At January's Central Committee Meeting we got to see the Rules for the upcoming Officer Election,
Proposed Rules that is the Body still has final say, despite the confusion of some about what part of the Central Committee makes decisions.
Here they are
ELECTION PROCEDURES -NOMINATIONS/ELECTION
2/17/2015
1) PROCESS/PROCEDURES
a) Voting will be by secret ballot.
b) One vote per eligible voter per ballot.
c) No ballots shall leave the voting floor.
d) Must be present to vote - no proxies.
e) The winner will be by simple majority.
f) All results are final.
g) Candidates may observe the vote count.
h) Nominations require a second and will be accepted at the February meeting.
i) Candidates shall have two minutes to speak at the February meeting.
j) There will be no questioning of candidates from the floor.
k) Elections will be in the following order:
i) Chair
ii) Co-Chair
iii) Secretary
iv) Treasurer
2) WHO CAN VOTE
a) Precinct representatives and assistant representatives must check in with the credentials team.
b) Credentialed Precinct representatives and credentialed assistant representatives may vote.
c) Assistant representatives may vote only if Precinct representatives are not present.
i) If more assistant representatives are present than positions to be filled, seating shall be determined by first arrival.
d) Credentialing cuts off when all in line are credentialed.
e) Precinct representatives and assistant representatives will be notified by USPS, postmarked 10 days prior to the election.
f) Notice of the election will be posted on the Webpage, Face Book Group invite, and sent out via Mail Chimp.
Part of me wonders why we don't have these things all mapped out.
I mean Central Committees have been having Officer Elections for how many years?
Then I realise just reinventing the wheel would not be that bad if it were not for those who come up with clever ideas like--
Wouldn't the Wheel be more stable if it was SQUARE?
That is what I think of when I see something like
"i) If more assistant representatives are present than positions to be filled, seating shall be determined by first arrival"
Like every organization that I can think of the Central Committee has ranked Seniority by time of joining the Central Committee.
Recently we have included that info on the Form As at our Caucuses.
That is how we have been credentialing people for our meetings.
But now we have some proposed Rules that treat this Election like it was a Sale at Walmart.
The credentials will be given to whoever showed up and got in line first??
I can see someone who has been coming to meetings for decades, working in the Committee and participating over the years voting for the Rules and then being pushed aside for the Election because someone who just joined recently showed up first.
Another item that pops out is
"i) Candidates shall have two minutes to speak at the February meeting.
j) There will be no questioning of candidates from the floor. "
Now That HAS been how it has been done in the past.
But that was back when we announced the Election in Janurary. held Nominations in Febuary and held the Election in March,
The idea was everyone had a whole month to know who the nominees were and to ask them questions,
So they did not need a whole lot of time to talk and there was no need for questions from the floor.
Having the Nominations and Elections at the same time throws that out the window.
As for myself the ONE question I would ask if that was all I could would be.
What is your opinion of this portion of the Linn County Constitution?
"The Executive Committee is subject to the orders of the Linn County Central Committee,
and none of its acts shall conflict with actions of the Linn County Central Committee. "
I don't know what others may think but I think that would be an important thing to ask someone runniing for an Eecutive Committee Office.
I have noticed in some an attitude that Constitutions, ByLaws and Rules of Order
Get in the way of what they want to do and should be disposed of for the sake of efficiency,
And having the meetings end at 8:30 PM
So next Febuary we will choose our rules
I hope we choose to keep it simple.
Credential the way we always have and give the Body a Month between Nominations and Election to maximise an informed decsion.
Updated: Friday, 23 January 2015 2:26 AM CST
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