About
Some preliminary notes about the purpose of this plan:(1) This is a backup plan, a way to handle the nomination of our 2020 presidential and vice presidential candidates if it is not possible to hold the national convention. This plan would ONLY be used if the national convention does NOT take place. (2) This is NOT a proposal for an "electronic convention". Our bylaws do not allow for that. The LNC has no power to call or hold a convention in contravention of the bylaws, and no power to amend or suspend those bylaws. This plan would not attempt to address any of the functions of a national convention except the nomination of our national ticket. Everything else would be left to be handled some other way at some later time. (3) This plan assumes agreement that the LNC has the power to name our national ticket under the provision for "filling vacancies" (Article 14). There may be some who would quibble with the application of this power. This plan will not satisfy everybody. This plan is intended to provide a way forward for those members who agree that making use of that provision is the best option we have (absent a convention), and that making use of that provision is better than just sitting out the 2020 presidential election. (4) The purpose of this plan is to ensure that if that "vacancy" provision must be used, it is used in a way that complies as much as possible with the spirit of our bylaws and convention rules – by selecting as our nominees those candidates who would have been chosen by the delegates had they actually met in person. It attempts to incorporate the main features of our normal nominating process, without attempting to replicate every detail – because without an actual in-person convention enough things will be different anyway that those details simply are not important enough to be worth getting in the way of more important aspects of the process. (5) The goals of this plan are to: (a) Give us a result (nomination) that will be seen as legitimate by most members. (b) Help the LNC exercise their responsibility in a way that avoids factional breakdown. (c) Maintain respect for all of our major institutions, including the convention, the nominating process, and the LNC, so that we will still have a Party to continue our work when this crisis has passed. (6) This plan does not involve use of any new or exotic technologies – everything necessary can be done with widely available tools. This plan does not require spending any money - it can be implemented by volunteers using existing computer systems. This plan does not require any commitment to cancel or otherwise modify plans for an actual convention – everything necessary to implement it can be done in parallel with planning for a convention, and simply not used if the convention happens. THE PLANThis plan has two basic components: a nominating schedule and a delegate voting system.The basic outlines of the nomination schedule are constrained, at one end, by the need to allow our state affiliates to go throught their processes for selection of delegates/alternates and, at the other, by the need to have nominees in time for ballot access purposes. An example is provided below of a schedule that could work, but this is just an example, the details of which could be modified if better ideas come along. The basic idea of this example schedule is to complete all the necessary procedures during the month of May, with the most intense activity occuring at approximately the time when the convention would have been held. The proposed delegate voting system is intended to provide the following benefits, at minimum cost: (a) Similarity to the voting that would occur during a convention, allowing for participation of all delegates (and alternates to the degree that they are needed). (b) Simplicity, to provide for ease of participation, to avoid confusion about what is going on, and to allow the same system to be re-used for all stages of the process. (c) Transparency, to minimize the chances that any candidate, affiliate, or committee could somehow be gaming the system or otherwise unfairly be manipulating the outcome. THE VOTING SYSTEM1) State affiliates play their normal part in selecting delegates and alternates, and submit these lists on the normal schedule. All of these lists are posted publicly as well as combined into a voting database.2) The Credentials Committee examines the lists and receives any challenges that may come from affiliate parties and may disqualify names on the list, but should be careful to do so only for certain limited and easy-to-understand reasons (e.g., somebody clearly does not meet membership requirements, the same person appears on more than one affiliate list), and the reasons for any such disqualification is also posted publicly. 3) Affiliate parties may add alternates as necessary, up until 24 hours before the first formal vote, subject to the same provisions for review/posting. 4) Everyone in the combined list (delegates, alternates, disqualified individuals) receives a voting token (password) to be used in casting their votes electronically through a normal web browser (making it possible to vote using any desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or phone). 5) For each "ballot", the web interface provides a simple menu of candidates (plus NOTA). The meaning of the list would be slightly different for different ballots (see example schedule) but the procedure would be the same each time. The benefit of this is that participants will both have an easier time learning to use the system and more confidence in the results if the system does not change from ballot to ballot. 6) The starting and ending time for a ballot will be announced via all available channels (LP web site, Facebook groups, direct e-mail). Participants will be allowed a long enough time to vote that they can do it whether they are at home or elsewhere, but a short enough time to allow for more than one vote in a single day. For the purpose of the example schedule, a balloting time of four hours is assumed. 7) Votes are both automatically tallied (number of votes for each candidate) and publicly posted. Public posting of all the votes serves several purposes (a) it allows everybody to see that their own vote was recorded, (b) it allow anybody who wants to double-check the counts to do so, (c) it will quickly reveal various kinds of attempts to unfairly manipulate the system (thereby reducing the temptation to engage in such manipulation), (d) it will allow everyone to see if the disqualification of any group of delegates had any significant effect on the outcome (thereby discouraging the Credentials Committee from doing too much disqualification). 8) At the end of each ballot period the results are announced, again via all available channels. This would include at least the totals for each candidate, could also include subtotals by state, and would include a link to all publicly available data for anybody who wanted to look for errors. EXAMPLE SCHEDULEThe basic concept of this schedule is alternation of "presentations" and "ballots". It assumes that each ballot can be conducted in four hours. As noted above, every ballot would be conducted exactly the same way, other than the list of candidates. Presentations would occur between ballots, with different amounts of time allowed for them depending on their nature. In addition to the presentations explicitly mentioned, it is assumed that candidates will continue to communicate with / recruit supporters through e-mail, Facebook, etc. between the ballot periods.
Presidential nomination ballots would only be held as necessary until one candidate gets a majority. The LNC should commit to naming that person to "fill the vacancy". In case the final nomination ballot (between two candidates) fails to give either candidate a majority, the LNC should commit to naming one of those two. The number of vice presidential nomination ballots would depend on how many candidates are interested at that point. |