Voting Rights Act of 2027 (Makko Oko)

Voting Rights Act of 2027
Citation	2027 c. XX
Enacted by	6th Session of the Law Council
Date enacted	August 17th, 2027
Date effective	August 17th, 2027
Status: Current legislation

The Voting Rights Act of 2027 (c. XX) is an Act of Council of the 6th Session which was ratified on August 17th, 2027 by Emperor Conall Solis and came into force the same day. The act is the first one since the Republic to deal with voting rights and voting in general, which became non-existent since the formation of the empire. This law regulates how voting is to occur within the various provinces and establishes voting rights that all provinces must respect, uphold and enforce.

Full Text

SECTION I - AGENCY ESTABLISHMENT

ARTICLE I - This legislation shall establish the Electoral Security Directorate under the Ministry of Internal Security with the exclusive authority to oversee elections within the empire and to enforce election laws.

ARTICLE II - The ESD shall be able to promulgate regulations for the sole purpose of enforcing what is already defined under the election laws.

ARTICLE III - The ESD shall be able to conduct investigations in relation to election security and shall be defined as a domestic law enforcement agency under the Foreign Intelligence Authorization Act.

SECTION II - REQUIREMENTS TO VOTE

ARTICLE IV - A ballot shall only be accepted upon a valid form of photo ID issued by a provincial or the national government being presented.

ARTICLE V - One shall need to be a citizen of the empire in order to vote in any election.

ARTICLE VI - One cannot vote if they have non-misdemeanor crimes on their record, or if they are currently incarcerated.

ARTICLE VII - One cannot vote if they are a current government official in any position, including local government and law enforcement officers.

SECTION III - ANTI-DISCRIMINATION

ARTICLE VIII - Section VII, Article XXII shall apply to all elections, and as such, no province shall deny or abridge a citizen of their vote based on their race, color, sex, ethnicity or disability.

ARTICLE IX - No province shall deny or abridge a citizen of their vote on account of their length of residency in said province.

SECTION IV - ACCOMODATIONS

ARTICLE X - All provinces shall provide reasonable accommodation to a disabled citizen upon request that is adequate enough to allow for easy voting.

ARTICLE XI - A disabled citizen shall be permitted to vote by mail if the province sees that as the most reasonable accommodation.

ARTICLE XII - All provinces shall provide reasonable accommodation to a disabled citizen upon request to ensure that they can easily get registered if needed.

ARTICLE XII - Provinces must make good faith efforts to accommodate.

ARTICLE XIII - All polling places must be accessible to all citizens with disabilities, and should one not be available to a disabled citizen locally, they shall be permitted to vote by mail per Article XI.

SECTION V - OVERSEAS VOTING

ARTICLE XIX - No citizen overseas shall be violated and stripped of their right to vote unless they have been away from the empire for a year or longer in duration.

ARTICLE XX - Active-duty members of the military abroad are excluded from the year provision under Article XIX and as such can never have their right to vote revoked.

ARTICLE XXI - Overseas voters shall be permitted to vote in any election occurring in the province that they last resided in.

ARTICLE XXII - Provinces shall permit any overseas voter to vote by mail, and optionally by going into an embassy physically.

SECTION VI - RESTRICTIONS

ARTICLE XXIII - Online and mail-in voting shall under this article be prohibited and thus illegal, unless an exception applies under national law.

ARTICLE XXIV - The National Territory shall be permitted to have elections, however, elections are to be run by the ESD.

ARTICLE XXV - The National Territory shall be prohibited from ratifying any local election laws.

SECTION VII - SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

ARTICLE XXVI - The ESD can seize or "take over" operations of any local election should it find repeat violations of election law, rather local or national and a court has issued an order approving such.

ARTICLE XXVII - Should a special circumstance apply under Article XXVI, the ESD shall run the election and inform all citizens affected of the decision, why it happened, etc.

ARTICLE XXVIII - A province shall be able to appeal a court order for a special circumstance.

SECTION VIII - ELECTION DAY

ARTICLE XXIX - Election days in the various province shall be such declared provincial holidays, and as such employees are to be paid holiday and employers are to be shutdown.

ARTICLE XXX - Provinces shall be able to mandate that citizens vote on election day, and punish those who don't, under this article.