Legislative

The Legislative Branches main organ is The Senate, The Senate is in charge of passing laws. They are headed by the Speaker of the Senate. Senate Elections are held every two weeks.

Senator
A Senator represent the interests of the people as a whole in SimDemocracy.

When a citizen posts a bill on r/SimDemocracy, after 24 hours a Senator can choose to sponsor the bill.

If sponsored, the Speaker will schedule the bill for a vote.

Once posted, the bill remains open to be voted on by Senators for 24 hours. A bill passes if there are more "aye" votes than "nay" votes.

A Senator can also choose to "abstain", which means your vote will not be counted (but you also won't be recorded as having missed the vote).

Senators can also sponsor a Constitutional amendment. Unlike a regular bill, Senators do not vote on a Constitutional amendment. Instead, the the public votes and the amendment passed on a two-thirds majority.

A Senator may also call for the impeachment of a government official if they feel there is evidence of unlawful wrong-doing.

Senators also vote on appointments the President makes. So it will be up to you to decide whether the President has chosen the right person for the right job. A two-thirds majority is required for the appointment to pass, so a "nay" carries a great deal of weight.

For further details on a Senator's duties, you should read the Constitution of SimDemocracy

The Senate
The Senate is perhaps the most powerful body on r/SimDemocracy, at least, it is the most important one. The Senate is the body that passes, abolishes and amends 'Acts', or laws which govern the subreddit.

A new senate is assembled every two weeks. Anyone can run for senator as long as you are not an Executive Officer and you run by simply announcing that you are running in the "Call for Candidates"

The candidates are then elected directly by the citizens via bloc score voting, where:

Users score the candidates however they wish from 0 to 5,

The candidate with the highest average score gets a seat, and the candidate with the next highest average score gets a seat, and so on until every seat is filled.

There is also a simulated 'automatic runoff' system. If given two candidates with the highest averages, the one rated higher than the other on the most ballots wins.

The amount of Senate seats vary every election, and are pre-determined by a mathematical formula. It isn't necessary to know, but if you're curious you can find it here.

Once a new Senate is assembled, they vote for a fellow Senator to become the Speaker of the Senate (SoS).