{news} minutes of 3/21/05 internal elections conference call

[edubrule]

Minutes of 3/21/05 internal elections conference call (7:30-8:50pm)

 

Participating:  Jean de Smet, Judy Herkimer, Ed DuBrule.

 

All members of the internal elections listserve were invited to join this conference call by a post to that listserve on March 16.  All Greens were invited to join this conference call by a post to the News listserve on March 16.  Participation in the conference call required paying for a toll call to Iowa;  cheaper alternatives should be investigated.

 

Karin Norton is a candidate for alternate to the US Green Party representative.  (She does not want to run for USGP rep, just for alternate).

 

Candidates so far are:

*co-chair:  Aaron Gustafson, Kelly McCarthy, Mike DeRosa

*treasurer:  Bob Eaton

*secretary:  Barbara Barry DeRosa

*US Green Party reps:  Tim McKee, Tom Sevigny

*US Green Party rep alternate:  Karin Norton

 

There are exactly as many candidates as there are positions;  there are no contested positions.

 

During this call we decided that we will announce a deadline of Friday April 8, 5pm for people to declare candidacies.  Ed will put the list of candidates (including Karin) and this deadline on the News listserve;  the deadline will be announced at the March SCC meeting and in the minutes of that meeting.  Unlike an earlier deadline we announced, this is an absolute deadline which will not be extended.

 

The bylaws paragraph concerning elections is appended to these minutes.  Although the bylaws do not require the election of officers other than co-chairs, tonight we decided that we will propose to the SCC that all officers be elected, as in past internal elections.  We believe that election of officers other than co-chairs is consistent with the bylaws.  The elections will be done (as in past years) at an annual meeting.

 

Judy pointed out that the bylaws contain the sentence "The Bylaws were amended in 2000 to add a third Co-Chair". 

 

During this call we decided that we will propose to the March SCC meeting that we NOT do any mailing associated with this year's internal elections.  This decision is based on the assumption that this will be an election in which there are uncontested seats.  We will ask for guidance from the March SCC meeting on the question of doing a mailing (or not) if additional person(s) declare candidacies.

 

Reasons for NOT doing a mailing if there are no contested positions include:

**the low amount of money in the CTGP's checking account.

**apparent disinterest among CTGP members in the idea of doing a mailing--weeks ago the secretary sent lists of registered Greens to each of the chapters with the request that chapters return to him address changes and additional members (per the bylaws definition of the term "CTGP member") in preparation for the internal elections;  only one of the chapters has responded (and that response was incomplete).

**inability of the secretary to find time to do further work on the lists (add missing zip codes, determine why dozens of names weren't included in the lists sent to the chapters).

 

The internal elections committee will mail a ballot to CTGP members (per the bylaws definition of "CTGP member")  who request that a ballot be mailed.  This mailing will also include candidate biographies and information about the time/place of the annual meeting.  One person will be designated to receive such requests and mail out the ballots.

 

The time/place of the annual meeting must be publicized.  Posts on the internal elections listserve have raised such ideas as putting notice(s) in newspapers, putting notices in town papers, and "phone banking".  Tonight we leaned against the idea of putting a notice in the Hartford Courant (probably too expensive, though we didn't have the figures at hand--the cost per column inch is in a post in the internal elections listserve archives).  We also felt that if the annual meeting were held in New Haven, New Haven area newspapers might print notice of the meeting for free (in the "local events" section) but that few if any newspapers elsewhere in the state would print such a notice for free.  We will, of course, announce the date of the annual meeting on the News listserve and ask that it be placed on chapters' listserves.  We will put it on the CTGP website.  In addition, we will strongly recommend that chapters make efforts to call chapter members to invite them to the annual meeting.  Such a phone call could also inform chapter members of the date of an upcoming rally, an upcoming chapter meeting, etc.  The idea of  making calls to those who have donated recently to the CTGP was also raised.

 

We will accept nominations from the floor during the annual meeting.  We will arrange a forum during the annual meeting during which the candidates (even if unopposed) can speak and answer questions.  (Technically, all candidates are opposed by "none of the above" on the ballot, and also by the write-in space on the ballot.)

 

We will write a proposal to be presented to the March SCC meeting.  We will ask, at the beginning of the meeting, that our proposal be added to the agenda.  Jean will be at the March SCC meeting and will present the proposal.  The proposal will include the ideas in these minutes and will include the following:

--the need to request a hall rental fee for the annual meeting ($75?)

--the need to request an appropriation for postage and printing costs associated with the printing of ballots for the annual meeting and the mailing of ballots to those who request one.  [Added by minutes-taker;  not discussed in conference call.]

 

We discussed possible dates for the annual meeting:

**Sunday April 17

**Saturday April 23

We note that Sunday April 24 is Passover.  We need to find out more about this--we believe that the Passover celebration begins Saturday evening.  The time of the annual meeting will be 10am-2pm with a potluck lunch.  Earth Day is April 22;  perhaps a tie-in with the annual meeting could be made.

 

Other than the balloting and candidate presentations, the events at the annual meeting are not the responsibility of the internal elections committee.  We believe that in the past the Executive Committee has taken responsibility for speaker(s) at the annual meeting.  In our report to the March SCC meeting we should ask that people step forward to help plan such speaker(s).  Ideas for speakers/events at the annual meeting that we have learned of have included:

*Bill C. Davis, the playwright who will be a green candidate in 2005, could be asked (has offered?) to write a mini-play ("green dialogue") for presentation at the annual meeting.

*presentation by those who have been participating in the 2005/2006 elections strategy sessions

*Tony Affigne of Rhode Iland Green Party

 

Speakers (at least those from out of state?) could be offered gas money and perhaps a small honorarium.  These expenses should be included in a budget request from the SCC.

 

Who will moderate the annual meeting?

 

Details of counting the ballots and running the election needed to be investigated.  Last year Chris Reilly brought a laptop to the annual meeting with a balloting program in it.  We believe that this balloting program is from www.fairvote.org/pr and is a program for electing people based on proportional representation.  We don't think this is the same as instant runoff voting.



The bylaws (see appendix below) call for electing the co-chairs at the state party convention "by an absolute majority vote of the members, as established if necessary by successive preferential voting."  We are equating the "state party convention" with the annual meeting.  We need to figure out what these bylaws provisions mean:

*would use of the laptop voting program be inconsistent with the bylaws?

*do the bylaws require (or permit) a ballot-counting procedure which is be simple enough that use of a laptop would not be required?

*how will votes for "none of the above", write-ins, and lack-of-votes-for-a-given-office on a ballot be handled?

*what exactly does the requirement for an "absolute majority vote of members" mean?

 

Who on the internal elections committee (or in the Connecticut Green Party) has the time/interest to look into these questions and/or to carry out the vote-counting at the annual meeting?  Judy said she might be interested (though she does not have a laptop for use at this meeting).  Should we have a "dry run" (practice session) which tests various possible voting outcomes?

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Appendix.  Bylaws.



I've taken the bylaws paragraph on selecting officers and broken it up into parts (a),(b),(c),and (d).



Election/Appointment of Officials



     (a) In the initial organization of the Party under the Bylaws enacted by the State Central Committee, the Co-Chairpersons shall be elected by a majority vote of the State Central Committee, and shall hold office for one year or until the following State Party convention, whichever occurs first.

     

     (b) At and following that Convention, Party Co-Chairpersons shall be elected by an absolute majority vote of the members, as established if necessary by successive preferential voting.

          

     (c) Other offices shall be filled by volunteers approved by the State Central Committee, and/or by appointment of individuals proposed by responsible members and approved by the State Central Committee.

     

     (d) All offices shall be for a term of one year from the time of election or appointment.
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