Elections in Urcea

Elections in Urcea are held for all national and provincial offices and most local offices. At the national level, the Procurator is directly elected by the Urcean people. All members of the Conshilía Daoni are elected directly by people in each province, crownland, or state. Governors and local legislators of the provinces, states, and crownlands are also directly elected, as are the officials of municipalities using an executive polis model. There are also a number of special districts which hold elections on a local level. The modern system of Urcean elections can mostly trace its history back to the Concession of 1747.

Elections in Urcea are highly decentralized and are primarily administered by Diocesan Boards of Election, who set forth local rules, establish eligibility lists and voter rolls, physically own and maintain voting machines, count votes, and certify election winners. A number of national laws, codified under the Election Law, provide for the basic framework through which Urcean elections are to take place. Most Diocesan Boards of Election have also adopted the Unified Electoral Code, compiled and adopted in the 1980s, though most also include many jurisdiction-specific rules and regulations. The provinces are responsible for collating the electoral results reported by Dioceses for province-wide and Daoni elections. By law, nearly all elections in Urcea take place on Election Day, which is the first Tuesday in November in years ending in "0" and "5" and are conducted using a first past the post system. Candidates in Urcea are chosen by political parties.

Voting in Urcea is voluntary, though it is considered customary for Urceans to vote. Turnout usually sits between 60% and 70% for most elections. Throughout Urcean history, the electoral franchise, which began with elections for the Conshilía Daoni was gradually expanded, largely coinciding with changes to the system of social class. Modern Urcean elections feature universal adult suffrage beginning at age 21; the age varied between provinces until 2003.

Ballot access and candidate selection

In Urcea, candidates typically appear on electoral ballot as the nominated choice of one of Urcea's political parties, and the process is the same for every office except Procurator. In these cases, the local political party organization (be it diocesan or province-wide) is responsible for choosing the candidate; the party's local committee internally debates and selects an endorsed candidate. The same process is true for candidates of the Conshilía Daoni, though in some cases specially constituted delegation committees are chosen. In each election year, committees must submit their candidate nominations to the Board of Elections by 15 February. Party members who wish to challenge the endorsed candidate are required to collect a petition with 5% of the enrolled party members within the constituency they seek to run for by 15 March; this process also must occur for any candidate where the party did not make an endorsement by the required date.

Primary elections

Primary elections occur either when political party committees choose not to endorse a candidate, fail to do so in time, or if the endorsed candidate is challenged and the challenger(s) receive enough signature petitions to appear on the ballot. Diocesan Party Committee positions can also be subject to a primary election.

Primary elections for local and provincial office typically coincide with that province's scheduled procuratorial primary election day if it occurs after March 15; it otherwise occurs on the first Tuesday in April, as is the case for provinces in the first two phases of the procuratorial primary.

Procuratorial

Main article: Urcean procuratorial primary

The election for Procurator uses a different system of primary elections than most local offices. No party may have an endorsed party candidate for Procurator, requiring an open primary each election to select its candidate. Candidates gather ballot access petitions in each of the 34 provinces, crownlands, and states in order to be considered for the office of Each candidate must secure ballot access petitions with 5% of all enrolled party members within a particular subdivision forty days prior to the day of the primary. For well-funded candidates, including prospective frontrunners, it is considered a show of organizational and campaign strength to receive ballot access in all 34 subdivisions by the middle of December in the year preceding the primary. For lesser known and dark horse candidates, creating the manpower and organizational structure (including fundraising) necessary to do this is extremely difficult, and as such most of these candidates often just gather signatures in the phase one primary subdivisions or a mix of phase one and phase two; this strategy, if the candidate is successful early, will allow for new volunteers and funds necessary to gain ballot access in the more populous and difficult phase three and four provinces.

Procuratorial candidates are chosen by a majority of delegates held at the party's convention in July or August, with delegates being chosen by the primary voters throughout the process. Delegates are generally awarded proportional to the population of each province and each candidate's vote share, with the formula determined both by each party and each province, and winners of individual provinces generally get a bonus share of delegates. Each party who uses the primary system also has a small number of unpledged delegates - 102 per party - representing the top provincial party official in each subdivision.

The Procuratorial primary occurs in four phases, with elections held on the first Tuesdays in February, March, April, and May. These election dates are fixed by an act of the Conshilía Daoni, though which provinces, crownlands, and states participate in which date is generally based on convention and agreement. The first phase of the primary occurs in Urcea's smallest provinces. Regionally it generally includes those territories in eastern Urcea, including Transionia, the Ionian Plateau, and the eastern portions of the Urcean frontier. It also includes the major suburban provinces of Eastglen and the southern coastal province of Gabban. The second phase is generally mid-sized provinces with no specific geographical area, encompassing a broad array of far-flung provinces. The third phase includes some of the larger provinces and crownlands and generally is clustered in the center of Urcea, though it also includes many of Urcea's northern provinces as well. The final phase consists of Urcea's largest subdivisions - the Archduchy, Gassavelia, the two parts of Crotona, and the Cape - generally skewing towards the west coast while also including Gassavelia.

At the end of the primary process, each party holds a national convention to choose their procuratorial candidate, typically in July or August. In the event no candidate receives a majority of delegates in the primary election, the delegates are unbound on the second ballot and may freely choose their party's nominee. All candidates for procurator must be chosen and certified by the party by September 1st in order to appear on the ballot for the November election.

Parties may opt out of the primary process for a decade-long period at a time. This is generally only utilized by left-wing parties, who use a system basically comparable to unpledged delegates chosen by party leadership.

Censors

Candidates for Censor are not nominated by political parties and as such are not chosen by political primary; instead, they have a unique nomination process. Possible candidates for the office are chosen by the Apostolic King of Urcea through his Household Office for Judicial Appointmeents (based on informal recommendations from the government and others) and forwarded to the Urcean Conference of Catholic Bishops for review. The Bishops then remove any candidates they deem unsuitable and return the list to the King, who then sends the list both to the government in Urceopolis as well as to the provinces. Accordingly, only candidates who have been selected by the King and approved by the bishops may appear on the ballot come election day. Once nominated, candidates may make an official affiliation with a party - and thus appear on that party's ballot line - but many non-partisan candidates for the office also exist and appear on a separate, independent ballot line.

Cultural practices

General elections in Urcea are usually accompanied by a five month long campaign cycle, beginning in June and ending in November. Electoral campaigns in Urcea include a broad array of public interactions, ranging from conventional get-out-the-vote efforts, commercials, door knocking, phone calls, speeches, and candidate debates. The use of campaign lawn signs is extremely common throughout Urcea owing to the prevalence of single family homes. However, campaigns also have a broad array of social obligations and and traditions that the public expects to be met. It is customary for candidates to throw at least large parties with free food and alcohol throughout the campaign, once during their announcement and again in October. Additionally, Election Day is usually accompanied by a large street festival thrown by local political parties, where party supporters and campaign enthusiasts will receive free alcohol, food, and in some case board throughout Election Day and into the night of the election. Only the worst-funded candidates and parties, coinciding with the least competitive seats, can typically not afford to throw Election Day festivals. Many Urceans, especially independents, will often move between the rival street fairs on Election Day to take in the atmosphere and free amenities. Occasionally, Election Day festivals will descend into party-based hooliganism and civil unrest, and beginning in the 20th century the festivals became more closely cordoned off by law enforcement.

Candidates are expected to be respectful to their opponents and typically do not even refer to their opponents by name. Negative campaigns, including attack ads, are extremely common within Urcean political life, but are almost always done by proxies and third parties rather than candidates themselves. On election night, the losing candidates are expected to call the winning candidate to concede, and additionally the major party candidate loser or losers are expected to make a public appearence with the winner the next day to show their solidarity and support for the winner.

Catholic Priests play a large role in the cultural life of elections. In addition to the sometimes over-the-top parties associated with elections, priests are seen functionally everywhere throughout campaigns. Priests do not typically endorse candidates, but instead are viewed as impartial neutral actors. Most political rallies, debates, and election night festivities open with a benediction, and benedictions offered at campaign announcements or first rallies are traditionally considered the start of the political season rather than the actual speech or rally content. Candidate debates are often moderated by priests due to the respect they are given in Urcean society, their perceived impartiality, and because the deference owned to priests in Urcean society means candidates are more likely to follow debate rules.