Monday, February 19, 2007

Alternative approaches to delegate allocation

The Green National Committee has rejected a proposal on how to allocate delegation size amongst the various states. Now it appears that this loss has resulted in a flood of new and innovative approaches.

I have proposed setting a limit of 100 delegates and a minimum of 1 delegate per state, followed by asking each state to choose how many people they want to represent them on the GNC. A series of compromises and discussions could lead to an apportionment we all can live with.

Another new proposal suggests going back to the Association of State Green Party's formula of two delegates per state.

A more complex idea, but simpler than the DAC proposal, comes from Allison Duncan of NY. The proposal is behind the "Read more!" link...
Suggested proposal for delegate apportionment:

Note: I have not researched any of the states used as examples. These examples are purely imaginative.

In order to determine the number of delegates:

Step 1:
---States with Green registration will submit the number of registered Greens in their state as well as the percentage of their state's registered voters who are registered Green.

---States without Green registration will submit the total number of registered voters in their state.

Step 2:
---The committee will evaluate that information and determine the lowest existing percentage of registered Greens in any state. (for example, if only Alaska and Hawaii have registered Greens and .4 percent of Alaska's voters are Green and .5 percent of Hawaii's voters are green, the lowest existing percentage is .4 percent.).

---The committee will use the lowest existing percentage to calculate representation equivalents for the states without Green registration by multiplying each states total number of registered voters by the lowest existing percentage. For example if Georgia does not have Green registration and does have 5 million registered voters, the representation equivalent is 5 million multiplied by .004.

Step 3:
Once all the numbers for registered Greens by state and representation equivalents are determined, the committee will sum all those numbers into a total. The percentage of that total that a state is responsible for, in registered Greens or equivalents, will be the percentage of delegates representing that state on the NC.

Each state will have no less than two delegates. The maximum size of the NC will be 200 delegates.

Note: Before Jan 1, 2008 a state will be considered to have green registration, if the a state office or agency has recorded registered greens for at least 12 months. After Jan 1, 2008, a state is considered to have Green registration once it have passed the lowest existing percentage in Green registrations or a state office or agency has recorded registered greens for at least 12 months---whichever occurs first.
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Comments:
This proposal runs into the same problem that many others have: some states don't have party registration per se at all.

That is, the problem with using GP registration as the basis for allocation isn't simply that some states don't have GP registration; it's that some states don't have registration at all.
 
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