Title: By-Laws Change - Article IX - ELIGIBILITY
Paul,
Thanks for sending me the By-laws/Constitution information. I hope
this is going to the right place. I’m pretty inept when it comes to e-mail and
chat rooms. If I’ve sent this to the wrong address, can you tell me how to post
to the list?
Comments about eligibility of candidates and board members.
I agree that all candidates should be registered and dues paying members.
There is a certain amount of loyalty that comes from putting your money
where your mouth here, so to speak. As far as how long they have been
with the party, that’s subjective. Someone may have been a member for
years and still not understand the basic philosophy. Another person may
grasp the ideals in a very brief time. I would much rather see a
candidate demonstrate proof of understanding than to arbitrarily set a time
limit. How to test a candidates knowledge is pretty subjective too
Maybe that is the purpose of the pledge. Not that they should have
to sign it, but that they can explain what it means and how it effects the
decision they will be making in office. I rather like that you put the
pledge into your own words. That means you own it. Anyone can put
their name on a sentence that someone else wrote, but it takes understanding to
re-write it.
I’m not sure if this is where I should respond to the subject of NOTA
I’ll be brief. I’m not sure I understand what you mean by NOTA is
final. According to my understanding of the current by-laws, a candidate
must get 51% or more of the vote in order to be placed on the ballot by the
State Party. In the case where 3 candidates each receive less than 50% there
will be a run-off election. Since NOTA is always on the ballot, the run off is
between the 2 highest vote getters and NOTA. If neither of these candidates
secure more than 51% of the vote, the top vote getter and NOTA will run off. If
NOTA receives more than 51% of the vote, we will place no one on the ballot.
This is where we may run into trouble with 1142. Since the new law requires
only 30% of the Party’s approval, we run the risk of not giving NOTA a fair
chance.
Thanks for all your hard work on this.
Michele P.
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