Solution: Provide for Bylaws amendments to be adopted by a large super-majority of the membership in accordance with the mail ballot provisions in Robert's Rules of Order, including the provision of any minority reports together with the ballot materials.
ARTICLE 11: CONVENTIONS
7. Convention Committees:
a. The Bylaws and Rules Committee shall consist of ten Party members appointed by the National Committee no later than three months before a Regular Convention. No more than five of these members shall be members of the current National Committee. The committee shall propose amendments to these Bylaws either to a Regular Convention or by mail ballot to the Party's sustaining members. The committee shall propose amendments to the Party's Convention Special Rules of Order to a Regular Convention. Proposals shall be delivered together with any minority reports signed by two or more members.
ARTICLE 14: AMENDMENT
1. These Bylaws may be amended by a 2/3 vote of the delegates at any Regular Convention or by a 4/5 vote of sustaining members participating in a mail ballot.
2. Article 4, Section 1,
RULE 5: COMMITTEE PROCEDURES
2. Four or more members of the Platform Committee may join together to issue a minority report regarding any plank reported to the floor of the Convention. Two or more members of
1 comment:
Absolutely not.
Not all convention delegates are national sustaining members, and if this passes, they will not have a voice on these votes.
The better solution is to distribute the Bylaws Committee report to the state officers or chairs prior to the convention with the request that they distribute them to their delegates.
Also, the way this is worded it can allow for a mail ballot at any time by national sustaining members only. Considering the current problems that the national party is having in retaining sustaining members and bouncing those that are considered nuisances or problems to specific agendas, this creates the opportunity for a back-door coup by undermining the convention delegates, and by extension the general membership.
On top of that, if a 4/5 mail vote in advance of a convention run into a conflicting 2/3 vote at the convention (and it inevitably would!), which wins?
Again it ain't broke. Don't fix it.
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