Final report of the Presidential Campaign Working Group (PCWG) 2016 election cycle. 

Jan 7, 2017

Background:  The PCWG was given the tasks of:

1)    investigating candidates for the Massachusetts primary ballot, and making a recommendation to the co-chairs in a manner timely with the deadlines set by the state for submitting ballot information.   In addition we made information available on the GRP website for GRP voters.  (http://www.green-rainbow.org/2016_presidential_ballot_order_)

2)    Recruiting and coordinating convention delegates for the GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention (PNC), and facilitating the necessary paperwork and financial aid for the GPUS PNC, meeting related deadlines for State committee approval when needed.

3)    Recruiting and coordinating electors, and facilitating the necessary paperwork with the state regarding electors, meeting related deadlines for State committee approval when needed.

More details about the assigned tasks are in these documents from the June 2015 State committee meeting.

Presidential Election Plan (PEP)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jm4BrPYkyiUa-11-Rlb9ZkKW25c476v4b0DWYsQnaCk/edit

Delegate Selection Plan (DSP)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xkDTrejDzh4IRyXCnHgyvHmGdqFj1i0UZVEkPLe3XBw/edit?usp=sharing

1) Challenges on accomplishing the ballot task

It was challenging for candidates to know who the authentic contacts were for the different states.  Each of state has different rules for assigning delegates, which change often when the state party’s status changes from official party to “political designation”.  We had to do the outreach to campaigns to be sure we were fairly considering all possible nominees.

It was also difficult for the PCWG to know who the candidates were.  We started with the broadest possible list based on FEC filings and internet searching, and endeavored to whittle that list down to include only serious candidates.  In the end we were a bit more generous than the GPUS[1] in allowing candidates on the ballot, one big reason was that our deadline was earlier than the GPUS’ deadline.  We opted to be more inclusive than the GPUS was at deadline time.  We included a total of 5 candidates for the Ma. primary ballot.  We kept a spreadsheet to organize the information on all the candidates (appendix A).

2) Recommendations:

We do not live in an ideal world, especially when it comes to our election system and the state of our infrastructure within the GPUS and GRP.  That said, we have a list of recommendations, the first set regarding candidates, the other set regarding supporting nominees after the PNC.

1) Ask the GP US to create a clearing house for State Party contacts for Presidential Campaigns.

2) Ask the GP US to create a clearing house for declared of candidates.

3) The Green-Rainbow Party should determine if possible contact information for people that frequently vote in the primary to communicate the choices.

4) The GRP and GP US should strive to create a pool of "interviewers" and video editors

5) The GRP and GP US should strive to create alternative communication venues for short video messages.

6) GRP candidates should be encouraged to declare conditions in which they would request recounts for example variance with polls or the popular vote.

7) Candidates, Steering Committee, and National Committee should be discouraged from questioning a candidate’s tactics and motives.

References:

United States, General Elections, 8 November: Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions [http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/usa/280331]

Appendix A:  Information collected (attempted) for all candidates