Voting Procedure for 2022 MGP Officer Elections
Voting on this proposal will close on Tuesday, April 12, at 9:00 pm.
Our bylaws require that the CC approve our voting procedure for internal officer elections 60 days before the assembly. Because the assembly is June 12, we must approve these procedures by April 13. Below is a copy of the google doc created for discussion some weeks ago; it's a blend of the procedures we used in our last election and the new November 2021 bylaws amendment. No one made any edits to the original nor expressed concerns in our CC meetings or listserv, so it should be ready for a Loomio vote!
MGP Voting Procedure - 2022 Officer Elections
Voting Period
The voting period runs from May 22, 2022 at Noon until June 12, 2022 at Noon.
Eligibility (Bylaws 5.3-5.3.3)
In order for votes to be counted, voters must be registered voters in the state of Maryland affiliated with the Green Party.
Individuals who are unable to register to vote due to legal status may sign an internal MGP document that expresses their intention to be counted as MGP decision-making members. This includes persons who are not U.S. citizens, persons who are incarcerated, and persons under 18 years of age. Members must be at least 16 years old.
Membership Notification (Bylaws 5.2.4)
The CC shall ensure that the membership is notified of nominations, candidates, and elections. All registered greens and all green party locals must be notified of calls for nominations and elections. The MGP shall provide a forum for candidates to present their positions to the membership. The internal elections committee shall determine the timing and method of the communication with members, as well as the forum for candidates.
Voting Methods (Bylaws 5.2)
The selection of MGP officers, GPUS delegates, and GPUS Alternates and Presidential Nominating Committee Delegates shall be as specified below. Guiding Green principles and values are for voting methods that promote the fullest possible representation and inclusivity, such as multi-member seats, proportionality, and single transferable vote (STV), and for voting methods that avoid factionalism and domination.
Single-Member Seats. Ranked choice elections will be calculated using instant runoff voting (IRV) for single-seat elections with a Droop quota (ballots/(seats+1))+1. A candidate must pass the Droop quota in order to be elected.
Multi-Member Seats. Ranked choice elections will be calculated using Scottish Method single transferable vote (STV) using the Droop quota as a static threshold for multiple-seat elections. All candidates must pass the static threshold in order to be elected.
If a seat remains unfilled after the election, nominations shall immediately re-open for that position and remain open for 30 days. None of the candidates previously listed on the ballot shall be eligible to be nominated. A new election shall take place, following all the rules outlined in Article 5 of the MGP bylaws.
Ballot Requests: Electronic & Paper
1. Electronic: Ballots must be requested by contacting [email protected] or by submitting our Ballot Request form on our website. When making your request please provide your full name, your zipcode, and your date of birth. Ballots submitted without a request will be rejected.
2. Paper: Paper ballots are available by request from [email protected]. Requests are due by 05/28/2022 and ballots must be received by the time ballots are counted on 06/12/2022.
Balloting Systems
Secure electronic systems must be used. Paper ballots shall be made available to those requesting them.
Tabulation
Tabulation will be done by Opavote.
Announcement
Preliminary Announcement will be made by 7:00 PM 06/12/2022.
Disputes
Any dispute of the results must be filed by 7:00 PM on Wednesday 06/15/2022.
Dispute Resolution
Dispute resolution will be handled by the Meetings and Assemblies Committee and the Bylaws Review and Rules Committee within 7 days.
Authority
In accordance with Bylaws 5.2.7, an ad-hoc internal elections committee is responsible for recommending to the coordinating committee these procedures. The coordinating council must approve these election procedures at least 60 days in advance of any assembly, and these procedures must be posted prominently at least 50 days before any election.
The procedures the committee has authority over include times, dates, software method of requesting the ballot, ballot wording, and ballot design.
Anyone seeking an office should be recused from the committee.
OPAVOTE BALLOT EXAMPLE
Poll Created Tue 5 Apr 2022 2:08AM
Voting Procedure for 2022 MGP Officer Elections Closed Wed 13 Apr 2022 1:01AM
The voting procedure for the 2022 Maryland Green Party officers election has been approved: 11 yes, 1 no, 0 abstentions, 2 not voting. It exceeded the 2/3 (9 votes) requirement. Matt identified an issue to consider the next time around, along with any other improvements we might discover. Thanks to everyone!
Voting Procedure for 2022 MGP Officer Elections
Mary Tyrtle Rooker · 11 minutes ago · Seen by 4 · Notified 16
Voting on this proposal will close on Tuesday, April 12, at 9:00 pm.
Our bylaws require that the CC approve our voting procedure for internal officer elections 60 days before the assembly. Because the assembly is June 12, we must approve these procedures by April 13. Below is a copy of the google doc created for discussion some weeks ago; it's a blend of the procedures we used in our last election and the new November 2021 bylaws amendment. No one made any edits to the original nor expressed concerns in our CC meetings or listserv, so it should be ready for a Loomio vote!
MGP Voting Procedure - 2022 Officer Elections
Voting Period
The voting period runs from May 22, 2022 at Noon until June 12, 2022 at Noon.
Eligibility (Bylaws 5.3-5.3.3)
In order for votes to be counted, voters must be registered voters in the state of Maryland affiliated with the Green Party.
Individuals who are unable to register to vote due to legal status may sign an internal MGP document that expresses their intention to be counted as MGP decision-making members. This includes persons who are not U.S. citizens, persons who are incarcerated, and persons under 18 years of age. Members must be at least 16 years old.
Membership Notification (Bylaws 5.2.4)
The CC shall ensure that the membership is notified of nominations, candidates, and elections. All registered greens and all green party locals must be notified of calls for nominations and elections. The MGP shall provide a forum for candidates to present their positions to the membership. The internal elections committee shall determine the timing and method of the communication with members, as well as the forum for candidates.
Voting Methods (Bylaws 5.2)
The selection of MGP officers, GPUS delegates, and GPUS Alternates and Presidential Nominating Committee Delegates shall be as specified below. Guiding Green principles and values are for voting methods that promote the fullest possible representation and inclusivity, such as multi-member seats, proportionality, and single transferable vote (STV), and for voting methods that avoid factionalism and domination.
Single-Member Seats. Ranked choice elections will be calculated using instant runoff voting (IRV) for single-seat elections with a Droop quota (ballots/(seats+1))+1. A candidate must pass the Droop quota in order to be elected.
Multi-Member Seats. Ranked choice elections will be calculated using Scottish Method single transferable vote (STV) using the Droop quota as a static threshold for multiple-seat elections. All candidates must pass the static threshold in order to be elected.
If a seat remains unfilled after the election, nominations shall immediately re-open for that position and remain open for 30 days. None of the candidates previously listed on the ballot shall be eligible to be nominated. A new election shall take place, following all the rules outlined in Article 5 of the MGP bylaws.
Ballot Requests: Electronic & Paper
1. Electronic: Ballots must be requested by contacting [email protected] or by submitting our Ballot Request form on our website. When making your request please provide your full name, your zipcode, and your date of birth. Ballots submitted without a request will be rejected.
2. Paper: Paper ballots are available by request from [email protected]. Requests are due by 05/28/2022 and ballots must be received by the time ballots are counted on 06/12/2022.
Balloting Systems
Secure electronic systems must be used. Paper ballots shall be made available to those requesting them.
Tabulation
Tabulation will be done by Opavote.
Announcement
Preliminary Announcement will be made by 7:00 PM 06/12/2022.
Disputes
Any dispute of the results must be filed by 7:00 PM on Wednesday 06/15/2022.
Dispute Resolution
Dispute resolution will be handled by the Meetings and Assemblies Committee and the Bylaws Review and Rules Committee within 7 days.
Authority
In accordance with Bylaws 5.2.7, an ad-hoc internal elections committee is responsible for recommending to the coordinating committee these procedures. The coordinating council must approve these election procedures at least 60 days in advance of any assembly, and these procedures must be posted prominently at least 50 days before any election.
The procedures the committee has authority over include times, dates, software method of requesting the ballot, ballot wording, and ballot design.
Anyone seeking an office should be recused from the committee.
OPAVOTE BALLOT EXAMPLE
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Approve | 91.7% | 11 |
|
||
|
|
Disapprove | 8.3% | 1 |
|
||
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||||
| Undecided | 0% | 3 |
|
12 of 15 people have participated (80%)
Nailah Dawkins Tue 5 Apr 2022 2:08AM
I agree with the procedure and to either request an electronic or mail ballot via email. Thank you.
Matt Hand Tue 5 Apr 2022 2:08AM
Sub-committees of the Maryland Green Party Coordinating Committee should not have the authority to resolve disputes in internal elections. That authority resides with the full democratic Assembly of Maryland Green Party members. What this process allows for is a small group of compromised individuals to override results of our election.
"Dispute Resolution
Dispute resolution will be handled by the Meetings and Assemblies Committee and the Bylaws Review and Rules Committee within 7 days."
Nancy Wallace (Maryland, Delegate) (they/them/theirs) Tue 5 Apr 2022 2:08AM
The CC and committee did a lot of work and the rules are good. Glad to see we are incorporating Lessons Learned into our procedures.
Timothy Willard, Maryland alternate Sat 9 Apr 2022 11:42AM
Thank you for writing this all out for us, Mary
Mary Tyrtle Rooker Sun 10 Apr 2022 12:43PM
Thank you, Matt, for sharing your concerns. I think it’s good for us to consider your change for the future. I wish you had raised it earlier so we’d have had time to possibly amend this proposal. For now, though, we have an April 13 bylaws deadline to approve these procedures. Given that they’re the same ones we’ve been using, I suggest we go with them for this round and take up this concern for the next time.
Mary Tyrtle Rooker Sun 10 Apr 2022 2:22PM
BTW, Loomio lists 10 people as "undecided"/not having voted yet, but only 8 images/icons show. This is because I just removed George Gluck and Katie Mays, who are no longer Loomio voting members.
LOL, nevermind; I see that Loomio just re-set itself to show the right number of voters.
Bill Barry Sun 10 Apr 2022 2:29PM
I did but I am more concerned with the fact that we have so few candidates running so all of these procedures are really irrelevant.I got a note back from Goege Gluck who says he wants to talk to me about his decision to run as a Dem
Mary Tyrtle Rooker · Tue 5 Apr 2022 1:57AM
Hi, Greens.
As I understand it, this Loomio proposal is not at all controversial, and people tend to vote on controversial stuff and ignore non-controversial proposals.
But please vote! We do need quorum for it to pass.
Bylaws require that the CC approve the officer election procedures by April 13.
Thanks, and happy easy voting!
Mary