Libertarian Party Bylaws Committee

The job of the Libertarian Party Bylaws Committee is to propose amendments to the Bylaws and Convention Special Rules of Order for consideration by the delegates to the national convention to be held in St Louis 29-31 May 2010. We adopted our report 27 Feb 2009 at the Libertarian State Leadership Alliance in Charleston.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Ranked Choice Voting for Officers

Problem: Our current method of selecting officers is known as Runoff Voting – a process where successive rounds of voting are conducted, dro...

Defense Against Taxpayer Funded Presidential Campaigns

Problem: If a Libertarian Party candidate for President were to win 5% of the vote (under present rules), that would qualify the next Libert...

Authorization of Electronic Vote Tabulation Equipment

Problem: Our current manual methods of voting are very time-consuming and prone to error. Solution: Authorize the use of electronic voting, ...

Mail Ballots for Bylaws

Problem: Delegates spend an extra day or so at convention every two years at great expense considering amendments to the Bylaws. Solution: P...

Preventing Hijacking of our Presidential Nominations

Problem: Through Article 12, Section 1 of these bylaws, our state affiliates have mutually contracted to nominate the Presidential candidate...

Delete Anachronism from Secretary's Duties

Problem: Article 7, Section 6 -- the definition of the role of Secretary -- includes a sentence that appears to be left over from the 1970s ...

Divide Article 11.5 into Multiple Sections

Problem: Article 11.5 is an extremely lengthy paragraph, with several different parts of the Delegate Allocation process thrown in. Solution...

Promote NOTA to a Bylaw

Problem: Rule 11: None of the Above is not properly a rule, as it defines the options available to delegates rather than the procedure for d...

Split Article 11

Problem: Article 11: CONVENTIONS is currently the longest in the entire Bylaws, and includes stipulations for Convention Committees, which a...

Resolve LNC Mail Ballot Ambiguity

Problem: The Bylaws currently specify that a majority vote shall carry any proposal considered by the LNC via a mail ballot, even if the sam...

Officer/At-Large Nominating Speech Time Limits

Problem: Our Convention Special Rules of Order currently micro-manage the nominating and seconding speech times for Officers and At-Large LN...

Move Rule 7.1 to Bylaws

Problem: Rule 7, Section 1, is more in the nature of a Bylaw than a Rule -- it defines structure, not process. In addition, the second sente...

Delegate Lists

Problem: Article 11, Section 6 is vague and inadequate to provide guidance to staff about responding to members' requests for lists of c...

Move Rule 5 to New Article 12: OTHER COMMITTEES

Problem: The Convention Special Rules of Order are specifically to govern the conduct and processes occurring at the Convention itself. But ...

LNC Support for Presidential Campaigns

Problem: The word "all" makes no sense in Article 12, Section 4, unless it applies to all sustaining members seeking our nominatio...

Audit Requirement

Problem: Audits have been performed in some years and not others. Several years ago, a former treasurer succeeded in persuading the LNC to f...

Voting Eligibility

Problem: The question of voting eligibility should be answered by the Bylaws, not by a Convention Special Rule of Order. A rule about who is...

Judicial Committee Terms and Vacancies

Problem: The frequent turnover of the Judicial Committee at each convention impedes stability while facilitating a hostile takeover of the P...

Voting Procedure

Problem: An assembly should never go directly from a voice vote to a counted vote. The correct procedure is, in the case of votes requiring ...

Split Rule 10

Problem: Rule 10: ELECTIONS OF OFFICERS AND NATIONAL COMMITTEE addresses the entire process for selecting members to this committee. Buried...

Authorization of Teleconferences

Problem: Teleconferences are prohibited bby RONR unless explicitly authorized by the Bylaws. "The bylaws may authorize a board or commi...

Platform Retention Voting

Problem: The results of plank retention voting are available only after platform debate has started. Our 2008 Convention demonstrated that t...

Expand Time Window for Affiliate Selection of Convention Committee Appointees

Problem: The ten largest state affiliates each get to send a representative to the Platform Committee. As our bylaws are currently written,...

Credentials Committee

Problem: The Bylaws stipulate the deadline for appointment of the Platform Committee and Bylaws and Rules Committee, and the members of the ...

Speeches for NOTA

Problem: The implementation several years ago of the device of requiring candidates for the LP’s nomination for President and Vice-President...

Threshold for Presidential Speeches

Problem: The number of signatures a presidential candidate needs to get television time is too low. One candidate each at our 2004 and 2008 ...

Order of Business

Problem: Many delegates leave as soon as our Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees have been chosen. Solution: Move selection of our P...

Seconding Procedure

Problem: In groups of 12 to 50 or so, requiring a single second is usually effective to prevent frivolous motions from wasting everyone'...

Conflict of Interest Policy

Problem: We’ve encountered several examples in the last couple of years where members holding key positions in the Party have been members o...

Deterring Petition Circulators from Hijacking our Presidential

Problem: Through Article 12, Section 1 of these bylaws, our state affiliates have mutually contracted to nominate the Presidential candidate...

Ensuring Balance of Obligations of Party and Presidential Campaigns

Problem: The Bylaws specify that the LNC must provide "full support" to the national candidate selected by the delegates, but fail...

Standing Rules

Problem: Neither "policy" nor "directive" is a term of art defined by RONR or otherwise having a clear meaning in the co...

Four-year Convention Schedule

Problem: Mid-term conventions cost our activists hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel, accommodation, and attendance costs, while usua...

Delegate Allocation

Problem: We are currently required to use a meeting hall with seating for 1050 delegates when actual attendance over the last four conventio...

Platform Consideration

Problem: A relatively small number of delegates were able to make major changes to our platform at the 2006 convention. Solution: Consider p...

Deterring Party Officers from Hijacking our Presidential Nomination

Problem: Through Article 12, Section 1 of these bylaws, our state affiliates have mutually contracted to nominate the Presidential candidate...

Regional Stability

Problem: Sometimes regional realignment is forced by a region falling just a few members short of the number required, leading to constantly...

Single-Transferable Voting for LNC At-Large

Problem: Libertarians advocate for alternative voting systems that are more representative. The 2004 LP Platform addressed this as follows:...

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