"A coalition of Americans united for the purpose of establishing truly representative government."

US Parliament Rules

1.  RANKED VOTING ONLY:  All voting and vote counting shall be in the form of ranked ballots only (and “eballots” when practical and verifiable), where consecutive numbers must always be used (i.e. beginning with #s 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. etc.).   Use of  "x"s, check marks, symbols other than any number of consecutive numerals starting with the number one, or the same number by more than one choice, will cause a spoiled ballot.

2.   ELECTION OF PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT, AS INITIAL CONTACTS:   The US Parliament's elected national assembly shall consist of 100 names elected to "seats" for four year terms.   A second vote count of the same ballots which elected the 100 names will also be conducted to elect a President and Vice President to four year terms.   The two vote counts of all the cast ballots received shall be conducted on August 6th, 2008.   In the first vote count electing the 100 at-large seats, each name receiving 1% of the votes cast is elected as one member of parliament, or "MP".   In the second vote count, the first name receiving 33.33% plus one vote is elected President, and the second name receiving 33.33% plus one vote is elected Vice President.   Once elected, the President and the Vice President serve as the initial contacts for the eventual and ongoing formations of a ruling coalition, which is the largest majority of elected MPs to approve a set of rules.

3.  HOW THE VOTE-COUNT WORKS: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for approving the rules, and all other single-winner elections:   Everyone's vote goes initially to his or her 1st choice.   If no alternative has a majority, then the alternative with fewest votes is eliminated, and each of its ballots goes to voter's next choice. This process of elimination & re-distribution continues until 1 alternative has a majority of the ballots.

4.  THE SAINTE-LAGUE PARLIAMENT SYSTEM for seat allocation in all multi-seat districts:   1. Divide the election's total number of votes by the number of seats. This is the 1st quota.   2. Divide this quota into each candidate's votes, and round off to the nearest whole number. That's that candidate's seat allocation.   3. If, due to rounding, this awards a number of seats different from the desired number of seats, then adjust the quota slightly up or down, till, when paragraph 2 is carried out, it will award all seats.

5.   NOMINATIONS:   Any resident of the United States of America, living at home or abroad, may nominate up to three names for either member of parliament or for president or vice president.   The full name of the nominees and nominators will be recorded, made public and will be available through the US Parliament's secretary's office.  Nominations mailed through US Mail or email, must be postmarked and received between February 1st and March 31st in each election cycle.   Pacific Standard Time (PST) shall apply in all time relevant cases, on all election matters.   First and last names are preferred, however all names nominated will be permitted on the ballot, as well as the party/category of the nominee.   If party/category not known, the label "[Info. Not Avail.]" will be used.   A nominee's name may appear on the ballot once, so fusion voting is not allowed.   Other than the "automatic nominations" (see rule #6), only the top twelve ranked names of all new nominees within each party /category will qualify for the ballot, to be ranked below all other names on the prepared ballot.   The order of these names will be determined firstly based on the rankings of "nomination ballots", and secondly by chronological order of the dates that the nominee's name was received (between 2/1/2008 and 3/31/2008).

6.   AUTOMATIC NOMINATIONS OF ELECTED MEMBERS' NAMES IN 100 MEMBER DISTRICTS:   All elected names of the 100 seats, plus the five executives, the twelve full cabinet ministers and an elected president and vice president from each of the 12 subsidiary districts, shall automatically qualify for the ballot in each four year election cycle, of each and every 100 member district.

7.   US CITIZENS ONLY:   All voters must either reside within the United States of America, or be a US citizen residing outside the US. Violation of this or any other rule will automatically cause a spoiled ballot.

8.   ONLY ONE SINGLE PARLIAMENTARY BALLOT, IS PERMITTED TO BE MARKED BY EACH U.S. RESIDENT:   All U.S. residents, and U.S. citizens living abroad, may vote one time and only one time, during each US Parliament (USP) election cycle.   In cases where a second ballot is cast, only the latter of the two ballots will be counted, the former will be marked "spoiled".

9.   BALLOT VERIFICATION requires only a name of the voter, or a witness when no name is used.

10.  “EBALLOTS” are ballots cast via email.   EBALLOTS must be sent to vvc@usparliament.org, a private email address used by the secretary and other observers, for receiving eballots.   No reply email will be sent to voters who cast eballots, unless the voter indicates that he/she wishes to be self-appointed to the USP, or unless a question regarding verification is raised by a volunteer vote counter.  

11. ARCHIVES of all records of every ballot cast since the USP was founded on August 5th, 1995 when recognized by the US Federal Elections Commission, are to be kept as proof in the USP’s archives.

12. NOMINEES' STATEMENTS for the "7th USA Parliament Election" must be post-marked and received before 4/15/2008.  Late statements shall be included when possible.

13. SPACE FOR THREE OR MORE WRITE-IN choices must be provided on each ballot, in all elections.

14. BALLOTS MUST be post-marked and received between April 20th and August 5th, 2008.   Any US resident, nominee and/or proxy may observe the counting of the ballots.  Volunteer counters will conduct the vote counting.

15.  STATE AND COUNTY ELECTIONS:   States and county subsidiary elections will conducted in all the states and territories of the US, organized into twelve population balanced districts with twelve population subsidiary districts, referred to as the "super-states" (states and groups of states) and the "mini-states" (counties and groups of counties).   No existing state or county boundary lines will be breached by any boundaries drawn up to form the 12 super-states and 144 mini-states within the US Parliament's boundaries.   All super-states and mini-states will have the same rules and dates as the national parliament until new rules are approved by said elected bodies.   Super-state election dates and cycles will fall on the even years between the national US Parliament/US Presidential Election cycles every four years, and mini-state election dates and cycles will fall on odd numbered years.

16.  100 ELECTED NOMINEES and write-ins may vote as a member of national parliament (MP), member of super-state parliament (MSP), or member of mini-state parliament (MMP), to elect the three prime ministers, two secretaries and one set of rules.

17.  THE PARTY LEADER within the USP is a label for the highest ranked name, categorized under each party.   Party leaders are responsible for the distribution of all ballots and rules to the members of their party/category and lists.

18.  CATEGORIZATION AND PARTY NAMES   The first and most important criterion in determining the nominee's party/category is the nominee's most recently requested or declared party/category in US Parliament matters.   The second most important criterion in determining the nominee's party/category is determined by the nominee's state's records, as written by the member while registering to vote.   Appointed members may be categorized with any party/category that they wish, and the party/category of all members is considered to be the true one.   Elected members may decide to change or switch their party/categorization at any time. Members automatically qualify for the ballot in the next election cycle under the party/category of their choice, but when there is a switch in party/category, the placement of the name goes to the last place of all those previously in that party/category.

19.  PAPER BALLOTS must be mailed to USA PAR, PO Box 970, Paradise, California, 95967, and must be postmarked before August 5th of each year's election cycle. Choices marked on paper ballots are guaranteed to be confidential.

20.  FOR SINGLE-WINNER ELECTIONS, such as election of a set of rules, the single transferable vote system (STV, Droop) will be used through preference voting.

21.  TIE VOTES will be broken by calling new elections.

22.  VOTES OF CONFIDENCE for the Prime Minister (also known as Taoiseach), secretary and/or rules, may be collected at any time, by any member of the US Parliament, and in subsidiary parliaments.

23.  THE TRIPLE PRIME MINISTER/DUAL SECRETARY SYSTEM will be implemented in the 8th US Parliament, and executive decisions will be made by the five (known as "executives"), in a majority rule vote, of at least 3/5ths of the three prime ministers and two secretaries.   Only three of the five executive members are needed to implement actions by the executive as a whole.   Rule #3 will be the voting system used for election of the three prime ministers and the two secretaries, as a three member district (three prime ministers), and as a two member district (two secretaries), and combined they elect the five executives.

24.  THE TWELVE FULL CABINET MINISTERS:    The US Parliament's national, all super-state, and all mini-state assemblies, shall also elect "12 Full Cabinet Ministers", and each of the five executives agree to rank all names nominated by each of the other four executives, thus guaranteeing that each of the five executives elect 1/5th of the 12 cabinet ministers.   All ministries with lower ranked names shall be known as deputy ministers, and all nominees not elected shall be grouped as "ministers awaiting higher rankings by executives".   Once all twelve full ministries are elected, the executives shall take turns nominating new names to the cabinet, unless the "parliamentary go-ahead" is given, at which time new nominees automatically receive their #1 ranking, and thus automatically elect up to three new nominees to any of the 12 Full Minister positions.

25.  RESIGNATIONS. When any elected member, executive or minister stands down, resigns, retires, or dies - the single transfer of the next highest preference from the voters' ballots that had elected the departing member, will be used to automatically elect the 2nd preferred choice on the same voters' ballots (STV) for every election.

26.  UNMARKED BALLOTS AND EBALLOTS may be reproduced, copied, re-type set or reduced for distribution to US residents, during the election between 4/20/2008 and 8/5/2008.  Each paper ballot must include all nominees' correct name and party affiliation, a detachable voter registration form and US Parliament contact information. All ballots released to the public from the USA Parliament's elected secretary shall count as a legitimate ballot, even after the ballot had been updated to reflect party switching, withdrawal or any other corrected errors and changes.

27.  ALL VOTES OF CONFIDENCE, ELECTION OF EXECUTIVES AND CABINET MEMBERS WILL HALT during the time when nominations occur, between 2/1/2008 and 3/31/2008.

28.  ORDER OF NOMINEES on the ballot of the USA Parliament ballot, and of all subsidiary parliament and their ballots, will be determined by the results caused by the voters’ ranking of the nominees on the ballots. Ties will be broken through alphabetizing the names.   New nominees will be placed on the ballot in the order that they were nominated, below higher ranked elected members.   The date of the original nomination may determine the placement in order on the ballot.  If elected members switch party/categories at any time, they will be placed in the new party/category below all other nominees already listed.  The final order of the prepared ballot will be determined by the nominees' party name or category, which will be listed on the ballot in alphabetical order.

29.  THESE RULES will not change once approved by majority vote by the elected members, or MPs, of the 7th USA Parliament.  These rules shall apply to the 7th USA Parliament's Election, and the subsidiary state, and county parliaments' elections, unless they are voted down by a majority vote of the 7th USA Parliament's voting MPs before release of the ballot for the "7th USA Parliament Election" on 4/20/2008

30.  NO PERSON MAY BE CENSORED, and no limits may be placed on free speech by/of any other person or nominee, including US Parliament elected members and staff, at any time. Party/category's names may not be used in such a way that slanders or libels names of any person, or other party/categories or individuals. Those that refuse to comply, by continuing to libel others through their choice of party name, will be categorized as members of the Anarchist Party.   And those using a name or pseudonym rather than their actual name which libels, slanders or mimics (such as incorrect spellings) shall have their "name" censored, and instead will be known only as "Anonymous".   

31.  DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY shall include overseeing the communication link between members. The secretary calls for new elections when ties occur, and helps oversee convening and recessing of each parliament assembly.   Contact the US Parliament via telephone 530.589.5294 or the web at http://www.usparliament.org for obtaining more information.