[Lnc-business] Elections overhaul - request for input

Joe Bishop-Henchman joe.bishop-henchman at lp.org
Fri Jul 13 17:13:50 EDT 2018


I've continued to stare at the puzzle of our Convention elections 
problem and have listened to quite a few (but hardly a dent in all) 
opinions shared with me on what we should about it. I'm sure you are all 
too. Something that's jumping out to me is that it's almost three 
problems in one: a voting system problem (majority vs plurality, 
approval vs ranked choice, etc.), a speed problem (balloting, 
tabulation, and verification) that may need a technological solution, 
and a bylaws/rules problem (as they may need to be updated and this 
Committee is not under the LNC). But it's hard to solve any one of those 
separately from the other two.

We will also have a too many chefs problem. The Convention Oversight 
Committee will think it's their job because its their budget and 
schedule. The IT Committee will think it's their job since part of the 
solution will probably be technological in nature. The Bylaws Committee 
will think it's their job because it will involve rethinking our 
election method and rewriting our election procedures. The LNC Chair and 
the Secretary will think it's their job because they have to staff it 
and run it. The LNC as a whole will think its their job because we 
always think it's our job. The state chairs will think it's their job 
because the states are the ones who count the votes and because they 
don't trust the LNC will get the job done. Individual party members will 
think it's their job because they have actual answers for what broke and 
how to fix it. And so forth. Additionally, I have a concern that unless 
feels represented at at this table, it ain't happening.

They're all correct. Do we let them all do their thing and see what 
emerges? Or do we need to develop some kind of structure? How do we move 
forward?

A week or so ago I sent around a skeleton of a proposal to set up a 
small LNC committee to essentially come up with an answer and report 
back. I got a lot of good feedback, suggesting that if it happen it 
should be larger, separate from the LNC, have seats named by the state 
chairs, limit LNC folks to ex-officio seats, have set deadlines for 
incremental steps, and rely heavily on the expertise of many of our 
members and state parties. And of course, there's a desire to audit the 
past results to get a better understanding of what went wrong. (Ms. 
Mattson did such a write-up of the 2016 Convention balloting, and I'll 
reaffirm I am open to seeing something similar for the 2018 balloting 
but for all the races.)

I'm continuing to toy around with my proposal - draft I have now is a 
15-person special committee that would take about a year to complete its 
work in five phases. Happy to share it if anyone is interested, but 
especially interested in your thoughts about some of the questions I'm 
wrestling with.

Have a good weekend everyone!

-- 
JBH

------------
Joe Bishop-Henchman
LNC Member (At-Large)
joe.bishop-henchman at lp.org
www.facebook.com/groups/189510455174837



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