City Government & Elections
Night City has a strong Mayor and a City Council of five seats: Neon Strip, Downtown, Harbor, Vinewood Hills and Desert Flats. Everyone votes in every race, wherever they live. Every other office (Deputy Mayor, NCPD Chief, Fire & EMS Chief, City Attorney, City Clerk, City Controller) is nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by the council.
Everything happens in the NC Gov app on your phone: the election, candidate pages, voting, the officials directory, council votes, laws and petitions. The city budget is coming in a later update (greyed out in the app for now).
City Hall
City Hall stands in Pillbox Hill, Downtown (map blip City Hall). It is also the courthouse: the Department of Justice works from the courtroom, the judge's chambers and the holding cells at the back.
| Where | What |
|---|---|
| Lobby reception desk | Job centre and licences |
| Voting room | Paper ballots: vote here without a phone |
| Council chamber | The council table, where councillors vote on the Mayor's nominees |
| Front steps podium | Oaths of office and tie-break coin flips |
| Courtroom, chambers, cells | Department of Justice |
Offices have their own keys: the Mayor's office opens for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the clerk offices and archive for the City Clerk, the council chamber for the Mayor and councillors. The City Clerk and the Mayor can lock the front doors at night.
Elections
There is an election every month. Terms are two months; the Mayor and two council seats are elected together, the other three seats at the Mayor's mid-term. Each election runs in stages:
| Stage | Length | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Filing | 3 days | Candidates pay the fee and collect signatures |
| Campaign | 7 days | Candidate pages, donations, debates, rallies, ads, the weekly poll |
| Voting | 3 days | Vote in NC Gov |
| Results | instant | Most votes wins |
| Oath | up to 48 hours | Winners take the oath, then hold office |
Winners take the oath at the podium on the City Hall front steps: press E there, or tap Take oath in NC Gov while standing at it. The City Clerk can also swear winners in at the podium. Anyone who never shows up is sworn in automatically after 48 hours.
A tie gets a 24-hour tie-break vote between only the tied candidates. Still tied? The City Clerk tosses a coin live at the podium (or it is tossed automatically after two days).
Voting
- Open NC Gov → Elections during the voting stage.
- Tap a race, then Vote next to your candidate and confirm.
No phone? Go to the voting room in City Hall, press E at a booth, fill in the oval next to your choice in each race and press Cast ballot. It is the same single vote as the app.
Your vote is secret and final. You need a character at least 7 days old with 5 hours of playtime. At most 2 characters per account can vote in each race. Characters in jail can still vote.
Running for Office
| Seat | Fee | Signatures |
|---|---|---|
| Mayor | $25,000 | 25 |
| Councillor | $10,000 | 10 |
- During filing, open Elections → Run for office, pick the seat, add a photo, slogan and platform, and pay the fee from your bank. The fee goes to the City Treasury and is not refunded.
- Collect signatures before filing closes: Ask people next to me sends a request to everyone standing close by, or give people your 6-letter sign code (they enter it under Sign a filing).
- Enough signatures when filing closes = you are on the ballot.
To run, your character needs to be at least 14 days old with 20 hours of playtime. A Mayor can serve two terms in a row, then must sit one out.
Your NCPD record becomes public on your candidate page: arrests, convictions and citations that NCPD put in the MDT. Expunged records never show.
Campaigning
- Donations: anyone can donate from their bank, and business owners from their business. Every donation is public. The limit is $5,000 per donor per campaign. Donations go into your campaign fund, which pays for campaign ads ($1,500 each, shown to the whole city). Whatever is left goes to the City Treasury after the election.
- Endorsements: players and businesses can endorse you; they show on your page.
- Followers get a notification for your updates, debates and rallies.
- Debates and rallies are placed where you stand when you schedule them, and show on the map while they are live.
- During the campaign, everyone can answer the unofficial poll for each race.
Officials
Officials in NC Gov lists everyone in office with Call and Message buttons. Holding office is a title: you keep your normal job, so a cop can sit on the council. Officials are paid a weekly salary from the City Treasury. If the treasury is short, the salary is owed and paid later.
- Appointments: the Mayor taps a vacant office and enters the person's phone number. Councillors vote in the app or at the council table in City Hall, and the nominee needs 3 of 5 yes votes within 24 hours. The Mayor can dismiss appointees.
- Vacancies: if the Mayor's office is empty, the Deputy Mayor becomes Acting Mayor until the next election. Empty council seats go on the next ballot.
- The City Clerk can swear in election winners.
Laws
The Laws tab in NC Gov holds the city's law book. Day one it has the Night City Code, Title 1 (the penal code NCPD uses), and every law passed after that is added as an Ordinance with its own number.
The Mayor and councillors can propose a bill: a new law, an amendment to a law, or a repeal. A bill can also add, change or remove MDT charges and change city settings. All of it takes effect the moment the bill becomes law, and a repeal undoes it. Every bill goes through the same stages:
| Stage | Length | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Public debate | 48 hours | Anyone can comment and tap Support or Oppose. Councillors' comments are pinned |
| Council vote | 24 hours | Needs 3 of 5 councillors to vote yes |
| Mayor's desk | 24 hours | The Mayor signs or vetoes. Not signed in time = it becomes law anyway |
| Veto override | 24 hours | After a veto, 4 of 5 councillors can pass it anyway |
Councillors vote in the app or at the council table in City Hall. You can open a new bill or petition once every 5 minutes.
City Settings
Some laws change how the city runs instead of adding text. The current settings show at the top of the Laws tab:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fines level | Raises or lowers every MDT fine (100% = as written) |
| Drug penalties | Raises or lowers fines and prison time for drug charges. At 0%, drugs are decriminalised |
| City and highway speed limits | Changes the limit on every speed camera, and the Limit on your HUD |
| Curfew | In-game hours when you must stay off the streets. Breaking it is a Curfew violation |
| Weapon-free zones | Places like Legion Square or a custom circle. Drawing a weapon inside one alerts NCPD and is a crime |
On-duty NCPD, EMS, fire and DOJ, officials, people working a job and anyone indoors are exempt from the curfew. Weapon-free zones show on your map while they are active.
Petitions
Citizens can force the council to act. Tap Start a petition, write what the law should say, then share the petition's 6-letter code. Others sign in the app under Sign a petition by code.
| Petition | Signatures | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Law | 10% of the last election's turnout (at least 10) | The council must vote on it within a week |
| Recall the Mayor | 30% of the last Mayor race's turnout (at least 10) | A recall election |
You have 7 days to collect the signatures. Only one recall petition can be open at a time.
Recall and Impeachment
A recall election has one ballot. It asks "Recall the Mayor?" (Yes or No) and lists the replacement candidates. It runs faster than a normal election: 2 days of filing, 3 days of campaign and 2 days of voting. If Yes wins, the replacement with the most votes becomes Mayor. If No wins or it is a tie, the Mayor stays. The Mayor facing the recall cannot run as their own replacement.
The council can also impeach the Mayor. A councillor files an impeachment bill with written grounds, and 3 of 5 councillors must vote for it. A judge then reviews the grounds at the court terminal within 48 hours. If the judge upholds it, a recall election follows. If no judge rules in time, the impeachment lapses.
Notifications
Tap the bell on the NC Gov home screen to choose what the app sends you: election stages, laws and orders, petitions, and followed candidates.
Staff can move, copy or turn off the City Hall spots (voting booths, council table, podium) in F9 → World Spawns.
Thanks! Staff will look at it.