JCP Convention Summer 2010: 8/19 Endorsements posted

[bgwah]

Hi.

For the JCP's August endorsements, go here: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2619296#msg2619296

For August endorsement voting, go here:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2616844#msg2616844
For voting on party officers, go here: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2607085#msg2607085[/s]

8/1/10: For a quick link to the current bylaws voting, go here: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2598569#msg2598569

Endorsement voting: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2534894#msg2534894

Endorsements: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2539555#msg2539555

We're currently in the process of establishing party bylaws. To participate, go here: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2559111#msg2559111

For our first round of bylaw voting, go here: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117928.msg2576208#msg2576208

[bgwah]

I think a couple of you technically joined some other party. I hate to be a pain, but under party rules (that you yourself proposed Fritz) you need to a member for ~7 days to be able to vote in the convention. There's a good chance we won't be voting for 7 or so days so I might recommend changing your registration back now if you want to participate in the endorsements and what not.

[bgwah]

Is it possible for a member from another party to caucus with you guys? (I'm in the DA, considering moving to the JCP, but I decided to keep my party affiliation. /lieberman

Seriously though, I'm pretty new here and I don't know that much about the Atlasia thing (besides the location of the parties on the Political spectrum)

You have to be a member to vote in the convention & party matters.

[bgwah]

I'll start endorsement voting tomorrow. It doesn't look like we have any other proposals to vote on, which I suppose is fine.

I notice we have candidates in all five regions! Cool. I think gporter is still technically a member of the JCP, at least.

[bgwah]

I don't suppose there is a pre-made ballot anywhere that includes Senate races?

[bgwah]

ENDORSEMENT VOTING
Closes in exactly 72 hours.

JCP candidates (in green) are automatically endorsed.

President
[  ] RosettaStoned/usefil idiot (POP/POP)
[  ] afleitch/? (DA)
[  ] Purple State/Marokai Blue (DA/JCP)
[  ] No endorsement

Northeast Senator
[1] Eraserhead (JCP)
[  ] Dallasfan65 (POP)
[  ] No endorsement

Mideast Senator
[1-2] Boris (JCP)
[1-2] hawkeye59 (JCP)
[  ] Franzl (DA)
[  ] Inks.LWC (RPP)
[  ] Al (C)
[  ] Yougo (POP)
[  ] No endorsement

Southeast Senator
[1] GPORTER (JCP)
[  ] North Carolina Yankee (RPP)
[  ] No endorsement

Midwest Senator
[1] Franken (JCP)
[  ] SvenssonRS (POP)
[  ] No endorsement

Pacific Senator
[1] Bgwah (JCP)
[  ] Xahar (C)
[  ] Ogis
[  ] No endorsement


Just to clarify, the no endorsement option of course doesn't include anything you list above it.

[bgwah]

When Purple State tried to get my support, he told me some pretty ridiculous lies and essentially told me that the JCP would "split" if I did not support him. I guess it rubbed me the wrong way.

I also remember his days in the Senate, where he blatantly attempted an illegal circumvention of executive authority in pursuit of his own vicious personal vendetta.

It is for these reasons that I am hesitant to support Purple State, even if his running mate is awesome.

[bgwah]

I'm sorry I missed your post, Fritz. It was an honest mistake. I copied the Populare's ballot quickly, made some minor changes to it, and forgot to re-check for other proposals.

The JCP doesn't actually have any bylaws aside from the few we've passed at these conventions. I've consistently tried to use the same rules that have been established as precedent. JCP candidates have always received the first preference. And Purple State is not a member of the JCP. You accuse me of shady motives, but to be honest, did you ever complain when you automatically received the first preference? :/

I would certainly be interested in extending this convention beyond the elections to establish more bylaws and rules. Nobody else ever seemed to care before.

[bgwah]

I'm thinking once the election is over, we should keep convention going and create a full set of party bylaws. We barely have any right now and I think that's the source of some of our confusion and problems. So let's introduce such ideas then.

In the meantime:

ENDORSEMENT VOTING
Closes in exactly 72 hours.

JCP candidates (in green) are automatically endorsed.

President
[1] Marokai Blue/Purple State
[2] NOTA

Northeast Senator
[1] Eraserhead (JCP)
[  ] Dallasfan65 (POP)
[  ] No endorsement

Mideast Senator
[1] Boris (JCP)
[2] Inks.LWC (RPP)
[3] Franzl (DA)
[4] Yougo (POP)
[5] No endorsement

Southeast Senator
[1] GPORTER (JCP)
[  ] North Carolina Yankee (RPP)
[  ] No endorsement

Midwest Senator
[1] Franken (JCP)
[  ] SvenssonRS (POP)
[  ] No endorsement

Pacific Senator
[1] Bgwah (JCP)
[  ] Xahar (C)
[  ] Ogis
[  ] No endorsement

[bgwah]

Here are the current ones... I think this is all of them, but if you remember another one remind me and I will try to find it. We could just start from scratch and incorporate the following where appropriate. The other party stuff we voted on all failed (private forum and name changes).

Amendment to the "Bylaws" #1
A voter must have registered as a member of the Jesus Christ Party at least seven days prior to voting in any matters voted upon by the Party.

Amendment to the "Bylaws" #2
The position of Vice Chair of the Jesus Christ Party is hereby established. The Vice Chair will be tasked with helping the Party Chair run the Party. In the event the Party Chair resigns, the Vice Chair will automatically become Chair and appoint a replacement for Vice Chair.

Formal Establishment Regional Chairs
1) The JCP shall have one regional chairperson in every region.
2) Members may simultaneously serve as National Chairperson or Vice Chairperson and Regional Chairperson.
3) Should a vacancy occur, the National Party Chairperson may appoint a replacement until the next party convention when the party members of that region shall vote to elect a replacement.
4) Bgwah is recognized as having served as Pacific Regional Chair since joining the JCP on March 21st, 2004.
5) Bacon King is recognized as having served as Southeast Regional Chair since joining the JCP on November 10th, 2008.

[bgwah]

What I said is that once endorsements and the election end, we should keep the convention going to vote on it, and just go ahead and create a full set of bylaws while were at it. I don't really feel like that means I'm ignoring you...

[bgwah]

ENDORSEMENTS

President:
1) Purple State/Marokai Blue

Mideast Senator
1) Boris
2) Al
3) Franzl
4) Inks

Midwest Senator
1) Hans

Northeast Senator
1) Eraserhead

Pacific Senator
1) Bgwah
2) Xahar

Southeast Senator
1) gporter



math:
-Purple State wins with 9/11. No other candidate is preferenced by a majority.
-Eraserhead is unanimously endorsed. Dallasfan only receives 2nd preferences from 2/11.
-Hawkeye dropped out. Boris is endorsed for first preference. Al gets 6/11 of remaining preferences and is endorsed for 2nd pref. Franzl gets 7/11 of remaining and is endorsed for third. Inks gets 6/11 of remaining and is endorsed for fourth.
-Hans is endorsed for MW Senator. Sven only recieves 4/11 of remaining prefernces.
-Bgwah is endorsed for Pacific Senator. With 7/11 of second preferences, Xahar receives endorsement for second pref. Ogis only receives preferences from 4/11.
-gporter is endorsed for the SE seat. NCYankee only receives 2/11 of remaining preferences.

[bgwah]

Of course! Spew your ideas, please. In particular we have the endorsement process--numerous members have expressed displeasure with it. How would you like endorsements to work instead?

[bgwah]

I would like to see a little more formal organization.  Actual written by-laws, with procedures for conventions, times that they will take place, and elected party officials.  We are the largest party so let's act like it.

I personally will not have the time this week to actually write these by-laws, however...... 

Well, I can write a draft in time, but I want some feedback first.

Major issues I want input for:

Endorsements
-If we don't have automatic endorsements going to party members, what will we have then? A simple FPTP vote? Preferential voting??  What about the at-large Senate elections? Endorsing one particular person in such races doesn't make sense.

Convention Times
-I try to start the convention early in the month, and have the endorsements up right before the election starts. We can formalize this a bit, but I think having some flexibility is good.

Party Elections
-I would say having four month terms elected during the conventions preceding presidential elections makes most sense. Just my opinion.

New/amending bylaws
-Would we require someone to propose something early in the convention, and have a number of signatures (say, three?) to get a vote on it?

Kicking out members
-I personally don't like this idea at all, but it might come up. I would want it to be difficult to remove someone from the party, something like a super majority to make it happen.



I want member opinions on some of the mentioned issues... and if you think of anything else, please speak up.

[bgwah]

Why won't we introduce a primaries?

For party office or national/state?

Let see there are 2 JCP-er interested in running for Governor/Lt. Governor/Regional Senators. So they should run in primary (where all registered JCP-er in region votes) to determine, who'll be a nominee with official party backing.

What if there is only one JCP candidate running?

[bgwah]

What if JCP candidates automatically receive an endorsement, but there was a process in place that would allow certain candidates to be un-endorsed? Say, someone petitions to have him unendorsed, it has to be signed by x number of people, and there is a vote on it. Or something.

[bgwah]

My only problem with JCP "primaries" is how little time there is between the end of the filing deadline and the start of the election.

That could indeed pose a problem, and is why I tend to wait as long as I can to actually have the endorsement voting.

[bgwah]

Um okay, back to this... I've changed the name to include July since we're clearly taking our time.

Anyway, let's come up with various sections and vote on them one at a time. I'm not sure how else we would go about this. Badger, I recommend you propose your ideas. I'll probably open a round of voting in a day or two?

Things we need to vote on:

ENDORSEMENTS:
-Automatic endorsement
-Automatic endorsement, with process in place for unendorsement in certain cases (signatures, what?)
-A form of approval voting?
-Badger mentions a majority, though I use IRV at the moment so I'm not sure what difference that would make. Maybe a super-majority (2/3) should be required to endorse a non-JCP candidate (or NOTA) over a JCP candidate?

PARTY LEADERSHIP
-We currently have two positions:
     -Chairman: Me
     -Vice Chair: Snowguy, though he doesn't seem terribly interested in Atlasia anymore.
     -Regional chairs.

We could formalize what these positions do (not sure it's necessary but I welcome input), and establish regular elections for them. Badger also has some ideas for new positions, though I'm not really sure anymore are necessary.

MEMBERSHIP RULES
-We currently have a seven day rule for voting in conventions, which seems to work well and I'm sure we'll all agree to incorporate this into the new bylaws.
-Establish process of kicking out a member? I've proposed a super-majority to take such a drastic action.

CONVENTIONS
-Formalize process for offering amendments to the bylaws.
-Standardize times when conventions should take place, though I think there should be a bit of a window to give the chair some leniency...
-Should we have a quorum? I'm skeptical, considering the problems the RPP has had with it.

Am I missing anything?

[bgwah]

^May I ask what would the Chairman and Vice Chair do if those positions were created?

[bgwah]

BTW, just to throw a little idea, what about organizing elections for the party Chair ? I don't want bgwah out : everybody, me comprised would vote for him anyways. But I think it's necessary to implement some internal democracy inside a so important party. What do you think about it ?

I already mentioned regularly scheduled elections in my big long post.

[bgwah]

Well we haven't actually passed the bylaws yet so these candidacy declarations may be a bit premature at the moment.

But that leaders to another question... Surely we will want the elections to be regularly scheduled. Four month terms in February/June/October makes the most sense to me, though we might have to have a 'special election' this month.

Clearly, Chair & Vice Chair would be elected. Would the other positions (regional, and Badger's proposed positions) be elected or appointed?

[bgwah]

Having the chair voting occur in the Presidential months makes more sense to me.

Also, the current law on Vice Chair states that the the Chair can appoint a replacement until the next convention. I think this is worth keeping, as it makes things more simple.

[bgwah]

I think we should decide what offices we even want in the first place before we start writing bylaws for them.

Would anyone object if I just opened voting soon that asked whether or not we should establish a secretary and a whip?

[bgwah]

*Voting will be open for 48 hours*

1) Shall the position of Party Secretary be created?

The Secretary of the Jesus Christ Party shall be tasked with maintaining communication within the party, to ensure that all party members are informed and kept aware of the actions and decisions of the party. He shall be responsible for maintaining a list of all JCP members, and shall assist the Chairman in preparing full agenda for Jesus Christ Party Conventions.


[  ] Aye
[  ] Nay


2) Shall the position of Party Whip be created?

The Whip of the Jesus Christ Party shall be tasked with assisting the Chairman in recruiting Atlasians into the party as new members. He shall also be responsible for assisting party candidates with voter contact about elections.

[  ] Aye
[  ] Nay


3) Shall the positions of regional chairmen be abolished?


[  ] Aye
[  ] Nay

[bgwah]

Just to clarify, since the question of getting rid of regional chairmen was brought up, the question is whether or not to abolish the regional chairmen. So an aye vote would be to get rid of them, and a nay vote to keep them.