voters are not required to rank all candidates as long as all rankings are in sequential order.

§1. The Senate shall be elected using the TEA (Threshold Equal Approval) voting method. Voters will give each candidate an integer score between 0 and 5, with 0 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. Blank scores are also permitted and will be counted as 0s.

§1.1. Tabulation will proceed as follows.

§1.1.1. Initialize the threshold to a score of 5. Initialize each ballot's weight to 1. Initialize the quota to the total number of ballots cast divided by the total number of available seats.

§1.1.2. Identify all unelected candidates scored at or above the threshold on ballots with a total weight of at least a quota. If there are no such candidates, go to step §1.1.4. Otherwise, for each such candidate and the set of ballots that scored that candidate at or above the threshold, calculate the value n such that the sum of min(w, n) for all ballots in the set is equal to one quota, where w is the weight of each ballot. Elect the candidate with the least value of n, and reduce the weight of each ballot in that candidate's set by min(w, n).

§1.1.3. If all seats are filled, tabulation is complete. Otherwise, go to step §1.1.2.

§1.1.4. If the threshold is greater than 1, then reduce it by 1 and go to step §1.1.2.

§1.1.5. Elect the candidate with the greatest sum of ballot weights across all ballots that give them a positive score. Set the weight of each ballot that gives them a positive score to 0.

§1.1.6. If all seats are filled, tabulation is complete. Otherwise, go to step §1.1.5.

§1.2. Ties at any point in the election calculations shall be broken using the following method, where candidates eliminated at each step do not move on to subsequent steps. Once only one candidate remains, any remaining steps are ignored.

§1.2.1. Break the tie in favor of the candidate(s) with the greatest sum of ballot weights across all ballots that give them a score above the threshold.

§1.2.2. Break the tie in favor of the candidate(s) with the greatest sum of weighted scores.

§1.2.3. Break the tie in favor of the candidate(s) with the greatest sum of unweighted scores.

§1.2.4. Break the tie pseudorandomly with all tied candidates given an equal probability of winning.

§2. The number of Senate seats available shall be decided by this equation: 3 + x/13 = y, where x represents the voter turnout for the election of the Senate in question, and y represents the number of seats up for election. If y has a decimal, y will instead equal the nearest whole number. If the decimal of y is 0.5, y will be rounded up to the closest whole number. If y is greater than 40, then it shall be considered equal to 40.

§3. The President shall be elected using the STAR (Score Then Automatic Runoff) voting method where voters will give each candidate an integer score between 0 and 5, with 0 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. When a voter assigns a blank score for a presidential candidate on their ballot, that shall be equivalent to a score of 0. The candidates with the 2 highest scores enter an automatic runoff phase where the candidate who was rated a higher score between the two candidates the most number of times wins. In the event of a tie, the Official Tiebreaker Protocol recommended by the STAR voting project shall be used.

§4. Voting for elections shall always begin on a Saturday as measured by GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), with Senatorial and Presidential elections alternating weeks.

§5. Unless stated otherwise public referendums shall be open for twenty-four (24) hours.