Coronavirus Questions on Democracy

Coronavirus Questions on Democracy

Here are a few questions which come to mind....

States Virtual Sittings and Votes

There was trouble with Zoom the other day and at one point it looked as if the States would be “virtually inquorate”, but in the end all the members were able to access the system except one. Now the votes that day had a fairly good margin, and one vote would not swing the balance, but it does raise the procedural question: what happens if the margin is narrow, and the vote might have gone the other way had not some States members been unable to participate?

It is not the same as States members absenting themselves from the Assembly for a vote (as has happened in the past) as this would be a case of them being absented by glitches in the technology. Could their vote be counted later when they could get back online?

In like manner, if they were physically in the Chamber and their voting button malfunctioned, they could alert the Bailiff, and I would imagine their vote would be counted after the electronic count, and added on.

It seems to be unfair to allow democratic legitimacy to depend on the vagaries of sometimes temperamental technology, but what procedural rules are in place?

I hope to get an answer from the Greffier.

Addendum: I have now had an answer

Most Members vote using a link we post in the chat facility associated with the Teams meeting. Some have had technical problems with this, but the majority of members have used it without a problem. In every vote we have held so far, at least 25 Members have voted for or against the proposition using the link, so we have been confident of the outcome of the result. Members who cannot use the link can vote using the chat function; and on one occasion a member has joined us in the Chamber to cast their vote by voice at the time when the vote was open. We gather up all of these non-link votes for publication in the official result.

If there were a close vote, where we did not have a majority voting pour or contre using the link, and where there was doubt about the outcome, we would fall back on a roll call vote. In addition, if any Member felt that the outcome of the vote was in doubt they could request a roll call vote which I am sure the presiding officer would accept unless the request was an abuse of process in some way.

This is very reassuring, and shows that good procedures have been well sorted out by the Greffier and his team. 

Parish Assemblies

One of the recent Parish Assemblies had this included in the notice in the Jersey Gazette after the items listed.

“Due to COVID-19, social distancing is taking place and therefore we request that only the personnel required for the above attends.”

That raises the interesting question of how many can now actually attend a Parish Assembly with social distancing applying, and also how legitimate it is to request people to stay away. This particular assembly had an election for a Constables Officer, as well as several licence applications, and an election for a Centenier.

And also if there is opposition to a licence application, how many people are allowed in to vote? If it is restricted in some way, it may unfairly favour one or other side.

The notice also says:

“In each election, if there are more candidates than vacancies, a poll will be held on Wednesday 17 June.”

I think that’s probably unlikely, but I’d be interested also to know how a poll will be held maintaining hygiene and social distancing.