Those paying members were paying on their main accounts. True, they left a lot of money and probably expected everything would be forgiven because of their money. But it wasn't. Their alts however were not high level, nor paying accounts. It is not possible to compare situation from back then and current because they didn't need to level up their bots. Level limit was set later, after the issue with them. Later it showed up it was not enough of prevention.
More recent situation with many alts between 21 and 40 level is quite different. They were leveled up (not too much but enough to be eligible to vote), didn't look sus, had different styles, some even had 'about me' and sigs, they posted in forum, some even chatted with other players and so on. They used to rig elections and other voting for a whole year. They were not senators subscribed or gifted. Only times they were senators was when they won PBFC themes polls and got gifted, or when they used artifacts. And there were quite a lot of them which is obvious when look PBFC lists for 2021. If there was another layer of cheating prevention these later alts wouldn't be able to make such a big damage. They would still have had some impact but certainly less. Note, 2 states were left without SMs because of their voting. In Antitheocra these alts basically destroyed elections. If senators in AT had votes that counted twice, it wouldn't have happened.
It is not too hard to imagine someone buys sub. for one or two alts because of voting. But it is indeed hard to imagine someone throwing $100+ for 10+ alts.
If it is not a problem for someone to level up an alt to level 21, it is even less problem to do citizenship test. It literally takes 5min max for someone who already did it once and know where to find info for it. And finding answers for that test is piece of cake, they are public info ofc, beside being summed up FAQ they are also available in wiki and in forum. So for anyone who has ever played it won't be a problem. Paying a few b$ for the test probably won't be a problem either for someone who is adamant to level up alts for cheating and voting purposes. But ofc, one more layer or prevention can't hurt.
I do agree however about setting both level limit and time spent in game limit for players to become eligible to run in both SM and PB elections. Also, number of terms limit for SMs to become eligible to run in PB elections. The way how elections are set allows SMs to run for PB without even having one full term as SM. It literally means someone can spend a little more than 2 months in game and become PB. Theoretically 2,5 months is quite enough - scenery such as someone started playing and subscribe at the start. Level up faster for a shorter time, run in SM elections and wins, then in two months comes PB elections and they are eligible to run and more over to win. And that scenery is quite possible with experienced cheaters and using alts.
Needless to say, such victory would be democratic according to definition based on votes. But the real question is would such victory be democratic in its core?
Only level limit isn't enough because we saw how someone can literally level up to lvl 80 in about two weeks only! So X time spent in game limit would cover the holes in this scenery.
On the other hand, there are players who made accounts years ago who are still only level 30 for instance. It mostly speaks about they don't play regularly and log in just here and there, make big breaks and so on. Such hole in the system would be filled and covered with a level limit.
And last but not the least number of terms limit for SMs to be able to run for PB. Like, one full term as SM at least in order to make SM more familiar with their job.
