Moderator: SC Moderators
Should the census date for determining the number of seats in RA be the same as the voter registration deadline, or should it line up with a later deadline?
One thought I have is that those who join after Dec 16, even if they don't vote, still will be citizens and merit representation. You don't have to know the number until after the election is complete , as all it does is affect the seat allocations.
Thoughts?
[quote="Claude Desmoulins":2g0blyk0]Should the census date for determining the number of seats in RA be the same as the voter registration deadline, or should it line up with a later deadline?[/quote:2g0blyk0]
Well to me it depends on what was the intention behind the original measure to increase the number of RA representatives. If it were to ensure that there was a number of members of the RA available to deal with the inquiries from citizens and in other ways service them and to ensure that the RA has enough able minds to cope with what will presumably be a larger workload in line with an increasing population then I think it would be prudent to use a later date as the yardstick. Considering that our population shows an upward trend which is likely to continue through the six month period of a term it would be best to base the number of RA members on a deadline as reflective of the population during the term as possible.
If on the other hand the intention was simply to ensure that the composition of the RA had the possibility to reflect an increasingly diverse population then the deadline should be set at the same time as the cutoff date for new citizens being eligible to vote. As the diversity of the new citizens will not be reflected in the elected RA anyway there is no point in allowing the old population a larger proportion of seats thus even further distorting the representation of "old" interests versus new interests.
From a point of view of Simplicty I think a larger number of seats has the danger of leading to a further clogging of the legislative pipeline but on the other hand we think it's important that the Simplicity voice be given a platform in government .. so it could go either way, really.