Establishing a Pre-Set GPUS National Committee Voting Schedule for Delegates and Alternate Delegates

Author: Mary Rooker

BACKGROUND

Maryland's 3 Delegates to the national Green Party (GPUS) National Committee (NC) have often missed NC votes for over a year. Alternate Delegates have often been scrambling at the last few hours of voting to try to ascertain whether they should vote or if a full Delegate or another alternate is planning to vote.

This policy sets a simple procedure to bypass that uncertainty and increase the likelihood that Maryland will have the fullest voting representation on the GPUS-NC. We have not had that for some years now:

1. Of the 14 NC votes so far in 2022, all 3 MD Delegates voted on only 1 of the 14; 2 MD Delegates voted on 2 of the 14; only 1 MD Delegate voted in 12 of the 14; and none voted in 2. (Source: MGP's GPUS-National Committee Votes tracking spreadsheet and GPUS website's National Committee Index.)

2. A recent uncontroversial NC vote (#1085 Election Tabulation Committee), failed due to lack of quorum. Only one of the MGP's 3 delegates voted.

3. Many important NC votes are expected this year, because we will be voting on the more than 20 proposed amendments to the national Green Party's platform.

4. Even the best delegates can have unexpected life events that make it difficult to vote on time or to keep track of NC activity. With all the platform amendments being considered in batches of 4 or 5, the NC will likely have a busier than usual voting schedule.

5. Many similar problems occurred in the last half of 2021 and before.

PROPOSAL

Most GPUS National Committee votes are preceded by a 2- to 4-week discussion period, followed by a week of voting. Delegates shall have 5 of the 7 days to vote. If any have not voted with 48 hours remaining to vote, the following schedule for Alternate Delegates to vote shall take effect, with alternates ranked by the order in which candidate received the most votes in the MGP-CC Officer election. Given our July 13-20 elections, this would mean the following alternate delegate vote ranking:

• Alternate #1 is Nancy Wallace.

• Alternate #2 is Charlotte McBrearty.

• Alternate #3 is Justin Sindall.

SCHEDULE

Days 1-5 of voting: only full voting GPUS National Committee (NC) Delegates vote.

Days 6 and 7 of voting: Delegates who have not voted forfeit the right to vote. Alternates may begin voting according to the following schedule.

• If none of the three Delegates has voted with 48 hours remaining to vote, with all 3 of Maryland’s 3 votes remaining,

  --> Day 6, 3:00 a.m. to Day 7, 3:00 a.m.:  all three alternate delegates may vote.

• If one of the three Delegates has voted with 48 hours remaining to vote, with 2 of Maryland's 3 votes remaining,

  --> Day 6 from 3:00 a.m. – Day 7 at Noon: Alternates #1 and #2 may vote.

  --> Day 7 at Noon – Day 7 at 3:00 a.m.: Alternate #3 may vote.

• If two of the three Delegates have voted with 48 hours remaining to vote, with 1 of Maryland's 3 votes remaining,

  --> Day 6 from 3:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m.: Alternate #1 may vote.

  --> Day 7 from 3:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.: Alternate #2 may vote.

  --> Day 7 from 8:00 pm - 3:00 a.m.: Alternate #3 may vote.