Platform Hearings begin tonight, Mock Election on Loomio, updated schedule and more

Please do not unsubscribe from these messages or mark as spam! You are receiving this email because you are listed as a Delegate, Alternate or registrant for the 2020 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention or a member of the Green National Committee or state party/caucus leadership. If you believe you are receiving this message by mistake, or are receiving duplicate messages, please contact Green Party US Communications Manager Michael O'Neil at [email protected] or call 917-825-3562 so we can correct our records.

Between now and July 11 you will receive critical communications regarding our upcoming presidential convention. Please add [email protected] to your email address book to ensure these messages arrive in your inbox.

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Hello everyone,

Annual National Meeting and Presidential Nominating Convention activities begin tonight with our first Platform Hearing from 7:00-8:30pm eastern on Sunday, July 5th. There will be a second Platform Hearing tomorrow (Monday, July 6th) from 7:00-8:30pm eastern as well.

Our traditional Annual Meeting Workshops will be on Thursday and Friday, and the Presidential Nominating Convention (PNC) is on Saturday, July 11th. We have even scheduled an evening of FUNdraising on Friday with a night of LIVE comedy, right from your own home! You will NOT want to miss All-Star The Jimmy Dore Show contributor Ron Placone's EXCLUSIVE live set for the Green Party!

Those observers who wish to follow along our PNC Zoom webinar and also participate in our traditional Annual National Meeting workshops have until end of day tonight, July 5th to register. If you have only recently become a credentialed delegate or alternate, we have extended your deadline to register

CHECK IN

The "check in" process for Delegates the morning of the PNC is very simple: Delegates will receive an email that morning with a link to a Loomio.org page. Delegates will literally click the  mark in the box. That's it! We allocated an hour, starting at 11am eastern, and ask that Delegates don't wait until the last minute just in case anyone experiences a problem.

We have produced a short video so you can see the process. As Delegates check in, that will be visible to other delegates and convention administrators. This will allow Delegation Reporters to see who among their delegation may need a gentle nudge / reminder to get online for the day. So please check in prior to our noon eastern start time.

The PNC starts at noon ET with a welcome from Honorary Co-Chairs Hillary Kane and Kenneth Mejia. Our first item of business is a the Approval of the Credentialing Report by a majority vote. The effect of the adoption of the report shall be to issue credentials to any delegate in possession of preliminary credentials.

This is followed by a vote to approve the platform. Our Platform Proposals page includes links to all platform proposalsthat will be presented during the convention. The voting threshold for the adoption of the Platform shall be 2/3. The vote on a motion to strike a proposed amendment, if any are submitted, shall also require a 2/3 threshold.

IF you wish to address the convention and speak on a proposal, Section 5-8 of the convention rules state that "...a delegate is required to register, with their name, delegation, draft Platform provision to be addressed, and their position on such provision with the Convention facilitation team not later than noon Eastern Time on Thursday, July 9." 

If you wish to make a motion to strike a proposal, you must be a Delegate and can register your intent to speak using Loomio. This process begins at noon ET tomorrow, July 6th.

There will be a dedicated thread in Loomio where Delegates can post a reply to register their intent to speak. The thread will be named:

“REQUEST PLATFORM SPEAKING TIME HERE”

…and all Loomio Delegates will be sent an invite to that thread, through Loomio, when it is available.

Instructions on how to format your reply appear at the top of the thread:

A valid request to speak during the Platform Session must be made in this thread by 12pm ET Thursday, July 9th and requires:

  1. Your Loomio Display Name, including your name and the PNC delegation you represent (state or caucus)
  2. The exact chapter, section, item and clause of the provision you wish to address (e.g. "Chapter 1, Section D, Item 1, Point a")
  3. The exact language of the provision you wish to address
  4. Your position on such provision

If you wish to make a motion to strike a proposal, Section 5-8 of the convention rules state that "A delegate may make a motion to strike a provision from the platform if they have also presented signatures of at least 10 percent of convention delegates in support of that motion at the time they register to speak by noon Eastern Time Thursday, July 9." 

If you wish to make a motion to strike a proposal, you must be a Delegate and will gather the requisite electronic signatures of other Delegates (not Alternates)on Loomio, as well as register your intent to speak using Loomio. This process begins at noon ET tomorrow, July 6th.

All valid proposals to strike must take the form of a "Check" style Loomio poll completed and submitted to the Election Administrator no later than Thursday, July 9 at 12pm ET and require:

  • The exact chapter, section, item and clause of the provision you wish to strike (e.g. "Chapter 1, Section D, Item 1, Point a") in the title of the Check Poll
  • The exact language of the provision you wish to strike in the body of the Check Poll
  • At least 10% of convention delegates recorded as having voted "Yes" on your Check Poll at the time of submission.
  • A link to your Request to Speak on the platform on the day of the convention.

You may also include up to approximately 75 words of explanation for your proposal and any co-endorsers of your proposal.

All delegates will received an emailed invitation through the Loomio system when the section for petitions to strike platform proposals is available.

Please note: the motion to strike is limited to provisions amended in the current cycle. No new provisions may be introduced from the floor. We will determine equal speaking time for each speaker only after all requests have been submitted.

After the Approval of the Credentials Report and Approval of the Platform, there will be a short break. 

After we return, we will hear from our Keynote Speaker, Jill Stein. She will be followed by the presidential candidates who have met the requirements to address the convention, before we finally move to the presidential nomination and Roll Call by Delegation Reporters. As mentioned in a previous email, we hope to be finished by 7pm ET but it all depends on how quickly we get through everything. We do expect Delegates to be present online and fully participate throughout the course of the day, being ready when a vote is called to exercise their delegate responsibilities.

Throughout the PNC, we will air speeches from a range of inspiring and thought-provoking speakers including Ajamu Baraka, Robin Harris, Margaret Flowers, Cam Gordon, Seth Kaper-Dale, Margaret Kimberly, Jenny Leong, Mirna Martinez, Lisa Savage. A Speaker's page has been posted online and will be updated as we get even closer.

LOOMIO & MOCK ELECTIONS

Be on the lookout for an invitation to our first Mock Election on Loomio, with a simple Yes/No ballot. We are asking all Delegates and Alternates to set up their accounts as soon as possible, if they have not already done so. You should have received an email from us on Friday, as well as an email from Michael O'Neil from a loomio.org email address. We are asking all Delegates and alternates to participate in this Mock Election by 9pm Eastern on Monday. If we all practice using Loomio in this way, then everyone will be familiar with the system by Saturday. We will announce a second Mock Election later this week. 

Please note, if you are currently a Delegate but know you cannot fulfill delegate responsibilities, then please make sure your relevant State or Caucus lets the Credentialing Committee know by noon Eastern on Thursday, July 9th. We need time to make sure your Alternate is transferred to a Delegate in our system, has their Loomio account set up and is ready to fully participate on Saturday.

TEXT MESSAGES

We sent a trial text message last week to those we had a textable number for, as we had heard that some folks were not receiving these emails and we wanted to have a secondary way to reach you. We have been updating our records, and hopefully you will receive another text later this week (and one on the morning of the Presidential Nominating Convention). If our text message did not reach you, please confirm your mobile number with us today.

MEMORIALS

We know that many of our members have experienced loss in recent months. Green Pages has an obituaries section, but we would like to take a moment to acknowledge our green friends who have passed in the last year. If there is someone that you wish us to mention, please email [email protected] with "Memorial for <insert name>" in the subject header and include a few short sentences about them in the body of the email. Please do not just reply to this email. 

EMAIL UPDATES

We will continue to send updates almost every day this week. We know there is a lot to take in, which is why we are trying to break it down into manageable chunks while still trying to answer everyone's questions in a timely fashion. 

Please be patient and remember that many of our staff and volunteers were not active this weekend, so your emails and texts may not be replied to until Monday. As you can probably tell from our various links, the rules of convention and the daily schedule of activities are up on the website so please feel free to browse on your own!

Sincerely,
The PNC Team