Brainshrub.com - US Green Party Convention 2007

How the Green Party counts votes for internal offices

Kai Schwandes — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:25:52 -0400

I sat on the Steering Committee Election Tabulation Committee (SCETC) for the 2007 National Green Party Convention - and I'd like to share the process by which we secure and count votes for internal positions.

Eight candidates ran for the Steering Committee, which had four seats open, and people ran for Secretary. (There were also several write-ins.)

After the Ballots where cast, they were escorted by five committee members, and four observers, to the tabulation room.

The committee split into two groups of two, with one floater who was called in occasionally to help decide questionable votes. Each team had up to 4 observers.

The votes were divided into two piles, and each team took turns tallying them and recorded the results.

Both master lists were compared to ensure they were identical; if discrepancies occurred the SCETC would retrieve the ballot which had been numbered and check the correct answer.

Finally, the votes were uploaded into a specially designed software for tabulations. (We Greens use a Single transferable vote system for these kinds of elections. It's complicated math and would take too long to be done by hand.)

The original ballots and master list where copied and the original and the copy each respectively sealed.

One ballot was so badly marked that it was near impossible to decide the intent, so two observers were sent to the plenary session to track down the voter. (The election was open, so each ballot had the name of the delegate on it.)

The ballot belonged to a delegate that had cast it as a proxy, so the delegate could not be found. But since the name of the delegate for whom it was cast was also on the ballot the SCETC ask the two observers to find a person that had the phone number of the delegate whose proxy it was. A delegate was found and the person was called and clearly identified the intent so even this ballot was counted.

It would be nice if in a much more important election like President of the USA the responsible parties would undertake the same effort to ensure that every vote counts

Ralph Nader Press Conference. (live-blog)

Paul -V- — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:45:29 -0400

Welcome Redditors, DUers and Kossacks.

04:45 PM EST: Ralph Nader (RN) is giving a press conference in about 30 minutes, post a question in this thread, no matter how tough, and as long as it's respectful I'll ask both them.

Carl Romanelli (CR) will also be talking questions. (The guy who accepted Republican Santorum's money to run against Democrat Bob Casey Jr.)

I'm literally in the front row.

I'll update this post every five minutes or so. Hit refresh for the updates.

When the press conference starts, I'll start asking the questions, and posting his reply.

05:08 PM EST: Conference just started. Marakay Rodgers, who ran for governor last term, is be MCing and doing the intro.

05:15 PM EST: Paul Huckleberry said some words - about the Green Party being able to out-organize the Democrats.

05:17 PM EST: Now Paul Titus is saying some words about how Democrats unfairly challenged his petitions for ballot access, thus making him to have a costly fight.

05:20 PM EST: Carl Romanelli (CR) is being introduced.

05:24 PM EST: Says the Green Party said e was forced to used paid petitioner's during his Senate run because of restrictive ballot access laws ... he says there was nothing wrong with that.

05:26 PM EST: Someone just installed new light for the room. It's an improvement - but why didn't they do this BEFORE Romanelli's speech? Kinda distracting.

05:27 PM EST: Says the petitions were done with integrity, but the judge didn't even look at them. He was unfairly left off the ballot. He says he wants to report the judge for partisan behavior.

05:29 PM EST: Romanelli seems to be going on longer than allotted time - the organizers are giving signals but he keeps talking. They keep prompting off-camera.

05:32 PM EST: Bruce Afron, Naders one of Nader's attorneys is talking about how major parties conspire to keep people off the ballot.

05:37 PM EST: Afron is talking about how the state threw out ballots illegally, and forces highcourt fees for challengers

05:43 PM EST: Nader is now speaking about ballot access. He says other countries have number parties, Chile has 9, Germany has at least 5. But in the US ballot access is severely limited.

05:45 PM EST: Says Arizona has laws that say people from other states can't come over to help get people to sign petitions.

05:46 PM EST: Says Pennsylvania is the "King Kong" of restrictive ballot access laws. It is prohibitively expensive and the number of signatures necessary is ridiculous.

05:47 PM EST: Says everyone understands voters need access to the ballot; yet, candidates are not given equal access. Voter access and candidate access go hand-in-hand.

05:51 PM EST: Says the public lacks indignation over the restrictive rules, because neither of the major parties has a problem with the status quo. They spread disinformation about the situation instead.

05:56 PM EST: (Personal note: I can see why the Greens like this guy - he's a riveting speaker in person.)

06:00 PM EST: Nader predicts the restrictive ballot access laws in Pennsylvania will spread to the rest of the county if they are allowed to stand.

06:01 PM EST: Nader says we live in a two party dictatorship where ballot access is restricted. The is laughing stock material.

06:03 PM EST: There needs to be one federal ballot access rule.

06:05 PM EST: Historically the best ideas have come from 3rd parties.

06:07 PM EST: Speech ended - Q& A starts.

DAMN just lost last ten minutes because I refreshed the page without saving. Dammit, dammit, dammit. A I lost a lot of questions. :(

My question - Considering tax statements can be signed digitally, are you opening a front to allow petitions to be signed digitally?: Nader says it's the next frontier, and that it's a good idea. He posits that the mainstream parties wouldbe against it since it would allow better ballot access.

06:19 PM EST: Romanelli is giving a passionate rant about ballot access, thumped the podium... kinda startled me.

Question: Will your ballot situation be a Supreme Court case? Answer: Yes... several cases may be necessary.

06:30 PM EST: Romanelli just called America a "stinking waste dump" - he's speaking to his frustration at not having ballot access, but sheesh... that's not a good way to make friends in the public.

I like the way Titus North answers questions better. He's a bit drier in replying to questions, but with his style - it's easier to follow his points.

California delegation is interupting

Paul -V- — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:42:48 -0400

An strong disagreement ... no screaming or anything... has broken out - the CA delegation is speaking out of turn... as far as I can tell, they have some issues with proxy votes.

The issue is: Do they have to list the name for whom they cast a proxy, or can they cast two votes in their own name? National rule is you have to list a proxy.

UPDATE: Clarification - CA will put the names of the proxies on the ballots. Ballots will cast proportionally.

US Green Party Convention Plenary - Session Part II

Paul -V- — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:28:00 -0400

Todays plenary session is at Sovergn Perfoeming Arts Center (SPAC) in Reading, PA.

Unlike the hotel, this building doesn't have wi-fi. In order to blog I'm tucked in the corner of the ballroom, next to a window, using a weak signal from a neighboring hospital.

Here's a tip for the Green Party: If you want indy media to cover an event - Wi-fi is, like, important, and stuff.

This is a great example of how the Greens need to improve - and fast. If this was a mainstream party, you can be damn sure there would be wi-fi and sophisticated media infastructure.

The Greens don't even have a table for the press. I had to commander one from the SPAC staff.

Not that it matters - since I'm the only press here - which is a shame since the debate is rather interesting. The California delegation seems to be upset that David Cobb, the 2004 Green Party candidate for President, pushed for Greens in contested states to vote for the Kerry.

I suppose Cobb didn't want the party to be blamed for a Bush victory again. However, many feel this was a betrayal of party values, and Greens have nothing to be ashamed of.

Jerry Kann

Paul -V- — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:52:02 -0400

I had a quick chat with Jerry Kann, another person seeking the Green Party nomination for President.

Main platform:

- Greens should be unapologetic about running against Dems, even if the Republican is odious, like George Bush. Otherwise, Greens are no better than Democrats. Greens should "take responsibility" for the 2000 election, because

- He does not consider himself competition against Nader, in fact he would back down if Nader decided to run for the Green ticket.

Vote for Gail Parker - but she doesn't want you to.

Paul -V- — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:01:10 -0400

I just had an odd conversation with Gail Parker, who wants to run for President on the Green Party ticket.

We talked about her campaign, and it turns out she would much rather have Michael Bloomberg, the former Republican mayor of New York, win the nomination. Furthermore, she is part of a group trying to get him to run as an independant or Green.

I don't have an opinion if Bloomberg should run or not - but this was the first time I've talked with a candidate who pitched someone else for the job.

Oh well.

The other candidates seem to be a bit more motivated to win the nomination. I'll try to write a quick blurb about each of them.

ON EDIT: Here's a site about drafting Bloomberg.

Presidential candidate forum

Paul -V- — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:53:00 -0400

The Green Party has put together a forum for those seeking the Presidential nomination from the party.

The following candidate are in attendance:

Jared Ball: DC based activist and hip-hop DJ. No campaign website yet.

Sheila Bilyeu: No campaign; website yet.

Dan Imperato: Florida based activist with a campaign focused on wasteful military spending. Website lists him as a Libertarian.

Michael Jingozian: Internet-based entrepreneur attempting to run a united
3rd party campaign. Filed with the FEC as a Libertarian, but is seeking the GPUS nomination.

Jesse Johnson: Based in West Virginia. No campaign website yet.

Curry: This woman's name is unintelligible and I can't make out how to spell it. So I'm just going to call her "Curry". I swear to God, it must have 15 syllables.

Kent Mesplay: 2004 Presidential Candidate (Not Nominated) Based in California.

Gail Parker: Virginia based activist and veteran. Previously a candidate for “Green-Independent” party, not the GPUS-affiliated party in VA.

Joe Schriner: Former journalist and independent presidential candidate in
both 2000 and 2004.

Kat Swift: Young, TX based Green Party activist.

-0-

06:11 PM EST - Each candidate is giving a short speech.

06:18 PM EST - I like "Curry's" speech. She's kinda hyper, but she's also intelligent and and a talented speaker. She keeps saying "we" Greens. She wants to run as "Vice President".

06:25 PM EST - I'm feeling bad that I'm not doing a better job keeping up with every candidate and summarizing well.

06:26 PM EST - Joe Shriner says he's running because he's a normal midwesterner.He wants to turn the front lawn of the Whitehouse into a permaculture garden. :) (That's not his whole platform, but it was rather funny.)

06:31 PM EST - Kat Swift says she's 34 and is sick of the progressive movement being stuck. She says a big-name candidate is not the most important quality - and she's has success because she knows how to organize.

06:34 PM EST - Q&A starts

06:35 PM EST - To the question will you build the party, and will you accept all the Green Party guidelines.

06:37 PM EST - I'm realizing this time-bulleted blogging isn't working for me in the context of a forum. For workshops, I enjoy it - but this is distracting.

Green Party Plenary Session 2007 (live-blogging)

Paul -V- — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:19:50 -0400

This is a live-blog post from the 2007 Green Party Plenary Session.

~~I think I'm the only "media" here~~. Nope - I am the only media.

Kinda odd, considering the Greens actually win about 41% of the local elections they run for. (Note: This figure does not include national races.)

It's pretty chaotic, as you would expect a party convention to be. And, as is normal for a grass-roots organization - the meeting started late. (This was supposed to start at 1 PM)

Okay - they just got started.

This page will be updated once every 5 - 10 minutes. If it gets too long, I'll create an other thread. I'll respond to comments and post pics as I can.

01:27 PM EST - About 300 people are here. They are going over ground rules for debate. Women's Caucus couldn't find a seat... so they made space for them in the front row.

01:37 PM EST - Juan Behrend, General secretary of the European Greens is addressing the audience. He says that the European Greens disagree on certain issues, but are working together to make a Europe-wide political party. They are also committed to helping US Greens overcome the corporate media.

01:42 PM EST - Representatives from Greens around the world are giving quick speeches. Canadian Green rep getting standing ovations.

01:50 PM EST - Representative from New Zealand is speaking.(Personal note: It dawns on me that the Greens are truly an international party.)

01:51 PM EST - There is some question that there may not be a quorum. WTF? (Does this mean no decitions can be made? Crowd is bustling, some confusion.)

01:53 PM EST - Quorum reached. Agenda approved for today.

01:56 PM EST - George Martin giving a talk - says Green Party is the only party of peace in the United States. Reminds audience that Greens have voted to bring the troops home and impeach the president.

02:08 PM EST - UPDATE: The earlier brouhaha was a personal squabble between two people - nothing to do with the Green Party.

02:18 PM EST - Interesting - many times instead of applauding, they hold thier hands up and wiggle their fingers. Someone told me this is called "twinkling"

On the plus side, it's easier to move things along. Down-side, it's not as photogenic.

04:27 PM EST - The reason I'm not updating as often is because most of what is going on is internal housekeeping. (e.g. election of steering committee.)

04:30 PM EST - Brent McMillian , the political national director, gave a quick report. He says the party is growing very rapidly. He says it's critical that Greens get organized to handle the growth.

05:11 PM EST - Plenary session is over for the day.

Richard Stallman speech at the 2007 US Green Party Convention

Paul -V- — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:00:04 -0400

Richard Stallman is the founder of the Free Software movement. He's one of my personal heroes because he has the courage of his convictions to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.

His speech tonight is titled: "Who Owns Your Computer"

His speech will be from 08:00 PM (EST) to ???. I will live-blog.

As usual, if you have a question for him during this workshop - ask in the comments section of this post, and I'll ask him and post the reply.

Refresh this page to see the updates. (About once every five minutes.)

In case you don't know who he is, here is Stallman's Wikipedia entry:

20:05 EST: RMS is being introduced by Babe Hogan... who is making a documentary about Wikipedia. Babe said the word "Open Source" to be funny - and he just ran out of the room. (He's just kidding, he just walked back in.)

20:10 EST: Says that it's more important to have soft-wear that respects the users freedom, than for it to be high-quality. He says that's like deciding to live in a country strictly based on how much money you can make.

20:12 EST: RMS says proprietary software is designed to make the user helpless. Proprietary software is about power over the user... and he thinks that is wrong... which he

20:15 EST: Four rules for free software

0) Freedom to run the program as you wish.

1) Freedom to study the source.

2) Freedom to help your neighbor. Such as give a copy to someone.

3) Freedom to contribute to the program.

:17 EST: He says people hate Microsoft for the wrong reason. The problem with them isn't that they are a monopoly, it's that they want to have power over the user. And if you have a choice of 5 different different proprietary programs is simply choosing your master.

08:19 EST: "Since sharing is an act of friendship, to attack sharing is to attack society."

08:23 EST: "No matter how nice a program looks, if someone offers me a program I can't share, I tell them I can't accept it because it's against my ethics."

08:30 EST: Stallman says the term "OpenSource" is around because corporations want the public to ignore the ethical problems behind proprietary software.

08:40 EST: Free software is also a political issue. In France the one person who was against Free Software got elected. Proprietary software developers are not just satified with their business models - they want to make Free Software illegal.

08:45 EST: Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to use Freesoftware to read copyrighted material.

08:47 EST: Here's a pic I just took:

08:50 EST: RMS is introducing the concept of "Copyleft". He wants to make sure no one can take away one of the four freedoms.

08:53 EST: RMS GPLv3 makes it impossible to separate users from their freedom.

08:55 EST: Q & A started.

Talking about voting software - he says he doesn't trust computers with vote counting.
Addressing the criticism that Free Software discourages innovation, RMS says "Freedom is more important than innovation."
RMS says Green Party values and Free Software movement overlap.
Re-iterates the importance of freedom over everything.

09:15: Seminar ended. Room

Meet the indy and Green candidates for President

Kai Schwandes — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:41:56 -0400

I am at the convention and I gotta say - it's impressive how many well organized workshopes are offered. I can't attend them all, but will cover as many as possible. As video become awailable myself or Paul will will post it here.

Here is a 5 minute video of the highlights of past convention.

One of the purposes for this convention is to provide an opportunity for those who seek the Green Party presidential nomination, to meet the national deligates.

So – let's meet the Candidates: (Keep in mind these people are not necessarily Greens. Not all of them have platforms that perfectly match the 10 Key Values. However, unlike the main-stream parties, the Green Party is open to hearing from the entire community.)

Jared Ball: DC based activist and hip-hop DJ. No campaign website yet.
Email: freemixradio@voxunion.com

Sheila Bilyeu: 2004 Presidential Candidate (Not nominated) No campaign; website yet. Email: sheilabilyeu@yahoo.com

Elaine Brown: 2006 Green candidate for mayor of Brunswick, GA (was kicked off the ballot on a technicality). Formerly the chair of the Black Panther Party.

Dan Imperato: Florida based activist with a campaign so far focused on wasteful military spending. Website lists him as a Libertarian. Email:Danielnmdg@aol.com

Michael Jingozian: Internet-based entrpernor attempting to run a united
3rd party campaign. Filed with the FEC as a Libertarian, but is
seeking the GPUS nomination. Email: patriot@resetamerica.com

Jesse Johnson: Based in West Virginia. No campaign website yet.

Paul Kangas: California Green running an entirely internet-based campaign
in order to lower his carbon footprint.

Jerry Kann: 3-time Green candidate for city counsel in Queens, NY. Email: JerryKann99@yahoo.com

Kent Mesplay: 2004 Presidential Candidate (Not Nominated) Based in California. Email: info@mesplay.org

Gail Parker: Virginia based activist and veteran. Previously a candidate for “Green-Independent” party, not the GPUS-affiliated party in VA.
Email: mail@gailparker.us

Joe Schriner: Former journalist and independent presidential candidate in
both 2000 and 2004. Email: joeschriner@hotmail.com

Kat Swift: Young, TX based Green Party activist. Email: prezkat@bexargreens.org

We also have confirmation that Ralph Nader ( Friday evening) and Cynthia McKinney (Sunday afternoon) will address the delegates.