upcoming votes

Dear Delegate Blog,

I would like to discuss the upcoming votes which are due on this coming Sunday. These four votes are all on the easier side.

The voting page is http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/index

Resolution Against the Death Penalty involves the current stance of the Green Party of Mexico. Other national Green Parties tend to have more conservative positions because they are often working in coalitions with other parties. I would have our delegation vote yes which would be saying no to the death penalty and would be distancing ourselves from Mexican Greens on this one issue. Those voting no argue for solidarity and understanding.

Online Elections is a tougher vote. This would preclude having elections for GPUS officers at the annual conventions. I would have us vote yes. This would free up the agendas at the national meetings and mostly would be a vote for greater democracy or "one Green one vote". It also would allow voting by delegates without the financial resources to attend the annual meetings. There has been argument for having an on-line vote during the annual meeting with delegates at the meeting voting as we always have historically, and I would argue that that could be implemented with a subsequent resolution.

The other two votes are ranked votes for both the House Campaign Committee and Senate Campaign Committee. The number of candidates are less than or equal to the number of positions so I recommend that we vote for them all and rank them by biographies and, if desired, by sex, sexual orientation, geography, and race.

There is a resolution currently under discussion with a vote due on April 19th, which would disband the International Committee due to lack of following correct procedure. This appears harsh to me and I'll probably recommend that we vote no, but I'm hoping to see a voice of compromise arise in the now fresh and heated on-line banter, or better yet, a withdrawal of the resolution. So more on that later. Happy voting to fellow delegates!

Yours, Bill Oldfather 651-275-0247