Progressive Democrats of Cambridge - DFA

Over the last two meetups and last steering committee meeting, we have collaboartively adopted an information gathering process and a set of rules for voting for an endorsement in the Second Middlesex State Senate Race.

The rules are as follows.

Information-Gathering Process

1. Information regarding the existing senate candidates will be published on the group’s website no more than three days after the June 2005 meetup.
   1. The information will include names, contact information and website addresses on the group’s website.
   2. Members may add more information, including their personal opinions or articles about the race, to the group’s website.
   3. The Progressive Democrats of Somerville (PDS) candidate questionnaire and answers to that questionnaire will also be posted to the group’s website.
2. The meetup group will discuss, via its online discussion group, whether to seek information additional to that compiled by PDS.
3. Within one week of the June 2005 meetup, the group will compile, if it deems necessary, any additional questions which it wishes to submit to the candidates.
4. The questions will be compiled and submitted to the candidates immediately subsequent to compilation of the questionnaire.
   1. Candidates will be informed of a method by which they may return the questionnaires to the group and will be asked to submit the questionnaire within one week.
   2. Questionnaires will be posted on the group’s website.

Voting Process and Rules

1. Anyone who has attended two meetings of the Cambridge DFA meetup group in the 12 months prior to the endorsement vote is eligible to vote.
2. For the purposes of eligibility, the endorsement meeting itself counts as attendance of a single meeting.
3. Each person eligible to vote may vote at most once, either via online voting or in person at the endorsement meeting.
4. Online Voting Rules
   1. Online voting will open on midnight of the day one week prior to the endorsement meeting. The voting will close one hour prior to the endorsement meeting.
   2. Voting will be conducted over email.
   3. The steering committee will designate two people to receive email ballots. An email alias such as will be set up which will forward to those two individuals.
   4. An eligible member of the group may vote by submitting a ballot to the email alias. The ballot should be formatted as follows:
      1. The first line reads “ENDORSEMENT BALLOT”
      2. Each subsequent line has the name of a candidate followed by “yes” or “no”
      3. Candidates not listed will be considered to have a “no” vote. Candidates listed but without a “yes” or “no” will be considered to have a “yes” vote.
   5. If the ballot is improperly formatted, the vote collectors will make a good-faith effort to email the voter and ask her to correct the error.
   6. A sample ballot with clear instructions will be published at least three days prior to the beginning of online voting and will remain available throughout the online voting.
5. Endorsement Meeting Rules
   1. Anyone may attend the endorsement meeting and may join the discussion. Only those who are eligible to vote in the endorsement may cast a ballot or vote on motions to end or continue the discussion.
   2. The first part of the endorsement meeting will consist of a discussion regarding who should receive the group’s endorsement. The discussion will last thirty minutes.
      1. A motion to end discussion before 30 minutes will require a majority vote of those present to succeed.
      2. A motion to continue discussion past the 30 minute mark will require a majority vote of those present to succeed.
      3. Those wishing to filibuster may bring recipe books, Bartlett’s book of quotations, Russian novels, and lists of hypocritical Republican legislators to read to the group.
   3. Once the discussion has ended, voting will commence. Voting will proceed in the following manner:
      1. Each person present will receive a paper ballot listing each candidate’s name in alphabetical order by last name.
      2. For each candidate, a voter may vote “yes” or “no”. If the voter does not make a mark for a candidate, the vote counts as “no.”
      3. Once all ballots are collected, the host will tally the ballots and report the yes and no votes for each candidate.
   4. A 2/3 “yes” vote of all votes cast, including only votes cast at the endorsement meeting and votes cast online, is required for a candidate to be considered endorsed.