Council of Elders

The Council of Elders (COE) is the secondary governing body of The Republic. A deciding vote in the Council of Elders can have an impact on the Council of Co-Leaders, and the vote to demote the Leader must always start in the Council of Elders.

Creation
In the earliest talks of creating The Republic between the founding fathers, all four were in agreement that the Leader position held too much power within any given clan. They agreed that the Leader should be stripped of all power other than the ability to uphold a written constitution. The powers that any normal Clash of Clans Leader would hold would be given to a council of elected officials to safeguard against tyranny. The office of Co-Leader was decided to bestow this power upon and the Council of Co-Leaders (COCL) was created. The Council of Elders would be created to check the higher offices. The most important thing the Elders would be able to do would be to demote members of the Council of Co-Leaders as well as the Leader.

First Council
Upon The Republic's creation on January 1, 2020, the founding fathers made a unanimous decision that James would be the inaugural member of the Council of Elders. Nate would join a day later on January 2, 2020, and another unanimous decision would make him the second member of the council. By January 5, 2020, the clan had grown to fifteen members and an election was held to decide the third member of the council. mikeRob22 won a landslide victory and was named to the council the next day. Just ten days later on January 15, 2020 another election would be held to decide on the fourth member of the council and billinidaho would win a unanimous victory. On January 20, 2020, the next election would be called to vote in a fifth member of the council. D2AK3 would win in a tight election over Baby Carl and be named to the council the next day.

During the early months of the Council of Elders, not much activity took place within the council itself and no votes were held. On February 9, 2020, Nate would be named to the COCL and an election would be held to decide on his replacement and a new seat on the council. Mr. Yellow and WickedSpyder won the election and would be named to the council on the following day. By February 24, 2020, the clan had grown to thirty-five members and another election would be held for a spot on the COE. BigTony013 would win a close election over Baby Carl. mikeRob22 would be named to the COCL on March 27, 2020, and an election would be held to decide on his replacement as well as a new seat. johnsxhuler and Jake The Snake (jq22jq), would win the election and be named to the council the following day.

By April 1, 2020, the clan had gown to forty-five members and another election was held to decide on a new member of the council. Chris would win the election and become the eleventh member to sit on the COE. At this time there were  nine seats. On May 11, 2020, upon the end of a War League, johnsxhuler announced he was displeased about not receiving a war league bonus. He would leave the clan. At this time the clan dipped back below forty-five members and a new elder was not elected right away.

Second Council
The second form of the Council of Elders would begin on July 2, 2020. The midterm elections had decided who would sit on the council for the next term. Chris and Jake The Snake would be elected to the COCL leaving their seats open. Surprising many Nate opted out of running for Co-Leader for a second term and instead was elected a second time to the COE. Joe who was not reelected to the COCL was elected to the COE. James, billinidaho, D2AK3, WickedSpyder, and BigTon013 were reelected to the council for a second term. /name.loading/ and Uncle Sam were newly elected as well, bringing the total number of Elders back up to nine.

Activity in the clan would increase as Chris led the COCL to make changes to the make up of the clan. "The Great Cleansing" would be called to remove inactive members from the clan and bring in new active members. The Cleansing would lead to debate about having inactive members on the Council of Elders and what should be done with them and eventually debate about powers between the COCL and the COE. Around this time Chris would create the clan discord for further debates and more organized chat.

The debate among the councils would lead to the proposal and ratification of the First Amendment to The Constitution. The amendment was passed by the COCL on July 7, 2020 and passed in the COE on July 12, 2020. The amendment had to pass through the COE, with 100% from the active voters. Proposed by Captain Magma, the First Amendment laid out abstention rules when voting in both councils and clan wide votes. After the ratification of the amendment debate turned back to the inactive Elders and on July 21, 2020, the demotion of billinidaho and D2AK3 passed both councils, but not without compromise.

Upon the demotion of billinidho and D2AK3, an election would be called to vote in their successors. Shelby and King Arthur would win the election and be named to the council the next day. On August 11, 2020, Nate would leave the clan. This would open up his spot on the COE. On August 13, 2020 an election would be held to decide who would fill this spot. David would win the election and be named to the council the following day.

On August 29, 2020, mikRob22 would leave The Republic to join Nate’s separatist clan dubbed “True Republic”. This would leave an empty seat on the Council of Co-Leaders which would be filled by a founding father, James, who was a long-time member of the Council of Elders. An election was called to decide upon a new member to fill James’s seat. KING ROD would win the election over Manolete. The next month, in October, both Joe and King Arthur would leave the clan calling for an election for two new members to the council. Manolete and Deadpool would be elected and join the council on October 19, 2020.

Third Council
The third form of the Council of Elders would begin on January 1, 2021. The Elder Election had decided who would sit on the council for this term. Shelby, /name.loading/, Manolete, Uncle Sam, KING ROD, and David were elected to a second term on the Council. General Aurum was elected to his first term. Incumbent candidate Deadpool tied with ben at 6 votes each, and a runoff election would have to be called to decided on the final seat on the council. No one who had served on the council in the first half of the year was reelected.

Activity within the clan would dwindle in the early months of 2021. Uncle Sam would leave the clan on February 2, 2021. He would not be replaced as the clan had dropped below 40 members. When the clan once again reached 40 members, a special election was called and Cantankerous was voted to be the newest member of the Council of Elders.

Size of the Council
The Constitution states that the amount of Elders is based on the number of people in the clan. There can never be more than one Elder to every five players and there has to be a minimum of two. Currently there are seven members on the council.

Elections
The election to the Elder position happens the last week of the year and the first week of July and is held after the Leader or the Co-Leader election is completed. To be eligible for Elder, a player must be a member of the clan a month or longer (leaving the clan for over a week resets a player's time). The amount of Elders is based on the number of people in the clan. There can never be more than one Elder to every five players. There has to be a minimum of two. The first day of the election everyone who is eligible for the position can be voted for. Depending on how many members the clan has the top vote getters get the position. In the event of a tie a second day of voting is utilized between those players. The new elected Elders must be assigned their positions on January 1 st  of the year and July 2 nd.

In the case where an Elder is demoted, or there is more than five members per Elder, a special election must occur. Since only one position is getting voted on, the process is carried out with just one winner. It's important to note that the candidate is only running for the remainder of the demoted Elder's term.
 * First Council of Elders Election – Jan. 1, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Jan. 2, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Jan. 5, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Jan. 15, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Jan. 20, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Feb. 9, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Feb. 24, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Mar. 27, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election – Apr. 1, 2020
 * Council of Elders Election – Jun. 30, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election - Jul. 24, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election - Aug. 13, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election - Sep. 8, 2020
 * Council of Elders Special Election - Oct. 19, 2020
 * Council of Elders Election - Dec. 31, 2020
 * Council of Elders Runoff Election - Jan. 1, 2021
 * Council of Elders Special Election - May 13, 2021
 * Council of Elders Election - Jun. 30, 2021

Tenure
The Constituion states that an Elder serves a term of half a full year. There is no limit to how often a player can run for or hold the position of Elder. If a Leader is demoted they cannot run for Elder until what would have been their full term as Leader is over.

Membership

 * Timeline of Membership
 * (*) = as of November 10, 2020