These opinions warrantied for the lifetime of your brain.

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Friday, May 14, 2010

My Bylaws Recommendations

My recommendations:

1. Ranked Choice Voting for Officers
2. Defense Against Taxpayer-funded Presidential Campaigns
5. Judicial Committee Terms
6. Judicial Committee Vacancies
7. Judicial Committee Eligibility
12. Promote NOTA to a Bylaw
14. Resolve LNC Mail Ballot Ambiguity
15. Nominating Speech Time Limits
26. Expand Time for Affiliate Selection of Convention Committee Appointees
27. Credentials Committee
28. Speeches for NOTA
32. Speaking Order for Presidential Nominations
34. Transparency of LNC Meeting Records
38. Delegate Allocation

Good ideas.

3. Authorization of Electronic Vote Tabulation Equipment - worth a try, but will fail due to opposition by paranoiatarians.

4.  Mail Ballots for Bylaws - would and should fail even without the fatal flaw of no minimum required number of responses.

8. Ballot Access for Convention-Selected Presidential Nominees - I doubt that repetition of the Phillies stand-in problem is likely enough to justify this change.

16. Move Rule 7.1 to Bylaws - Yes, fix this now before it's exploited.

17. Delegate Lists - the "if available" phrase makes this bylaw impotent.

20. Audit Requirement - if we really need audits, then the bylaw should say that the membership gets to see them.

21. Voting Eligibility- Yes, fix this now before it's exploited.

22. Voting Procedure - Probably a good idea, but I like having vote totals in the convention minutes.
 
24. Authorization of Teleconferences - good idea for now, but expand the number when technology scales up in a couple decades.

25. Platform Retention Voting - good simplification

29. Order of Business - good way to keep delegates on the floor

30. Seconding Procedure - 20 seconds is better than 1, but I'd split the difference: 10

31. Threshold for Presidential Nominations - good idea, but better to state it in terms of percentages

33. Conflict of Interest Policy - will fail due to multiple flaws: "campaign support" is too vague; should allow nomination by other party if no Libertarian competitor; shouldn't disallow being a member of another party.

35. Ensuring Balance of Obligations of Party and Presidential Campaigns - this problem needs addressing, but this language gives LNC effective veto power over presidential candidacies by allowing arbitrary contract requirements.

37. Four-Year Conventions - No, four years is too long.

39. Platform Consideration - No, the Platform should be open for change every two years.

41. Prohibit a Convention Registration Fee - This will pass after someone proposes to move it up in the order of consideration.  I will vote against it on TANSTAAFL principle.

42. LNC Vacancy upon Ineligibility - Note the editorializing in the report.  Why does this one bylaw need language saying in effect that enforcing it is optional?  Is this a rule, or not?

43. Single Transferable Vote for LNC At-Large - I like STV in principle, but we won't have time to get to this one so I didn't audit the language.

9. Terminology Correction
10. Delete Anachronism from Secretary's Duties
11. Divide Article 11.5 into Multiple Sections
13. Split Article 11
18. Move Rule 5 to new Article 12: OTHER COMMITTEES
19. LNC Support for Presidential Candidates
23. Split Rule 10
36. Standing Rules
40. Regional Stability

Harmless.