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Ranked Choice Vote Details

Ranked Choice Vote ID	458
Ranked Choice Vote	2010 Election of GPUS Steering Committee Co-chairs
Type	Secret Ballot Revealed at Close of Polls
Number of Seats	3
Ranked Choice Vote Administrator	Holly Hart
Phase	Closed - 3 Elected
Discussion	06-04-2010 - 06-18-2010
Voting	06-19-2010 - 06-26-2010
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Candidates	Lori Burton Theresa El-Amin Audrey Clement Craig Thorsen Julie Jacobson Vivek Ananthan write-in

Background

This signals the first entirely online election of the GPUS Steering Committee. The purpose ranked choice vote is to elect 3 Co-chairs to the Steering Committee.

About Steering Committee Elections
http://www.gp.org/documents/bylaws.shtml#article6

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE STEERING COMMITTEE
GPUS Bylaws, article IV. The Steering Committee
http://www.gp.org/documents/bylaws.shtml#article4

GPUS Rules & Procedures, Section 1. Powers of Steering Committee
http://www.gp.org/documents/rules.shtml#section1

Candidate Information

Lori Burton
Pacific Green Party of Oregon

Lori Burton
lbchanges@aim.com

The extensive experience and knowledge of our field of candidates to the Co-Chair positions of the GP-US is impressive and I am honored to be included in the election. Here is some information on what I have to offer as a member of the steering committee.

In 1996, I joined the Pacific Party of Oregon (then Oregon's Green Party.) I have served in many capacities including State Coordinator and Co-Chair from 1997 through 2001, Outreach Coordinator, Advisory Board member, and State Facilitator.

Working with WA and OR Green Party members, I helped organize the first Cascadia Regional Green Gathering in Washington a few years ago with Greens from OR,WA, N.CA, and ID. I have high hopes that regional Green gatherings will grow around the country and help us become more powerful regionally and locally. This is where the" rubber meets the road" and where we can have the successful results we need to become a powerful political force for change..

I have also worked with members of the Socialist Party and Pacific Party of Oregon to successfully merge our two parties in 1999, and worked with other members to register over 1100 voters to form the Pacific Green Party of Oregon.

I learned about and promoted consensus decision making processes within our state meetings, training in consensus decision making and meeting facilitation from 1997 through 2000 with Lysbeth Borie, who mentored with and lived in community with Caroline Estes at the Alpha Institute. I feel this organic and inclusive type of decision-making is vital to a small and organic grassroots group such as the Greens. Even though the best we can seem to muster seems to be a blend of consensus and RR/majority rule. I remain convinced that we can and should rid ourselves of the way majority rule necessarily allows expedient side-stepping/removal of those who block voting processes, many times for reasons we need to take time and effort to understand, and allow for blocking to occur and two/three meeting rules for decision-making to happen. Consensus decision-making, done properly, can be more expedient and successful than majority rule processes. I have continued to facilitate and co-facilitate state meetings since 1998, also facilitating Washington State Green Party meetings and the ANM meeting in Tucson.

My children and I have personally registered over 700 Greens at Hemp Fests in the state and helped in many initiative signature gather campaigns here. I am a firm supporter of hemp and the positive contribution hemp has and can make to our environment, economic livelihood, and manufacturing in this country. I ran for Linn County Commissioner twice, in 2000 and 2004, in this very conservative area, garnering first 7.4%, then 23% of the votes. I campaigned on family wage jobs, affordable and decent housing, mass-transit options for rural areas, and agricultural hemp. I also debated local law-enforcement figures on the use of medical marijuana and the war on drugs in this country, which should end.

I am a single working mother who raised 7 seven children after my husband died in 1996. I attended college while working in the non-profit affordable housing and community services sector. I spent 8 years as a services coordinator, and have worked extensively in this arena (IE: affordable/supportive/emergency housing, community program development, children and youth supports, and local development of the 10 year planning process to address homelessness.) I have personal and professional in-depth understanding of poverty and community action processes. I continue to serve in an appointed position, for over 10 years now, as a member of the Linn County Commission on Children and Families. In Oregon this is a state sponsored program to funnel federal and state funding through each county to help support local best-practices based programs serving families, children and youth. These programs include Relief Nursery, Maternal Health, Youth Homeless Shelter, CASA, and many more. I have trained in best practice programming, collaborative approaches to community program provision, and Girls Circle facilitation through this Commission.

I hold degrees in social science, criminal justice, and massage therapy. I currently own a massage business, Lighthouse Massage, and work daily to help people deal with musculoskeletal issues. My daughter and I also care for my mother who is suffering with advanced Alzheimer's at my home.

Personal and spiritual commitment is key to determining one's limitations of action and many interpersonal areas of life. I appreciate the many and varied approaches people make in living their lives. I also became an ordained minister of the Universal Church in 2006 and have since joined 4 couples blend their lives in matrimony with inter-cultural and meaningful ceremonies.

If elected will do my best to keep abreast of relevant issues, activities, and items necessary for the growth of the Greens in the US.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Lori Burton
Oregon delegate and nominee for the US-GP Steering Committee Co-Chair

Theresa El-Amin
North Carolina Green Party

I began organizing for independent progressive politics with the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Lowndes County AL in 1966.
Returning to Atlanta (my hometown) in the summer of 1966, I worked on the Julian
Bond special election campaign for the GA State Legislature. I'm a founding
member of the Labor Party and was active at its constitutional convention
in 1996 in Cleveland OH.

My life has been devoted to organizing primarily as a labor-community
organizer. I worked in OH, MI, MO, PA, KS, MA and RI for SEIU locals and the
international from 1986-1997. I'm founding director and regional organizer
for the Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN), a grass roots community
organization founded at Highlander Center in 1999.

I joined the NC Green Party in 2006. I'm co-chair of the Triangle local,
delegate to the NC, member of Platform Committee, member of the GP Black
Caucus, member of the National Women's Caucus. I attended the 2008 convention
in Chicago and returned to NC to work on getting Cynthia McKinney on the
ballot as a write-in with the strategic objective of building membership in
the NC Green Party. I recruited 4 women to the NC GP in 2008. Three are women
of color. One is now co-chair of the NC GP. I encouraged the NC GP to host
the 2009 ANM in Durham with the strategic objective of raising the
political profile of the Green Party in North Carolina.

I'm eager to serve on the SC as a co-chair to support achieving ballot
access in more states and particularly in Southern states. And to promote
outreach to communities of color that share key values and political positions
of the GPUS.

Theresa El-Amin
Teagreenparty@aol.com

Audrey Clement
Green Party of Virginia

I have served as National Committee delegate/alternate continuously since June, 2005. I currently co-chair the Committee on Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures (BRPP) and the Ecoaction Committee. I served on the 2008 Steering Committee Election Tabulation Committee (ETC) and on the 2010 Apportionment Standing Committee (ASC), where I mastered the current NC apportionment process by updating the spreadsheet developed to operationalize the NC apportionment formula.

I helped the Green Party of Virginia put Cynthia McKinney on the presidential ballot in 2008 by garnering almost 6,500 signatures during an eight month petition drive. In late May, I was at it again in Arkansas, where I rendezvoused with Steering Committee Co-Chair Craig Thorsen to petition to help the Green Party of Arkansas to make ballot in 2010.

If elected to GPUS Steering Committee, I will make ballot access my top priority. Another key priority will be to restore teeth to the nation's environmental laws by electing Greens at all levels of government. With a Ph.D. in Political Science from Temple University, 1993 and a solid commitment to the environment and social justice, I believe I am well qualified to serve on the Steering Committee.

Audrey Clement
aclement65@hotmail.com

Craig Thorsen
Green Party of California

GREEN PARTY MEMBER:

I became a Green Party member in 1999. Prior to 1992, I was a member of the
Democratic / Farmer Labor Party (the MN affiliate of the Democratic Party).
In 1992, I became involved with the Reform Party and worked to get Jesse
Ventura elected as Governor of Minnesota. I moved to California in August
of 1999 and with Pat Buchanan's takeover of the Reform Party I sought out
and found "soul mates" in the Green Party of the United States. I was
relatively inactive as a GP member from 1999 until 2006. After a few months
as an Alternate, in April of 2008, I asked to move from Alternate to
Delegate and was approved. California approved me in April 2010 to continue
for another two years.

COMMITTEE PARTICIPATION:

BRPP (Bylaws, Rules, Policy and Procedures): I became a member of the GPUS
Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures Committee in 2006, and served until
June of 2010.

BA (BALLOT ACCESS): In February of 2008, I petitioned in Arizona for 9 days.
That was followed by a month of petitioning in Virginia (3 days per week, 12
days total) in May of 2008. CA approved me to be a member of the GPUS Ballot
Access Committee in July 2008. Subsequently, I traveled to Vermont and
worked for about twelve days petitioning, which included 4 days outside the
Vermont State Fair in Rutland. I have spoken with Richard Winger (owner /
editor of the Ballot Access News) and am subscribed to his monthly
newsletter. I was one of the plaintiffs in the AZ Ballot Access Law Suit,
that had a hearing on January 11, 2010, which AZ GP won (Yeah AZ!).

I am currently in Little Rock, Arkansas with Audrey Clement. We are spending
hours on the streets of Little Rock obtaining signatures for the AR Green
Party Ballot Access Drive.

I am a member of the Lavender Caucus.
OTHER VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PARTY:

GPUS HEADQUARTERS: I spent the month of May 2008 in Arlington, VA. During
that time I spent 2 days per week at the National Office, doing whatever
project or task was assigned. That included envelope stuffing for Fund
Raising mailings, calling individual Green Party delegates and Co-Chairs in
states without Ballot Access for a survey to update where the petitioning
stood in each State without Ballot Access. About 4 weeks before the Annual
National Meeting of 2008 in Chicago, I worked with and for the Meeting
Coordinator. I stayed in Chicago; running errands for the Coordinator, and
assisting with the Registration for the event.

LA COUNTY COUNCIL OF THE GP – In March of 2006, I collected signatures in
order to qualify to be appointed to an open seat on the LA County Council.
The individuals who were Co-Chairs in 2006 until 2008 refused to follow the
Bylaws which required them to verify my signatures and vote on whether to
appoint me to an open seat; and I attended many meetings sitting in and
representing individuals who had been elected but who were not able to
attend those meetings. In June 2008, while working in Chicago on the ANM, I
won election in a contested race for the Green Party of Los Angeles County
Council (7 people for 6 seats) and came in with the second highest number of
votes for my District. I have subsequently moved out of that CA Senatorial
District and so resigned the seat effective on my last day of residency
there, which was, Dec 31, 2009. I currently live in Signal Hill, California;
a town completely surrounded by Long Beach, California.

ELECTION TO STEERING COMMITTEE: Winning election in July 2008 has resulted
in a large amount of time spent addressing National Green Party concerns.
While I serve California as a delegate to the National Committee; I have
also been approved as a member of BRPP, Ballot Access, Merchandise and
Presidential Campaign Support Committees. I serve GPUS as Portfolio Manager
of the Accreditation, Annual National Meeting, Apportionment Standing,
Ballot Access, and BRPP Committees, and as Co-Portfolio Manager to the
Delegate Apportionment Committee, as one of my assigned duties as a Co-Chair
of the Steering Committee. I also observe on the Finance, Fund Raising and
Media Committees; primarily for background knowledge and to keep up with the
current situation, to assist in doing a good job as Co-Chair on the Steering
Committee.

EDUCATION: My degree is in Speech / Theater / Communication, so it involved
quite a bit of Public Speaking. I have spent the majority of my life in
different fields, rarely being in any starting position for more than 6
months before being promoted to a supervisory or management position. I have
supervised between 6 and 136 people at different times.

I am subscribed to the GPUS Votes List, the CA Delegation List, the Lists
for each of the Committees to which I am a member or observer, and
participate in the discussion and as many votes as possible on the lists
where I am a member. I attend every monthly teleconference possible.

In California, I attended the Plenaries in Moor Park (Jun '06), South Lake
Tahoe (Sep '06), in Venice, CA (2009). I attended the ANM in Tucson in 2006,
Reading in 2007, Chicago 2008 and in Durham 2009. I have been active in at
least one Committee of the GPUS since 2006.

I see the National Committee as the decision-making body of the Green Party
of the United States and my role of Delegate from California as an important
one. I take part in discussions and read the views of others in regard to
each Proposal in order to make the best decision that I can, in the
interests of the Green Party of California and the people of California and
the United States.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: I have been an Election Judge for over 20 years.
After the first year as a Clerk, I have been in the position of running a
precinct to ensure that every voter gets a chance to vote. The role of
Election Judge (in MN) and Inspector (in CA) is a job of responsibility to
ensure that all voters get equal opportunity to choose the individual to
which they want to give their vote.

PHILOSOPHY: I believe that individuals need to be Pro-active. Rosa Parks on
the bus in Selma, and the people in New York who protested the raiding of
the Stonewall Bar; showed us that if we, as individuals, don't make our
protests heard that many find it easy to ignore those on the fringe. It is
not often that Civil Liberties are given to individuals and groups who do
not "ask" for them.

There are many battles available. We cannot be everywhere, and we cannot do
everything. But together, we can find the times and places to most
effectively speak out and have our voices heard.

I believe that that the role of GPUS is many faceted. There is an
educational aspect to our involvement with the debates in our cities,
counties, and States; whether this is in the media, the classroom or on the
campaign trail. However, one of our primary roles is to train candidates
and their staff to run successful campaigns in electoral politics. I
believe our focus has strayed some from this, and I seek to keep GPUS
mindful to "keep our eyes on the prize".

Craig Thorsen
craig.thorsen@gmail.com

Julie Jacobson
Green Party of Hawai'i

Julie Jacobson brings the perspective of a former Green elected
office-holder as well as that of a teacher of thirty years and a
social and environmental activist. She hopes to keep the priority of
electing more Greens as a guiding focus of her work as a Co-chair of
the GPUS Steering Committee should she be elected.

Julie Jacobson grew up in Rochester, Minnesota. She is a life long
learner. She received a BS in Deaf Education in 1975 from the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, an MS in Educational Psychology and
Counseling from Winona State University (Minnesota) in 1980 and
Licensed Practical Nurse certificate in 1990 from Hawai`i Community
College. As a public school teacher for three decades, Julie worked
with deaf, hard of hearing, deaf/blind, developmentally delayed, and
severely multiply disabled children of all ages.

Julie and Bob Jacobson moved from Mazeppa, Minnesota to Hawai`i Island
in 1981 to further their careers in teaching and nursing. In 1998
Julie was elected as Green in a partisan race to the Hawai`i County
Council, District 6 seat. http://gp.org/greenpages-blog/?p=498 She
unseated an incumbent Republican. Julie served two terms (1998-2000
and 2000-2002). Julie did not run in 2002 because she needed time to
assist her elderly parents in Minnesota. Julie’s husband Bob Jacobson
ran for and won this Council seat in 2002 and served three terms from
2002 to 2008. Together Julie and Bob provided a decade of Green
leadership on the Hawai`i County Council! As an example of what
Greens can do when in office, Julie brought the stakeholders together
to the table to initiate the negotiating that led to the preservation
of Wao Kele o’Puna Rain Forest (25,000 acres).

Before getting elected to the Hawai`i County Council, Julie was
instrumental in Citizens Against Irradiation’s efforts to put an
initiative on the Hawaii County ballot that would prohibit the use of
Cobalt 60 to treat produce with ionizing radiation to make the fruit
“safe” for shipping. She helped gather the more than 14,000
signatures that led to the initiative attaining the ballot. This was
on an island of only 150,000 residents where the feds had spent
several million dollars and a huge amount of agribusiness pressure to
oppose the initiative. The ballot initiative narrowly failed, however
ultimately the company (Isomedix) that wanted to build the cobalt
fueled irradiator chose not to build in Hawai`i owing to the public
outcry as evidenced by the initiative.

Julie has had leadership roles in the Green Party at the local, state
and national levels. She was co-chair of the Green Party of Hawai`i
County 1997-1998. From 2005 to the present, she has been the
treasurer of the Green Party of Hawai`i (the state party). In 2000,
she was a delegate to the GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention as
well as a convention speaker as an elected Green. Her theme then as a
speaker about the importance of getting Greens elected matches her
current focus for GPUS leadership in electing Greens across the U.S.
Julie has been on the Green National Committee for approximately five
years. She has reliably participated in the GNC online voting.

While Chair of the Green Party of Hawai`i County and later as a
Hawai`i County Councilmember, Julie was a plaintiff in three separate
lawsuits with the Navy and the Presidents Clinton and Bush regarding
sonar testing and its catastrophic effects on whale and other marine
mammals. http://www.orcafree.org/study/study4.html She sponsored
successful legislation opposing of the Navy's proposed deployment of
Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS
LFA) sonar. http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=14725&page=1&dbid=0
The Navy settled and at least temporarily refrained from testing in
Hawai`i and near shore waters because of these successful court
challenges and legislation.

On a more personal note, Julie and Bob Jacobson built their Hawai`i
Island home in the rain forest out of mostly recycled materials in the
early 1980s. They have lived off the electrical grid since 1982 using
photovoltaic solar panels. They catch rain water off their roof for
their home and farm. Julie and Bob prove that solar power is
practical in many locations and in today’s world since they get plenty
of electric power with their 28 year old panels while living in a
place that rains over 150 inches a year! Julie and Bob have become
organic tea farmers recently with over 4,000 tea plants (yes, tea, the
drinking kind not that right wing nonsense) individually planted among
the native Ohia trees. Julie enjoys lap swimming and cats. To support
these causes, Julie recently swam a mile to raise funds for the local
YWCA aquatics program and she regularly volunteers at spay-neuters
clinics for feral cats.

In summary, Julie Jacobson is seeking to be a Co-chair of the GPUS
Steering Committee to bring Green elective office-holder experience,
practical political experience (together Bob and Julie conducted their
seven political campaigns from 1996 to 2008), and broad based critical
thinking skills anchored by a career of varied public service. Julie
will listen and consider input from others to come to decisions.

Julie Jacobson can be reached at:
jacobs@hawaiianisp.com
808-966-8831
PO Box 900
Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760

Vivek Ananthan
Green Party of Pennsylvania

NC Member of GPUS from GPPA
Philadelphia
I am an Asian -American have been living here for nearly four decades.
I have a masters degree in Public Administration.

Co -founder of the Green Party of Philadelphia about 22 years ago.
Currently on the steering committee of the Philadelphia Greens.

GPPA

Member of the steering committee and the treasurer of GPPA

GPUS
National Committee Member

Member of the International Committee for about ten years
Member of the Haiti Task Force

Travel

I have been to 89 countries in total.

I work with 19 organisations around the world. Also I work with the
United Nations. I have been with Peace Action of Philadelphia Chapter,
ex -treasurer and currently on the board. Peace action is the largest
peace group in the country.

I am one of the members of the East Timor Action Network. With the help
of the United Nations we were able to free the country. I was at Deli,
the capital as
an observer of the referendem. I visited again to introduce a community
development project.

I will be heading to Sri Lanka in August to continue working on the
proposed project for the minority people of the country to expand their
education with the help of a half-million dollar project on the plot of
land donated by me.

I am the president of Center For Creative Activities, which runs and
supervises international work camps within the country.

Also I am the founder and president of Volunteers for International
Solidarity, which is affiliated to so many International work camp
organisations from various countries. We have applied to the United
Nations to obtain consultative status.

I have attended various international meetings in Asia, Europe, Africa,
Carribean islands
and in Australia representing Volunteers for international Solidarity and
other organisations.

I have attended world Social Forums in Africa and in Asia.

Representing the International Committee of the Green Party , I have
been
to four countries.
When I attended as the only delegate to the European Federation meeting
in Europe representing the GPUS and the IC I was paid only 42 % of the
actual expenses. All my other Green travel expenses was paid by myself
from my thin wallet.

Last year at the invitation of the govt of Israel I visited different
parts of Israel and Palestine. I have not deviated from the policies of
the Greens regarding Israel.

Vivek Ananthan
viveka@juno.com

write-in
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