BYLAW AMENDMENT PROPOSAL- PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Andy Ellis-Baltimore City-Delegate-He/Him Public Seen by 13

Background
In December of 2020 the Electoral Committee of the Maryland Green Party recommended a bylaw modification which would require a party run primary for all state wide offices, for US Congress, and for US Senate.

The current rule requires a primary only if there is a contested race and this bylaw amendment would extend that to all qualifying races.

References
1.You can see a side by side comparison of the existing language and the proposed language here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uPwa4iGbcXL0u3X7oMSvXjbd_0HQjcWLZjr7nOI4gwg/edit?usp=sharing

2.Under section 14.5 of the MGP Bylaws the Coordinating Council can revise the bylaws for issues that are vital to carrying out the purpose of the MGP.

Such revisions of the bylaws require 3/4 of the votes once Quorum has been met. Quorum is currently 7
Bylaws amended under section 14.5 shall take effect immediately but are subject to review by the membership at the next MGP Assembly.

Poll Created Thu 7 Jan 2021 10:39PM

Approve Bylaw Amendment to Article 10 of the MGP Bylaws Closed Thu 21 Jan 2021 11:17PM

The following language will be inserted into Article 10 of the MG P bylaws, detailed side by side comparisons and the strike throughs of existing and replaced language can be found here.

10.6 Primary Process: Candidates for Statewide office, or the United States Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) shall be nominated via a primary in which all registered Greens in the jurisdiction are eligible to vote by preference vote. The primary should occur during the month of April in the year that the General Election will occur. The primary can be conducted by in-person, mail or electronic balloting

If the Primary occurs at a time when the party does not have ballot access then all persons recognized as members of the Maryland Green Party in that area are eligible to participate.

The Electoral Committee is responsible for preparing specific timetables and procedures for the primary and must have that document complete no later than March 1st of the year prior to the Primary.

10.7 Filling a Vacancy- If a position that is nominated via the primary process outlined in section 10.6 is vacant and a candidate seeks to fill that vacancy prior to the deadline for providing the state of Maryland with a certificate of Nomination the Coordinating Council may by a two-thirds vote convene a special primary for the eligible voters in that region that will occur during July of the year in which the general election will occur. Procedures for a special primary should be published no later than July of the prior year