Upcoming RA Election

If I recall correctly, there is a Representative Assembly (RA) election scheduled for the 14th and 15th of January 2006. To support the upcoming election, I have upgraded the online voting tool.

Modifications include:

1. Updated graphics and matching background colors. I've been changing the colors every election and have now carried the colors through to a background field and border.
   
2. The addition of an "attest and agree" section. Laws and policies concerning privacy and verification are provided before voting begins.
   
3. The addition of a "service" option when ranking members. Election results were delayed previously waiting for individuals to agree to take seats. This process will now be automated, speeding up election results.

I strongly recommend trying out the voting system before the elections. You can do this by going to the URL listed below and entering in the following information:

If that's too much bother you can simply follow the link here and you will be logged in automatically (although doing it the other way lets you see the spiffy new front page).

To start the elections, all I need from you are:

1. A list of all the eligible factions.
   
2. A list of all citizens and their declared factions.
   
3. Optional updated HTML files describing the various factions.

~Ulrika~

As per the questions in the other thread, I've checked the transcipt of the Dec 11 meeting. The RA approved elections starting on Jan 15 and running through Jan 22. Results would be published on Jan 23.

As mentioned there also, an absentee ballot system is needed. Perhaps, once the membership of the various factions is declared, and absentee ballot email form could be distributed to those in need, filled out, and sent back to Ulrika?

I've run the Test Ballot procedure, and it works great! I experienced one glitch when clicking on the ( i ) next to the faction icons, in order to refer to the faction platforms. It worked great... opens a new window with the platform. But when closing that window, the original window was blanked... and then only retrieved with several "Back" clicks. Not a biggie.


Sudane

I will be out of the country for ten days between Friday 20 January and Saturday 28 January. Would it be possible to truncate the election from the 15th to 19th or shift it from the 12th to the 19th? If not, I only ask that folks be patient waiting for results to be returned.

There is currently an absentee voting system in place for those who can't log in to SL. Folks simply have to send me an email and I'll email them a PIN. They can then use the voting web page as normal. Last election three citizens voted this way.

I have a hunch it's a bug with Internet Explorer. I recommend using Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Opera, OmniWeb, or Safari as an alternative. Because of the impending release of a new and fixed version of MSIE, I've stopped coding for MSIE glitches and I'm moving from using transparent GIFs to PNGs. Let me know if it's not an MSIE bug.

~Ulrika~

Fair enough. I'd propose that we shift to the 12th through the 19th. Of course (as usual) we are desparately short on time. Would it be possible to insert a page on the site with the platforms, as they exist now, of the two existing factions? That way, those of us frequently in-world can canvas residents and refer them to the web page for the platforms, urging them to affiliate with one or the other. If another faction is declared at this late date, perhaps it could be added to that page?

I feel the election could start on the 12th (or the 13th) if all affiliations can be declared by the 10th or 11th. Of course, this is really something we should be urging people to do at any time, not waiting till the last minute.

This is great. I had forgotten the system, but we shall certainly use it again.

It's quite unimportant, and the system will do well as it is. I especially like the "Service" selection, since that was a source of confusion and delay in the past. There's one small downside to that, however. Faction members will vote by ranking all members of their faction, not knowing (from the ballot) if any given individual has agreed to serve. They may, in effect, be throwing away ranking selections by placing those unwilling to serve higher on their list.

Thats a small objection, however. It means simply that bonafide candidates need to make the effort to publicize themselves. We certainly know that Eugene, if elected, will serve.

Are there any objections to this date shift? I feel it is urgent to schedule the election at a time when Ulrika is fully able to administer it.


Sudane

This seems to happen in Firefox 1.0.7 as well - but like Sudane says I'm sure we can live with it. Thanks for your work on the system Ulrika

best regards,

Aaron

I had the same bug with Firefox 1.5.

I tested your incredible voting system, Ulrika, and am about impressed enough to join the city!

I, too, experienced the bug when clicking the information icon, and I'm using the most recent FireFox. The popup appears, but the parent window also goes to a blank scree with I think it was "Object Link" written on it or something along those lines.

After closing the popup, I could click on the back arrow to go back and continue the voting process.

Great work on this!

Hey, that's quite a compliment! There are hundreds of hours invested in that voting system. It is a must-have tool, when one is trying to piece together a democracy.

It looks like I can't blame this one on MSIE.

I replaced the JavaScript that was doing weird things with a "target=_" doodad and it appears to have fixed the problem. Thanks to all for helping me with debugging.

~Ulrika~