Maryland Green Party 2018 Assembly Voting Procedure
To Comply with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Maryland Green Party
A. Officer Nomination Process
1A. Timeline. Nomination forms must be submitted to the Coordinating Council (C.C.) no later than one month prior to the starting date of the Assembly. Nominations that fail to meet this deadline may qualify for write-in status.
2A. Qualifications. Candidates must be at least 16 years of age and registered Green in the State of Maryland.
3A. Nominations. To be nominated as a candidate on the Assembly ballot for party officer elections, the candidate must be nominated by another registered Green. Alternatively, a candidate may self-nominate, with the support of at least one other registered Green.
4A. Elections. Officers will be elected, as specified by our bylaws, through “proportional or preference balloting.” Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff Voting will be used to comply with the bylaws. All registered Greens in the State of Maryland may vote in officer elections.
5A. Absentee Ballots. For registered Greens unable to attend the Assembly, an opportunity to vote in officer elections will be provided to them no later than three weeks prior to the starting date of the Assembly. These absentee ballots may come in the form of either an online ballot, a mailed ballot, or a ballot administered by local chapters. The security of all options will be evaluated by the C.C. to determine which will be used for the Assembly. An effort will be made to include Greens abroad.
B. Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws
1B. Timeline. Proposals will be submitted utilizing the same timeline established in section 1A. Proposals must include the article and section to be added, edited, or removed. There will be no write-in proposals and no proposals taken from the floor to amend the bylaws.
2B. Content. Proposals to amend the bylaws will primarily be oriented around, but are not limited to, Maryland Green Party administration, elections, membership, operations, organization, rules of order, standing committees, and voting.
3B. Submissions. Proposals must be endorsed by at least one local chapter or caucus in order to be included on the Assembly ballot. Alternatively and excluding Articles 2, 5, and 14 of the bylaws, the C.C. may decide with 3/4 support to temporarily amend the bylaws. All temporary amendments must be approved by the Assembly to be made permanent.
4B. Elections. Proposals must have 2/3 support from the Assembly to be approved.
5B. Absentee Ballots. The process established by section 5A will also be used for amendment proposals.
C. Assembly Voters
1C. Eligibility. Voters must be at least 16 years of age and registered Green in the State of Maryland.
2C. Registration. Voters will be able to participate in same day, on site voter registration at the Assembly.
3C. Verification. All Assembly voters will have their party affiliation checked upon registration.
D. New Officer Positions
1D. Power-sharing. Singular officer positions established by the bylaws, such as treasurer, may be divided into co-chair or co-coordinator positions through a consensus based decision on the Assembly floor.
2D. New Positions. Officer positions not mentioned in the bylaws, such as a social media coordinator or accessibility coordinator, may be adopted on a temporary basis through a consensus based decision on the Assembly floor. Temporary officers are not afforded a vote on the C.C. To make the position permanent, a proposal may be put forward to establish the position. Alternatively 3/4 of the C.C. may choose to give temporary officers voting power on the C.C. through a temporary amendment. To make a temporary amendment permanent, a proposal will have to be made at the following Assembly.
E. Green National Committee (GNC)
1E. Procedure. The process established in section A to elect party officers will be applied in the election of Delegates to the GNC.
2E. Alternates. For each Delegate there is an Alternate Delegate. In the past, the losing candidates for Delegate effectively were elected as Alternate Delegate. This practice shall continue to fill vacant Alternate Delegate seats, in which no candidates were nominated specifically for the Alternate Delegate position.