Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Act
establishing legislative procedures
AN ACT establishing the methods of Recall and Referendum, and establishing legislative procedures to permit the citizens of the United States to exercise their legislative power at their own Initiative; and adding to the Federal Code.
Be It Enacted By The People Of The United States:
- Section 1 TITLE.
- This act shall be known and may be cited as the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Act.
- Section 2 VERSION.
- version 0.2.3
- Section 3 SUMMARY.
- This Act shall be the law instituting the procedures of Recall, Referendum, and Inititiative as envisioned in Amendment 28 of the United States constitution hereinafter referred to as the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment.
- Section 4 SPONSOR(S).
- John Francis Lee
- Section 5 PREAMBLE.
We, the People of the United States, inherently possess the sovereign authority and power to govern ourselves.
We declared this power in our Declaration of Independence and in the ratification of our Constitution.
We, the People, choose now to participate as lawmakers in our national government, by initiating law ourselves and by granting or withholding our agreement to laws passed by our representatives, and by Recalling those we have chosen to represent us in the executive, legislative, or judicial branches of our government as we see fit.
We, the People, shall exercise our legislative powers of Initiative and Referendum concurrently with the legislative powers we delegated to our elected representatives.
THEREFORE,
We, the People, enact this Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Act.
- Section 6 PROCEDURES.
- A. Sponsor.
- Only the people of the United States as defined is Section 1 of the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment may sponsor a Recall, Referendum, or an Inititiative. Sponsoring, or voting for or against, a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative will simultaneously effect a person's registration in the appropriate jurisdiction if the sponsor had not previously been so registered. The Sponsor or Sponsors shall be identified on the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative.
- B. Subject.
- A Recall, Referendum, or Initiative shall address one subject only, but may include related or mutually dependent parts.
- C. Form.
- An act of Recall, Referendum, or an Inititiative shall comprise a Title, a Version number, a Summary, the name(s) of its Sponsor(s), a Preamble that states the reasons for, and explains why the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative is proposed, and the complete text of the same.
- D. Content.
The Sponsor(s) shall determine the Title, Summary, Preamble and the full wording of the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative and on submission to the Registrar together they shall label the proposal Version 1.0, Version '1 dot 0', and it shall form the content to be perfected and enacted or rejected by the people at large.
Any of the people may modify a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative and in so doing shall submit a copy of the modified proposal together with the list of differences between the two Versions to the Registrar(s) of the original.
Then the Sponsor(s) of the new proposal and the Registrar(s) together shall increment the rightmost of the sequence of dotted numbers in the Version until they come upon one not yet assigned and they shall then append 'dot' 0 to its right and that shall be the Version of the modified proposal.
The Sponsor(s) so modifying a proposal shall add his, her or their names as Sponsor(s) and submit a duly modified ballot, as specified by subsection F below, to the Version's Registrar(s) and thence to citizens of the United States for their decision.
The Sponsors of alternative Versions of a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative in agreement among themselves may merge their proposals and submit a new proposal superseding the proposals merged together with the list of differences between the two merged proposals and a duly modified ballot to the Registrar of the original and thence to the citizens of the United States for their decision.
The Version of the merged proposal shall then be formed by their each dropping the last 'dot' delimited number from their respective Versions until they come upon the longest prefix of the Version shared between them and then incrementing the last 'dot' delimited number of that prefix until they come upon one not yet assigned and then appending 'dot' 0 to the right of the Version so modified.
- E. Submission.
The Sponsor(s) of a proposal shall submit a Recall, a Referendum, or an Initiative to their respective Registrar(s), together with a ballot to the citizens of the United States for their decision by direct contact, mail, print, Internet and/or other media.
This ballot may be freely copied and reproduced and used by the people to specify their approval or disapproval of the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative.
A voter wishing to execute a ballot in a constituency in which a particulare Recall, a Referendum, or Initiative is not yet current may resubmit the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative to their respective Registrar(s) and their respective Registrar(s) shall contact the original Registrar(s) of the proposal who will add the new Sponsor(s)' name to those of the original Sponsor(s) and the new Sponsor(s)' Registrar(s) to the list of original Registrar(s).
- F. Election.
The Registrars shall present an outer envelope to contain an unmarked envelope containing the ballot itself to each voter in an election.
Regardless of the media through which they are presented and transmitted, all such outer ballot envelopes shall provide for entry of the following information:
- Title,
- Version, and
- Summary of the Recall, Referendum, or intitiative,
- and the Sponsor(s) of the Recall, Referendum, or intitiative, and
- The voter's name.
- The date and place of the voter's birth.
- The voter's identification number or other identifier provided by the voter's Registrar.
- The physical or electronic signature of the voter.
- The voter's address, including
- street, and street number if there is one,
- city or town,
- postal code,
- county and
- state of residence.
- The voter's telephone number, if existent.
- The voter's e-mail address, if existent.
Regardless of the media through which they are presented and transmitted, all ballots shall bear the:
- Title,
- Version, and
- Summary of the Recall, Referendum, or Intitiative, and
- the Sponsor(s) of the Recall, Referendum, or intitiative; and
- the Registrar(s) with whom it has been filed by the Sponsor(s);
and provide for entry of:
- an Aye or Nay vote on the issue in question,
- an arbitrary mark inserted by the voter, and
- the date the ballot is executed.
To vote on a proposed Recall, Referendum, or Initiative a voter will mark her or his choice on the ballot; place the ballot in an unmarked envelope; place that unmarked envelope in the outer envelope provided by the Registrar as provided above; and deliver it to his or her Registrar.
As stated in the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment it shall henceforth be the duty of the Registrars of voters to verify the identities of the voters presenting those ballots; to tally and when queried to present the running total of Aye and Nay votes on any active Recall, Referendum, or Initiative Title and Version, or of any General Election of a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative Title and Version for which they hold ballots; and to store for a period of one year the ballots presented to them by the voters registered with them in the case of a Recall or Initiative, or for sixty days in the case of a Referendum.
The three responsibilities enumerated above shall be undertaken as separate processes to ensure the security, integrity, and anonymity of the voting process.
Once a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative has been passed by a majority of the voters within a single Registrar's purview it shall be distributed to all the Registrars in the encompassing US Congressional District for election by the voters of that district.
Once a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative has been passed by a majority of the voters within a single US Congressional District it shall be distributed to all the Registrars in all US Congressional Districts for General Election by the voters of United States.
Once a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative is qualified for General Election a second period will have begun, and it shall endure until the Recall or Initiative is either approved or disapproved by the electorate or for a second year, or for a second sixty days in the case of a Referendum, whichever event occurs first. All Registrars holding ballots in a General Election shall be required to hold them for a period of not less than five years form the date of the General Election begins.
Should the initial one year or sixty day period expire without an ensuing General Election, or a General Election expire without a decision, then all signatures will be deemed to have expired with the election and the proposal voided without prejudice.
- G. Effective Date.
- If not otherwise specified in the act itelf, the effective date of a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative shall be twenty-eight days after its enactment.
- H. Campaign Financing.
- Violation of the prohibitions in Section 8 of the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment is a felony punishable by not more than one year in prison, or a fine not to exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars, or both, per instance, applied to each person found guilty of the violation.
- I. Financial Disclosure.
Any and all expenditures made on behalf of or against a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative must be acknowledged at the time they are made and notice of that ownership kept readily available to any and all the people of the United States who may wish to concern themselves with it.
Failure of sponsors, proponents or opponents to comply with these reporting requirements shall be a felony punishable by not more than one year in prison or a fine not to exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars, or both, per instance, applied to each person found guilty of the violation.
- Section 7 APPROPRIATIONS.
- The People hereby authorize the appropriation of funds from the Treasury of the United States, pursuant to Article I, Section 9(7) of the United States Constitution, to enable the Registrars of voters to perform their duties as described in subsection E above.
- Section 8 SEVERABILITY.
- In the event that any one or more of the provisions of this Act shall for any reason be held to be invalid as a result of judicial action, the remaining provisions of this Act shall be unimpaired. Initiatives undertaken hereafter shall separately state whether their provisions are severable, or they shall not be in the absence of such an explicit statement.
- Section 9 DEFINITIONS.
- Ballot
- A document listing alternatives to be voted on or questions to be answered, along with other pertinent information. In this context, the ballot requests a simple Aye or Nay vote on the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative plus information allowing verification of the voter's registration status together with data that can be used to contact the voter to confirm that his or her vote was accurately recorded.
- Campaign
- An operation or related set of operations pursued to accomplish a political purpose. In this context it refers to all of the activities conducted by any citizen or group of citizens together with all the resources applied by them to the goal of enacting or defeating a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative.
- Citizen
- A person entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation; in particular, one entitled to vote and enjoy other privileges.
- Election
- In this context, the entire process, and the infrastructure supporting that process, by which votes are cast and tabulated to determine whether or not a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative has been approved or rejected by the voters.
- File (a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative)
- A Recall, Referendum, or Initiative is filed when the Sponsor(s) submit(s) the proposal to the people for its perfection and approval.
- Government (national, or federal)
- The governing body that is defined by and draws its authority from the Constitution of the United States.
- Initiative
- The instrument chosen by the voting citizens of the United States to exercise their inherent power to enact or modify any governmental policy, law, charter, or constitution; as set forth in the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Legislation
- A legislative resolution or statute law produced by a legislature.
- People of the United States
- The introductory phrase of the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Act begins with the phrase "Be It Enacted By The People Of The United States." In this context the term "People of the United States" is used for consistency with our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
- Qualify (a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative)
- To qualify for a General Election, that is to begin the process of the Recall, Referendum, or Initiative that leads to its enactment or defeat in a General Election by the people, a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative must meet criteria established above by this Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Act.
- Recall
- The instrument chosen by the voting citizens of the United States to exercise their inherent power to Recall governmental officers and/or their appointees; as set forth in the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Referendum
- The instrument chosen by the voting citizens of the United States to exercise their inherent power to repeal legislation enacted by their representatives; as set forth in the Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Recall, Referendum, or Initiative Process
- Infrastructure and procedures by which a Recall, Referendum, or Initiative may be introduced and enacted directly by the people.
- Registrar
- The official charged with registering voters an their Recalls, Referenda, and Initiatives, typically the County Clerk of the county within which a voter resides.
- Signature, Electronic
- "Electronic signature" is a generic, technology-neutral term that refers to the result of any of the various methods by which one can "sign" an electronic document. Examples of electronic signatures include: a digitized image of a handwritten signature, a secret code or personal identification number (PIN) (such as are used with ATM cards and credit cards) or a unique biometrics-based identifier, such as a fingerprint or a retinal scan. A separate act must specify and/or implement electronic signature technology to be used by voters who choose to submit ballots signed electronically before they may do so.
- Signature, Manual
- A person's name or equivalent mark written in the person's own handwriting.
- Sovereign
- When used as a noun: one who, singly or in company with others, possesses supreme authority in a nation or other governmental unit. When used as an adjective: self-governing; independent; possessing highest authority and jurisdiction.
- Sponsor(s)
- A person, or a group of individually identified people, responsible for the submission of an Recall, Referendum, or Initiative.
- Voter
- In this context, any citizen of the United States who is at least 18 years old, who is not imprisoned for a felony, and who has not been classified as "incompetent" by a court, provided that he or she has not renounced or otherwise given up United States citizenship.
[Recall, Referendum, and Initiative Amendment]
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