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Aha! Voting on this forum would take care of verification. Good idea! And free.Is this forum accessible via tablet and phone, as well as via computer?I think you are adding a factor to your original proposal -- in-person-only meeting versus option to participate electronically -- and I will add that to the set of options that our chapter is discussing. I know for me it will make a difference in what I decide about the other factors. We will make some sort of decision (perhaps a consensus up or down, or at least the majority leaning toward) after tonight's meeting, which will be the third meeting at which we have batted around the proposal. Thank you for extending the discussion period.
I used the Election Runner calculator to see how much it would cost for 500 people. $45 per election. If 1,000 people participate, $90. Not bad. If all 14,000 Green Party members participate, it would cost $1,120. The ability to use computer, tablet, or phone is an advantage, since some members may be unable to attend in person due to work schedules. Presumably those members would be able to arrange a break from work to vote, if we could send text messages announcing when the voting would occur. I'd really rather have everybody watching throughout the meeting, but maybe people who are unable to get away from work could just listen to the feed while performing their duties.Now, will we be able to do some of the confirmation of membership that is done at in-person meetings? And how about confirmation of identity?
Hm. $19 per election for up to 200 people. For several offices we would be incurring the $19 charge several times, but that's still really inexpensive. Should we expect more participants if the meeting is streamed and electronic voting is used? If we have more than 200 people trying to vote, the price goes up to $49, which is still pretty cheap and would give us hugely more participation than any past election for which I can find records. This could be an experiment in true democracy.
Thanks. Yes, very interesting. I'll play with the numbers myself later, maybe try some other splits like north, central, south, percentage of Greens in the population. Obviously the Denver area will have the largest absolute number of Greens because it has the largest population.
There will be voting at the meeting. I have not participated in a Green meeting before. Is voting anonymous or do we raise our hands to be counted? Do we have a way of confirming identities and counting votes cast when some participants are attending via Skype? I suppose members who know the people in other chapters could verify that the on-screen image of somebody is really the person. Do we have the ability to display a dozen or so images of remote attendees on a single screen so we can see if people are raising their hands to ask a question, or will it be limited to the meeting being broadcast out to the remote attendees without us seeing the remote attendees? Will remote attendees need to be willing to make their votes public (if voting is anonymous at the in-person meeting)? Nothing insurmountable here, but we should think about how it could be done.
Secretary of State's web site with downloadable data. Try the Excel file for Greens in each county.http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/VoterRegNumbers/VoterRegNumbers.html
Brainstorming is good. The more ideas we float and discuss, the more chance we have of picking the best possible option.I'm looking for weather data that shows the daily pattern through April into May for various cities around Colorado. If you know of a web site, please post it. If I remember right, even the end of April can be bad anywhere in Colorado, but May tends to be suddenly better. So just playing the averages about whether we'll have to postpone the event on short notice, or whether people from one side of the state will be unable to get to the meeting (which would not be fair), I'm hoping for a date that is likely to be not snowy. Is there a date in mid or late April when the likelihood of a snow storm suddenly drops off? We should consider snowfall along likely travel routes and not just snowfall in the host city.No matter where we have it, some people will have to stay overnight, or even over two nights (before and after) to avoid some pretty long days and driving while not at the most alert. So we should try to spread that burden around. It's not fair to make the folks on the west side of the state always do the marathon driving. We don't encourage statewide chapter growth by favoring the Denver area for meeting locations, even if the number of members is higher in Denver. I'll see if I can find numbers.I remember sleeping four to a room in my college days when there were long trips. That keeps the motel costs pretty low. Would a fixed-price buffet keep the meal cost down for people who need to stay overnight? Maybe the host chapter could look into providing a pot-luck dinner for the out-of-towners. Maybe the host chapters on the west side have members with spare bedrooms, too.Anyone else have ideas? Or cities that seem like appropriate locations?
Hey Scott,Would early May be soon enough? Just speaking personally, I would really prefer May. March and April are the snowiest months, making travel across the state difficult. Somebody has to travel, so it helps to schedule the meeting during a more travel-friendly period, no matter where we hold it. Speaking of which, the two choices that Harry floated, Frisco and Carbondale, are not getting much support in the Poudre Valley chapter. We are leaning toward Grand Junction as an appropriate location, given the new chapter there. Of course, that chapter would need to agree to host. But that's what we are thinking. What are you thinking?Judy Harrington
I have informed them of the details of the proposal, but I would prefer to discuss it as a group before responding. We have a core of very bright, informed, and engaged people in the Poudre Valley chapter and I have found that we usually make excellent decisions if we put something up for discussion and give everybody time to ask questions and bat around ideas and opinions. I will back to the hilt a decision that we have made with everybody present and participating in a full exchange of views. That's why I want to wait until we have a real meeting. Partial participation and limited exchange of ideas are a recipe for a bad decision. There are several significant components in your proposal, and I want to be sure we make the best decision we can make.
Thank you for the clarification. I will inform the Poudre Valley chapter that this proposal has been floated. I think we will have time at our meeting next Wednesday to discuss the proposal itself and whether we might want to volunteer to co-host if the council decides to go ahead with the idea.
Ah! Now maybe I understand. You suggest those two locations because they are in regions that have not recently had meetings, but we need two other chapters to make the arrangements because those cities have no chapters?Yes, this would require several trips to whichever location is chosen, but perhaps there are individual Greens in those areas who could help with the planning.Good idea about having two chapters to carry the load.Are the sides in the co-chair war geographically defined? Is that why you specified one host chapter from each side of the continental divide?
This sounds interesting, but I'm a little hazy on how the co-hosting arrangement would work. Would we have video communication between the two locations?
Is a second to a nomination required? I recall that Robert Lee Worthey's name appeared in the list of candidates for co-chair although I did not see a second to his nomination. The nominations of the other two candidates were seconded. What rules apply here?Can any Colorado Green second a nomination? Since this process is being carried out on a private thread to which the majority of party members do not have access, it may be difficult for chapter members to know that a nomination has been made or to second a nomination that has been made. Must all nominations be made by council members and seconded by council members? Are local chapter members supposed to submit their input to council members who then pass it on to the private thread?
