[statecom-discuss] Apportionment of Delegates to National Committee
Yarden
yen.yarden at verizon.net
Mon Jan 22 18:23:06 EST 2007
From: Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com>
Below is the most recent version of the DAC proposal for the National
Committee. Some important changes have been made. But it is not clear
that everyone understands the concerns that have been expressed. Nor
is it clear that it is a result of improved scrutiny of the faults in
the initial versions.
I do not know whether there will be further changes. Voting begins on
February 5th. I believe that I, and some others on the NC, have done
the best that can be done without further education, and expect to vote
"Yes." If anyone has reservations, please let me know what they are.
Elie Yarden,
Cambridge
**********************************************************
Date: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:28:21 PM US/Eastern
To: national comm votes <natlcomvotes at green.gpus.org>, Delegate
Apportionment Comm <del-apportion at gp-us.org>
Subject: [usgp-nc] Final version of DAC proposal
The DAC has taken your suggestions into account and prepared a new
verson of
the proposal. It removes the permanent use of weighted voting/proxies
while
allowing states some time to transition to the new allotment. It
includes a
cap on delegation sizes. We believe it answers most of the questions
the
delegates have though I am sure that some will still not be happy. I
thank
all who have answered the survey and all who continue to look at the
proposal and make it better. I note that while some may not appreciate
it,
the CA delegation has worked hard to meet the rest of you in your
concerns.
I strongly recommend peole vote in favor of this proposal when it comes
up
for a vote in a couple of weeks.
I ask the Secretary to make sure this version replaces the previous
verison
of the voting page. Greg gerritt co chair DAC and gpri
PROPOSAL FROM THE GPUS DELEGATE APPORTIONMENT COMMITTEE TO THE NATIONAL
COMMITTEE OF THE GPUS
Updated Jan 22, 2007
Pursuant to GPUS proposal 175, which created the Delegate Apportionment
Committee (DAC), and proposal 208, which elected the DAC, the members
of the
DAC hereby forward to the National Committee of the GPUS the following
proposal as the results of our deliberations for your approval.
A new Delegate Apportionment Committee shall be elected in 2010 to
revisit
issues of proportionality in light of experience with this formula and
to
make a new proposal for delegate apportionment to the National
Committee in
2011.
ALLOCATION OF DELEGATES TO THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE GREEN PARTY
ARTICLE I. RECALCULATION – This apportionment will be recalculated
every two
years, in the odd numbered year following the national election year by
the
Apportionment Standing Committee (see Article VII). This committee shall
start meeting between election day in the even numbered year and the
following January 31, shall put out a call to state parties within two
weeks
requesting information necessary for the apportionment calculation, and
will
present the results of its recalculation to the National Committee by
the
end of the following May. The results of each apportionment
recalculation
must be accepted by the National Committee by a two thirds vote, and
shall
become effective at the conclusion of the vote.
ARTICLE II. DELEGATES AND VOTES – Each delegate seat counts for one
vote.
State parties may decide for themselves how any allowed proxy votes
should
be cast. Delegate votes may also be split, in denominations of half
votes,
in order to more accurately represent the opinions of each state’s
membership.
To ease the transition to the new apportionment, for a period of one
year
following the implementation of the new apportionment, extra votes will
be
allowed the following restrictions. Delegations which are unable to
fill all
their delegate seats may carry up to one extra vote per seated
delegate: 1)
a temporary vacancy due to a resignation, removal, illness, or death;
or 2)
the chair(s) or coordinator(s) of the delegation provide evidence to the
GPUS Secretary that a good faith effort was made to recruit delegates
that
directly reached a member pool at least 50 times greater than the
number of
unfilled seats. One extra vote will be allowed per 50 members directly
reached, up to the number of unfilled seats. Delegations may cast these
votes by consulting their constituent body or consulting a specific
delegate
whose proxy is held. Delegations with at least 4 voting members also
have
the option of casting the extra votes proportionally to the votes of the
delegation as a whole. After this one-year period, proxies will only be
allowed for in-person meetings.
Accredited caucuses will have one vote.
ARTICLE III. SIZE OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE – The National Committee
shall
consist of 200 ±2 delegates when all accredited state parties and
caucuses
are included. Should any new state party or caucus become accredited
after
an apportionment, the NC will be expanded by the number of delegates
allotted to the newly entering member party or caucus. The next
reapportionment will return the size of the NC to as close to 200 as the
mathematics of the formula allows, within ± 2.
ARTICLE IV. MINIMUM VOTE – All accredited state parties are entitled to
a
minimum of two votes and two delegates. However, a state party may
voluntarily choose to have fewer than two votes or delegates if having
two
is a burden, and the Green Party of the U.S. may offer special
assistance to
state parties who choose to have only one vote, including but not
limited
to: special consideration for support of candidates by the Coordinated
Campaign Committee, free bundles of the Green Pages newspaper and
discounts
or scholarships for delegates or observers attending national meetings.
ARTICLE V. PROPORTIONAL ALLOCATION METHOD – Each state party shall have
two
months from the Apportionment Committee’s call for information to
submit the
information needed to calculate their portion of seats. After receiving
necessary data from each state party, the Apportionment Standing
Committee
will determine the proportion of delegates allocated to each state party
using four measures of relative Green Party strength. These measures are
based on estimating each state party’s active contribution to the Green
Party in terms of campaign strength, in-state voting strength,
presidential
voting strength, and counts of people.
Within most of these categories, there are multiple methods of
determining
the strength of a state party relative to parties in other states. The
state
may choose which method in each category to use. If the state does not
choose, the Apportionment Standing Committee will use the method in each
category that gives each state party its highest possible score. The
final
score is given in terms of a percentage of the National Committee.
The formula for calculating the number of delegates allocated to a given
state party is as follows:
1. Using the choices of the state party, calculate the score in each of
the
four categories. Normalize each category so that the total percentage is
100%.
2. Add up these scores and divide by 4 to get an average score. This is
the
percentage of the delegation designated to the state.
3. If the percentage is less than the minimum percentage threshold of
delegates allocated to each state, then two delegates will be allocated
to
that state party. The minimum percentage threshold is
{2 /[200 - (number of accredited caucuses)]} x 100%.
4. If the percentage is greater than the minimum threshold, that is the
initial percentage of delegates allocated to the state party.
Once the initial percentages are calculated for all accredited parties,
these values must be normalized to assure that the total percent of
delegates equals 100%. The formula for normalizing the initial
percentages
is as follows:
5. Set all states with initial percentage scores below the minimum
threshold
value equal to the minimum threshold.
6. Add up the initial percentage scores of all states and divide each
state’s initial percentage by this total.
7. Repeat steps 5. and 6. until the total the total percentage of
delegates
allotted to all states (200 – number of accredited caucuses) equals
approximately 100% (will usually take 3 to 4 iterations),
The number of delegates allocated to each state is calculated by
multiplying
the normalized percentage of each state by [200 - (number of accredited
caucuses)] and rounding off to the nearest integer.
8. The total number of delegates allowed for a single state shall be
capped
at 21% of the target NC size (42 delegates).
9. The threshold for rounding may need to be adjusted in order to bring
the
total number of delegates within the range of ±2 of the target number.
ARTICLE VI. ALLOCATION MEASURES
The Apportionment Standing Committee will seek submissions of data from
state Green Party organizations according to the following criteria:
1. Membership
The number of Green Party members in the state party as close as
possible to
the date of the start of the work of the committee. (This will then be
calculated as a percentage of the total number of Green Party members
in the
United States.)
Green Party membership is defined as follows:
· In states where the Green Party can register voters, Green Party
membership is defined as the number of voters that are registered in the
Green Party. Green Party membership in these states may also include
those
who are ineligible to vote but are extended formal membership by the
state
party.
· In states without Green Party voter registration[1] <#_ftn1> ,
Green
Party membership is defined as the number of people who have filled the
qualifications for membership in that state party, have signed up to be
Green Party members, are included in the database of current members in
that
state party. Signers of ballot access petitions may be considered
members of
the Green Party if the signers willingly join the Green Party
simultaneously
or if signing the petition constitutes acceptance of membership in the
Green
Party according to state law. Calculations and email lists may not be
substituted for membership rolls.
Solely for the purposes of standardizing this apportionment measure
between
states, after voting in a primary of another political party, Green
Party
members should re-affirm their Green Party membership with their state
party. This may be handled on the honor system and does not require a
significant extra administrative burden for the state party. The state
party
is free to count its own membership however it wants for other purposes;
this restriction is solely for reporting this particular measure to the
Apportionment Committee in a manner that makes the numbers as
comparable as
possible.
If state legal action results in a state Green party having its members
legally invalidated, they may continue to use the same membership count
until the next apportionment cycle.
NOTE: For the purposes of #2, Campaign Strength, and #3, State Voting
Strength, “Green Party Office Holders” and “Green Party Candidates”
must be
Green Party members. They may not also be members of the Republican or
Democratic Party or running solely on another political party’s ballot
line.
For State Voting Strength, if a candidate is listed on more than one
party’s
ballot line, only the votes for the Green Party ballot line can be
counted.
2. Campaign Strength
A. The number of Green Party Office Holders in your state as a
percentage of
the total number of Green Party Office Holders in all affiliated state
parties. Green Party office holders are defined as members of the Green
Party who are elected to public office in elections (not including
internal
party offices such as central committees). If they were elected in an
election where less that 300 ballots were cast, they will count half.
B. The number of local and statewide Green Party Candidates that ran for
office in your state during the last four-year election cycle as a
percentage of the total number of local and statewide Green Party
Candidates
that ran for office in the U.S. in all affiliated state parties during
the
same period. Local or statewide Green Party Candidates are defined as
Green
Party members who run and appear on the ballot in public elections. If
they
ran in an election where fewer than 300 ballots were cast, they will
count
half.
C. The percentage of the total U.S. population that resides in your
state,
multiplied by 0.5. (This measure is designed to compensate for overly
restrictive ballot access laws in some states. If used here, population
may
not be used in #3 , State Voting Strength.)
3. State Voting Strength
A. The number of votes cast for Green Party Candidates in your state
during
the last four-year election cycle as a percentage of the total number of
votes cast for Green Party Candidates in the U.S during the same time.
B. The highest number of votes received by a single Green Party
Candidate in
your state during the last four-year election cycle as a percentage of
the
total number of Green Party votes received by the highest vote getter in
each state in the U.S. during the same time.
C. The highest vote percentage received by a Green Party candidate in
your
state during the last four years in a statewide partisan election for
Governor, Lt. Governor or U.S. Senate (or Mayor or Chair of the City
Council
for the District of Columbia) that is contested by both major political
parties, weighted against the same data from every affiliated state
Green
Party. Because this measure, unlike all the others, is a percentage of a
percentage, its effect shall be capped at a maximum of 2 extra
delegates.
D. The percentage of the total U.S. population that resides in your
state,
multiplied by 0.5. (This measure is designed to compensate for overly
restrictive ballot access laws in some states. If used here, population
may
not be used in #2 , Campaign Strength.)
4. Presidential Voting Strength
A. The number of votes cast for Green Party presidential nominee in your
state in the November 2000 general election as a percentage of the
number of
votes cast for the same candidate nationwide.
B. The number of votes cast for Green Party presidential nominee in your
state in the November 2004 general election as a percentage of the
number of
votes cast for the same candidate nationwide.
ARTICLE VII. RESOLUTION TO FORM AN APPORTIONMENT STANDING COMMITTEE
The GPUS hereby creates the Apportionment Standing Committee to make
decisions regarding the implementation of the above formula. This
committee
will consult with state parties on state party numbers and apply the
criteria stated in this proposal, as interpreted by the committee.
The structure of the Apportionment Standing Committee will be a
volunteer
committee following the structures and practices laid out in the GPUS
bylaws
and rules and procedures and consisting of up to 3 members per state.
Members of the committee must be Green Party members who have permission
from their state party to serve. State parties are required to vet
candidates for the knowledge and skill set needed for apportionment
calculations, including the necessary mathematical understanding and
spreadsheet skills.
The tasks laid out for the committee include the following:
1. Designing spreadsheets that perform the calculations of the formulas
described above for delegate apportionment.
2. Soliciting the state parties to send the relevant data so that
apportionment can be undertaken with the most complete data. (If a state
party does not submit numbers in a timely fashion, the committee is
empowered to use publicly available data or to allocate the delegate
minimum
to that state party until the next apportionment.)
3. Applying the criteria of this proposal to the data, plugging the most
accurate available numbers into the formula, and completing the
computations.
4. Developing a formal challenge process for data submitted by a state
party
or to the data entry or computational analysis, reviewing any such
challenges, and making the final decision regarding the numbers to be
used.
5. Reporting the results of apportionment to the NC in a timely fashion
and
presenting the proposal to approve the completed computations.
[1] <#_ftnref1> The DAC recommends that the GPUS create an official
roll of
Green Party members in states without Green Party registration over the
next
two years.
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