2023 Steering Committee Election Process

Pre-election Process

Eligibility to be a Candidate-To be nominated to the steering committee one must be a decision making member of the Baltimore City Green Party.

Making a Nomination -Nominations may be made by any decision-making member. They can be made at a meeting, on the Baltimore Green Party listserv or by mailing [email protected].  Members may self-nominate.

Nominations Time Period- Nominations open at the July 30th 2023 General membership meeting. Nominations close at the conclusion of the October 29th 2023 General Membership Meeting.

Voter Eligibility-To be eligible to vote, one must have fulfilled the membership requirements by 11:59 pm on 11/01/2023 

Election Facilitator-This internal election shall be run by a facilitator to be appointed by the Membership at its General Meeting on 7/30/2023.

Candidate Forum- A candidates  forum  shall be scheduled no later than 11/10/2023. This forum will be a facilitated  discussion between the membership and the SC Member nominees on the goals, vision, methods, etc. that each nominee has for the future of the Baltimore Green Party. Members may ask questions and provide comments and analysis. 

Role and responsibilities of the facilitator.

The election facilitator appointed at the July membership meetings should meet the following criteria:

1)Is not running in the steering committee election. 

2)Have a strong understanding of the voting methods used in the election.

3)Available throughout the election process

They will be responsible to:

  • Determine all eligible voters on 11/01/2023 and provide the list to any SC nominee who requests it.
  • Seek out a secure, online voting method, such as Opavote. Provide clear instructions to the members on how to request a ballot and  vote by 11/7/2023
  • Determine the results of the election and announce the results in a timely manner.
  • Maintain a record of official decisions. Announce any official meeting, which shall be open to any BGP Member. Record official meetings.
  • Resolve any issues brought forward by BGP members or the nominees.
  • facilitate the candidate forum

The Election Process

Part 1: Each member votes Yea or Nay on each nominee by secret ballot. A nominee must receive 50% + 1 of the Yea/Nay total to proceed to Part 2. Part 1 voting shall be  Open From 8:00 AM 11/12/2023 to 8:00 PM 11/19/2023

If there are 7 or fewer nominees remaining after Part 1, then Part 2 becomes unnecessary. The remaining nominees become the new S.C. Members.

Part  2. Utilizing an STV Scottish Method, the facilitator shall conduct a vote on the approved SC nominees. Decision-making Members will rank the approved nominees. 

Part 2 voting if necessary will be Open From 8:00 AM 11/26/2023 to 8:00 PM 12/3/2023

Vote Tabulation. Votes must be tabulated according to the rules in #7. The facilitator should review the tabulation to ensure accuracy. Full opavote results should be shared with the decision making members. 

Official Results. At the conclusion of the vote tabulation, the facilitator shall review the results and share them with the decision making membership 

Disputes. Once the official results are announced by the facilitator a SC nominee has up to 48 hours to submit a dispute of the results. The dispute must be submitted in writing and explain the reason for the dispute, providing any and all evidence for the claims. Once a dispute is submitted, the facilitator and the Steering Committee will have 48 hours to respond. The Steering Committee will issue a finding that will be final.

Vacancies: If after this process, there remain vacancies on the Steering Committee, new nominations may be taken and voted upon beginning in January using the  process above. If, after this process, there remain vacancies on the Steering Committee, the vacancies shall remain until one year later, when this process may be repeated.