Elections Act of 1917

The Elections Act of 1917 is an important act of the Grand Assembly in the Kingdom of Washingtonia. The act concerns the national general elections which is constitutionally required to take place every five years - to elect both the President and the members of the Grand Assembly. It was enacted in 1917, one year prior to the end of the first constitutional government's first term, to set about the specific time and manner of the elections, and to establish the Elections Oversight Board, because the Constitution did not have a comprehensive provision for elections.

The majority Union Nationalist Grand Assembly passed the act on 6 August with weak resistance considering opposition politics at the time was heavily disorganized, with the Libertarian Party (now the CLP) founded only one year prior. Once organized and with a larger foothold throughout the nation, the Libertarians attempted to repeal the act and replace it with the Chapter Addition (Elections and the Electoral Commission) Bill to make it more difficult for the Union Nationalists to simply amend with a 50% vote, however to no avail. Many political analysts think the UNP passed it as an act rather than a constitutional amendment just for that reason: so the party can have control over the manner of elections in Washingtonia. It has become a tradition in opposition politics to attempt to repeal the act and has been done during every second Grand Assembly session since 1923.

Elections Oversight Board
The Elections Oversight Board (commonly the Elections Board) is an independent commission established by the act which oversees and manages the national general elections as well as any other government elections, including that of local government and by-elections. The overseers on the Board are selected after every general election by the Grand Assembly's Committee on Elections and then the compiled list is confirmed or thrown out by the Grand Assembly as a whole thereafter.

The Board consists of 15 overseers of which at least 5 must be female, at least 5 must be from North Island, at least 5 must be from South Island, and at least 5 must be registered with an opposition party (and confirmed as a bona fide member by that party). No member of the executive, legislature, judiciary or monarchy may sit on the Board and may not serve consecutive terms. Regular employees of the Board must not have a criminal record and should be proven to be of sound mental stability.