Group citizenship was an issue that came up regularly during the re-thinking and re-writing of the covenants; both on the forum and in-world. There was concern both over using group membership to "stuff the ballot box" and to hide individual land acquisitions that exceeded covenant limits. Others saw dis-allowing group membership as introducing an unfair barrier to CDS citizenship or as unnecessarily complicating the citizenship process of partners living on the same piece of virtual property.
A number of people suggested solutions to the problem. Some of that discussion can be seen in the Covenant meeting transcripts posted to this forum. I do not honestly remember all of the solutions suggested as I was focused on re-writing the covenant and therefore looked closely only at those that I though I might be able to incorporate into the covenant rewrite.
As far as Group citizenship/ownership goes, I came to the conclusion that this was not an issue that could be effectively addressed with a covenant rewrite, so I'm suggesting that we take up discussion of the topic with the idea that any changes people want to see will have to be introduced as new legislation; as an amendment to our existing law.
Soro posted an interesting suggestion about managing Group citizenship, which I am quoting here:
I am still concerned about the use of partnerships to "spread" the vote. I again urge a limit on the number of persons in an owning partnership who vote. The number of individual partners who vote should be in a ratio to the property's equivalent minimum lot size, in that Property's zone. Example: A Lot is 512 Sq./m. and the Minimum size Lot is 256 Sq./m. Therefore a 512 sq./m lot = can have 2 votes per partnership. It a Lot size 1024 -- then 4 votes, but not more votes than the number of individuals in the partnership.
I'm also pasting in the text of NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act
This extends the option of land ownership in Neufreistadt to couples and groups of citizens. Among others, this allows joint ownership of land by people in committed relationships, social, educational, and religious organizations.
1. Plots of land in Neufreistadt may be owned by couples or groups of citizens. All members must be citizens before joining the group.
2. Residents of SL receive citizenship in the CDS by owning land in one of the territories administered by the CDS, and by agreeing to comply with the laws and covenants of the community. The citizen, who shall be a RL person presenting themself as a single SL avatar, may hold land either through individual ownership (in which their name is displayed on the "About Land" page of their parcel), or through membership in a group (in which the group name is displayed as "owner" on the "About Land" page of their parcel). The group shall own, compliant with the covenants regarding maximum ownership by any single citizen, at least 128 sq meters of land for each individual whose citizenship is qualified by that land.
3. Furthermore, each citizen shall be required to pay their monthly fee for land ownership, in person, each month, at the sim location established for this purpose. Individual owners shall pay the entire cost of their parcels in this manner. Group members shall allocate among themselves each member's share of the fee for land owned by their group, with the minimum amount of L$100 allocated to any one person. A group representative shall provide to the Treasurer, in a timely fashion, the list of citizen members, and their respective allocations.
4. In the course of time, should it happen that an individual does not pay their monthly fee (according to schedules established by the Chancellor and the Treasurer), that person shall be liable to lose their citizenship. Should that citizen be a citizen by virtue of membership in a land owning group, other group members will NOT risk losing their parcel and thus their citizenship. Rather, at the point that the Chancellor/Treasurer shall determine that person to be delinquent, and thus ineligible for further citizenship, the remaining members of that group shall be required to re-allocate their monthly amounts in order that 100% of the monthly fee be paid. If the resulting reduction in membership should cause the group to exceed its maximum land-owning allowance (as per the covenants), the group will be required to divest excess land.
5. If the citizen leaves a land holding group they have two months to reestablish their holdings to meet the above criteria.
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passed October 7, 2006 and amended by NL 7-7 21 October 2007[/color]
AND NL 7-7 Amendment to NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act
Amendment to NL5-9 Group Land Ownership Act
]Replace 2 with the following and renumber:
Residents of SL receive citizenship in the CDS by owning land in one of the territories administered by the CDS, and by agreeing to comply with the laws and covenants of the community. The citizen, who shall be a RL person presenting themself as a single SL avatar, may hold land either through individual ownership (in which their name is displayed on the "About Land" page of their parcel), or through membership in a group (in which the group name is displayed as "owner" on the "About Land" page of their parcel). The group shall own, compliant with the covenants regarding maximum ownership by any single citizen, at least 128 sq meters of land for each individual whose citizenship is qualified by that land.
Furthermore, each citizen shall be required to pay their monthly fee for land ownership, in person, each month, at the sim location established for this purpose. Individual owners shall pay the entire cost of their parcels in this manner. Group members shall allocate among themselves each member's share of the fee for land owned by their group, with the minimum amount of L$100 allocated to any one person. A group representative shall provide to the Treasurer, in a timely fashion, the list of citizen members, and their respective allocations.
In the course of time, should it happen that an individual does not pay their monthly fee (according to schedules established by the Chancellor and the Treasurer), that person shall be liable to lose their citizenship. Should that citizen be a citizen by virtue of membership in a land owning group, other group members will NOT risk losing their parcel and thus their citizenship. Rather, at the point that the Chancellor/Treasurer shall determine that person to be delinquent, and thus ineligible for further citizenship, the remaining members of that group shall be required to re-allocate their monthly amounts in order that 100% of the monthly fee be paid. If the resulting reduction in membership should cause the group to exceed its maximum land-owning allowance (as per the covenants), the group will be required to divest excess land[/color].
Voter fraud is a serious issue for a democracy, so lets talk about it.
Fern
