Baltimore City Green Party
2019-2020 Nomination Process

The Baltimore Green Party will use the following procedure to determine its nominees for the July 2020 Primary for offices that pertain to the Baltimore jurisdiction:

Mayor
Comptroller
President of the City Council
Member of the City Council

All candidates seeking the nomination of the Baltimore City Green Party must file a Declaration of Intent with the Maryland State Board of Elections, as required by state law. The deadline for filing the Declaration of Intent to participate in the party Primary is July 6, 2020. Candidates must have a Green Party voter registration by the time of the filing of the Declaration of Intent.

All candidates who wish to appear on the primary ballot must notify the Steering Committee of the Baltimore City Green Party (BGP Steering Committee or S.C.) of their intent to run by emailing [email protected].

Each prospective candidate must participate in a BGP Membership Meeting and provide information about themselves and their campaign. Candidates will complete and submit in advance a survey posted on the BGP website based on how they intend to apply the Green Party's 10 Key Values (see Appendix A) to their campaign and, if elected, their term in office. Prospective candidates should also plan to answer additional questions on policy, values, campaigning, and other topics in an open forum format at the Membership Meeting. Candidates are strongly encouraged to present a plan for how they will run their campaign, including specific goals for the campaign, initial fundraising and field plans, and projected volunteer base.

The membership will vote by secret ballot on all candidates seeking to appear on the July Primary ballot (see alternate method a candidate can get on the Primary ballot below) at a Membership Meeting prior to the July 2020 Primary. Members not present at a given Meeting will have the opportunity to vote that day via Loomio (the vote on Loomio will remain open for 24 hours and will by necessity not be anonymous). No proxy voting will be allowed.

Alternatively, a prospective candidate may appear on the primary ballot by collecting signatures and a current preferred contact method (phone number or email) of currently registered Greens in their district equal to or greater than the number of current BGP members as of the last day of the month prior to submission (this number will be provided upon request by the Co-Chair or Membership Coordinator of the BGP Steering Committee). If there are fewer registered Greens in a given district than current BGP members, the prospective candidate will collect signatures from a simple majority of the total registered Greens in that district. The signatures must be collected on a form designated by the BGP Steering Committee and delivered to a member of the Steering Committee at least four full weeks prior to the July Primary. The delivery must take place in person or by mail with a scanned version sent to [email protected]. Prospective candidates seeking to place their name on the July Primary ballot must still come before a meeting of the membership and complete the publicly posted survey, but in this case the membership will not hold a vote. During the four weeks prior to the July Primary (and until the Board of Elections filing deadline), the signature gathering method will be closed.

If a prospective candidate loses a vote of the BGP membership, they may still attempt to place their name on the primary ballot via the signature gathering process if they submit the signatures within the time frame described above.

Candidates who appeared on the primary ballot for the Democrat or Republican Parties in 2020 may not appear on the BGP Primary ballot.

Per Maryland state law, the Maryland Green Party Coordinating Committee is the ultimate body that forwards to the MD Board of Elections the final Certificate of Nomination of candidates who will appear in the General Election to the Board of Elections, and under circumstances when evidence exists of egregious violations of Key Values by a prospective candidate, may choose not to forward a Certificate for that candidate.

The S.C. will appoint a Primary Committee, which will conduct a Green Party “Primary” for all candidates on the ballot. The Primary Committee will endeavor to notify all registered Greens (see Appendix D) in Baltimore City of the primary. The Primary Committee will set a date in July of 2020 and conduct an election whereby the registered Greens of that district shall vote and ultimately decide from among the candidates who shall be the official Green Party nominees for those ballot lines. A “None of the Above” option shall be included and recognized. If “None of the Above” wins, or if there is no candidate for a position, a vacancy shall remain for that particular ballot line. The membership will have the option to fill the vacancy with a brand new candidate up until the Board of Elections deadline, but cannot appoint the candidate who previously appeared for that position on the primary ballot.

Any questions regarding this process will be determined and answered by the BGP Steering Committee.

Appendix

A.) 10 Key Values. http://www.gp.org/ten_key_values_2016

Ten Key Values

1. Grassroots Democracy
   All human beings must be allowed a say in decisions that affect their lives; no one should be subject to the will of another. We work to improve public participation in every aspect of government and seek to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We also work to create new types of political organizations that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in decision-making.

2. Social Justice And Equal Opportunity
   As a matter of right, all persons must have the opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, any discrimination by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, religion, or physical or mental ability that denies fair treatment and equal justice under the law.

3. Ecological Wisdom
   Human societies must function with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society that utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture that replenishes the soil, move to an energy-efficient economy, and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.

4. Non-Violence
   It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society's current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in danger. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.

5. Decentralization
   Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. We seek a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system controlled by and mostly benefiting the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, while assuring that civil rights are protected for all.

6. Community-Based Economics
   We support redesigning our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy. We support developing new economic activities and institutions that allow us to use technology in ways that are humane, freeing, ecological, and responsive and accountable to communities. We support establishing a form of basic economic security open to all. We call for moving beyond the narrow 'job ethic' to new definitions of 'work,' 'jobs' and 'income' in a cooperative and democratic economy. We support restructuring our patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy – those who take responsibility for parenting, housekeeping, home gardens, community volunteer work, and the like. We support restricting the size and concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation.

7. Feminism And Gender Equity
   We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as gender equity, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We recognize that the processes for determining our decisions and actions are just as important as achieving the outcomes we want.

8. Respect For Diversity
   We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across the human spectrum. We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We encourage respect for all life forms, and increased attention to the preservation of biodiversity.

9. Personal And Global Responsibility
   We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal wellbeing and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.

10. Future Focus And Sustainability
    Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or 'unmaking' all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions. We must make the quality of all lives, rather than open-ended economic growth, the focus of future thinking and policy.

Baltimore Green Party “decision-making” members.

From the bylaws of the Baltimore City Green Party.

ARTICLE III. STRUCTURE
Membership
A.) Requirements

1. The Baltimore City Green Party is an individual membership organization, open to all Baltimore City residents, who meet the criteria below and who subscribe to the 10 Key Values of the Green Party, as stated in section 2.1.

2. Any Baltimore City resident who meets the criteria below may become a Decision-Making Member of the BGP Local.

3. Dues. Decision-Making Members must make a yearly or monthly payment of dues. All decision-making members shall pay dues that they can reasonably afford, or find a sponsor to cover their dues.

a.) All BGP Decision-Making Members shall pay at least $12 per year ($1/month) in dues. See the appendix for the suggested sliding scale.
b.) Any changes to dues shall be determined by a vote of the decision-making member at BGP General Membership meeting. The dues requirements will be displayed on the party's website.
c.) Membership dues are waived for all who meet criteria in section 4c.)

1. Party Affiliation. Decision-Making Members must affiliate with the Green Party.

In the presence of a Green Party ballot line, Decision-Making Members must register to vote as a Green Party member.
In the absence of a Green Party ballot line, Decision-Making Members must register as “Other: Green Party” or “Unaffiliated.”
For individuals who are unable to register to vote due to age or legal status, they may sign an internal BGP document that expresses their intention to be counted as BGP Decision-Making Members. Members must be at least 16 years old.

This “decision-making” membership applies only to the BGP. A member of the BGP is a member of the Maryland Green Party.

Registered Greens.

In the event that a “primary” is called for, the voters eligible to vote in this “primary” shall include all registered voters of the district in question who have affiliated with the Green Party. This list of voters is larger than the subset of “Decision-Making Members” referenced in Appendix C.

In addition, the BGP shall include in its voting electorate all residents of the district, at least 16 years old, who are not legally eligible to register to vote, but who have signed an internal BGP document expressing their desire to be considered a Green Party member. This policy allows non-citizens to become members of the BGP and participate in our internal decision-making.