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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	1244
Proposal	Creation of a Special Fund to Identify Non-Partisan Candidates in Voter Registration-by-Party States
Presenter	Steering Committee
Floor Manager	Charles Ostdiek
Phase	Voting
Discussion	02/03/2025 - 03/02/2025
Voting	03/03/2025 - 03/09/2025
Presens Quorum	0.6666
Consens Quorum	0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

Greens running for — and being elected to — local office, are one the strengths of the Green Party across the United States. The purpose of this proposal is to improve the ability of the Green Party to identify registered Greens running for non-partisan local office in voter registration-by-party states.

The scope of this matter, is that in 28 states and the District of Colombia, voter registration is done by political party. Among these states, one can register Green and have it been counted by the state government in 22 states and DC: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, NE, NJ, NV, NM, NY, OR, PA, UT WV.

Among these 23, elections for local non-state, non-Federal office are either completely or primarily non-partisan in all but CT, LA and PA. In these remaining 20, registered Greens often run for and are elected to public office — but are not known to their state parties.
To identify such registered Green candidates and officeholders, systematic work is currently only done in CA, DE, DC, ME and OR, by comparing official governmental lists of non-partisan candidates to official lists of registered Greens. Despite this only being done in four states and DC, approximately 50% of all known Greens holding elected office, and approximately 20% to 30% of all Green candidates for all offices each year, already come from these efforts.

If this work was done in most of all of the voter registration-by-party states in which one can register Green and have it be counted, that also have non-partisan local elections, arguably even more registered Green candidates and officeholders would be identified. Alternatively, the failure to do this work means the number of reported registered Green candidates and officeholders in nonpartisan races across the U.S. is likely significantly understated., and thereby the strength of the Green Party understated as well.

Thus far, work to identify these registered Green candidates and officeholders has been done almost exclusively by Mike Feinstein, the GPUS Elections Database Manager, along with substantial work done in Maine over recent years in conjunction with Feinstein, by state Green Party co-chair Lyn Maravelli.

The work done almost exclusively by Feinstein is extremely time-consuming. The time he spends doing these searches (outside of his home state of California), takes away scarce and valuable time from his ability to perform other needed Elections Database tasks as described in his job description as Database Manager, including producing timely reports on Green election results that are of great value for internal Green Party purposes and to promote the Green Party to the public.

It is not sustainable for the GPUS to depend upon Feinstein to continue to do this work in this manner. Instead, ideally each state party in the 22 states and DC would undertake these searches on their own, in a decentralized, comprehensive and timely manner; and in the process, also gain the additional benefit of learning more about local elections happening in their states.

To support such a comprehensive effort, this proposal (1) would establish a Special Project under GPUS Fiscal Policy to provide modest stipends for this work (with the understanding that such searches would benefit both state parties and the GPUS, and that the GPUS should not be expected to exclusively support this work); and (2) would create at least a partially new income stream to fund this Special Project, that does not necessarily fully compete with other items in the GPUS Annual Budget, and would not necessarily compel any funding from the GPUS Annual Budget, other than individual contributions made directly into the Special Fund.

The Special Project would be administered according to the protocol established for this in the Elections Database Manager MOU/Job Description, approved by the Steering Committee and signed by the Steering Committee and Feinstein. That language is included in the proposal text below. As to the amount expected to be spent from the Special Fund, the protocol established a high end of an approximately $300 stipend per state party for the state parties with the largest number of registered Greens and non-partisan offices to contest - meaning the states where the highest work load is anticipated. Of the 22 states and DC, the most work involved would include AK, AZ, CA, CO, FL, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NM, NY, OR and WV. Among them, perhaps only CO, ME, MA, NJ, NY and OR might reach near the maximum (as Feinstein already does CA), with the other states needing less work. Hence on an annual basis, perhaps only approximately $3,000 might be sent out in the form of stipends in an even-numbered year and much less so in an odd-numbered year when there are far fewer races in most states.

As for whether even this modest amount of funding would compete with other funding needs of the GPUS, the primary manner of soliciting funds under this proposal would be via outreach to present and former Green officeholders, who presumably especially see the value in identifying Greens holding non-partisan elected office, and who are not now being approached for donations in any systematic manner by the GPUS. So it is not expected that even this modest amount of funding would meaningfully compete with other funding needs of the GPUS.

Finally as to whether this program would compete with other party electoral strategies to run for other types of office, all this program would do is help to identify Green Party members who are already running and/or serving in nonpartisan elected office. It is not a funding program nor a planning program about running for nonpartisan office per se.

GPUS Fiscal Policy Section 9-4 Special Projects states:

9-4.1 Special projects may be approved by a 2/3 vote of the NC or for special projects under $2000 by a 2/3 vote of the SC.

9-4.2 To be approved all special projects shall include a Statement of Purpose defining the purpose for which the special project is established and the purpose towards which donations may be made and funds spent. Special projects may be established for a period of limited duration.

9-4.3 Donations for special projects may only be made for purposes consistent with its Statement of Purpose. Use of these funds is governed by this Statement of Purpose and donor intent.

Proposal

That the following proposal be approved

Part I: That the GPUS establish a Special Project entitled “Identifying Green candidates and officeholders for non-partisan local office”

Part II: That the Statement of Purpose be “This Special Project shall support efforts by state Green Parties to identify registered Green Party members in their state running for and serving in nonpartisan elected office.”

Part III: That a stand alone donation option link for this Special Project be created on www.gp.org and also listed on https://www.gp.org/donateoptions (or any subsequent version of that page), and that the stand alone link contain the Statement of Purpose and the caveats under 9-4.3

Part IV: That periodic email blasts including this donation link be sent via the GPUS Nationbuilder account, or other appropriate means, to all present and previous Green officeholders who are still Green Party members, for whom the GPUS has working email addresses for, to solicit their direct contributions to this fund.

Part V: That once each year in conjunction with a GPUS Green Stream email blast that includes highlighting reports from the GPUS Elections Database, that a fundraising appeal with this link be included to highlight how these searches contribute to the election information reported in the Elections Database.

Part VI: That the Special Fund be administered through the summer of 2027 according to the Elections Database Manager MOU/Job Description approved for that period by the Steering Committee as contained in Section 4. Research in conjunction with state parties , found at this link https://www.gpelections.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GPUS-Elections-Data-Base-Manager-Job-Description_Jan_2024-.pdf and copied and pasted in the references section following this proposal, that provides that the Elections Database Manager work with state parties and volunteers to train them to conduct their own research to identify Green Party members running in non-partisan races, and how the funds shall be administered; and that for the duration of the period of this Fund through the end of November 2029, according to this same process or with any amendments to it made by the Steering Committee in any future Elections Database Manager MOU/Job Description it approves; and if there is no Elections Database Manager MOU/Job Description approved through the end of November 2029, via a proposal by the Steering Committee to the National Committee.

Part VII: That this Fund be established for a five year period running through the November 2029 elections and terminating at the end of 2029, and that a report from the Elections Database Manager on its performance, submitted to the National Committee, Steering Committee, Finance Committee and Coordinated Campaign Committee, be included with any proposal to extend the life of the Fund.

Resources

The GPUS Web Manager would create the donation link, the GPUS Elections Database Manager would compile the email addresses of current and former Green elected officials, and appropriate GPUS staff would facilitate the email blasts.

References

GPUS Fiscal Policy Section 9-4 Special Projects
https://gpus.org/fiscal-policy/#09

Elections Database Manager MOU/Job Description approved for that period by the Steering Committee on January 26, 2025 and the text from Section 4. Research in conjunction with state parties
https://www.gpelections.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GPUS-Elections-Data-Base-Manager-Job-Description_Jan_2024-.pdf

4. Research in conjunction with state parties

4-1 Work with state parties and volunteers in voter registration-by-party-states to train them to conduct their own research to identify Green Party members running in non-partisan races in their states; and administer a stipend program to support this research utilizing funds present in the Special Project entitled “Identifying Green candidates and officeholders for non-partisan local office” or something similar , as well as any additional funds for this purpose otherwise donated to the GPUS and/or approved in the GPUS Budget. Then on a bi-annual basis

4-1.1 The Manager shall send a web-based application to the co-chairs (or other such officers) in each State Party based in a voter registration-by-party state, in which it is possible to register Green and have it be counted by the state, seeking the following information:

• which races are non partisan over the ensuing two-year election cycle;
• where information about the candidates running in nonpartisan races can be found, including on governmental websites, League of Women-sponsored sites and others;
• when the filling deadlines are for these elections, and citing links to election codes where applicable;
• how the most current Green voter registration list will be acquired by the state party;
• how the Green voter registration list will be accessed by individuals doing this work;
• whether the Green voter registration list shows when a person registered Green;
• whether the Green voter registration list can be shared with the Manager, in order to promote quality control and be used for follow up research by the Manager;
• when the research work can be expected to be completed, the approximate number of hours estimated to complete this work, and how it will be communicated to the Manager, including as much research as is possible with the name of the candidate, the office sought, how many candidates are running for how many seat, a link to the list of candidates, and a link to the candidate website and candidate’s social media links;
• if the candidate has run for office before and that information is not contained in the Database, similar information for past campaigns, including the election results (number of candidates for how many seats, number of votes received, percentage of vote received, place of finish and if elected, for how long did they serve);
• how such research would be accomplished within the state party including possibly dividing it among multiple individuals; and
• how a document will be produced that can enable this work in the future, including recording helpful links to where candidate information can be found.

4-1.2 For each state party that responds, the Manager shall engage them with any follow-up questions as necessary, shall consult with the Finance Committee on a draft stipend plan, and then present it to the state party (with a goal of approximately $15/hour, to a total no more than $300 per state, or a lump sum approximating up to the same for similar work). If and when the state party and the Manager agrees to a Stipend Research Plan under a timeline mutually agreed to, the state party officers shall agree to the plan in writing via an email. Once the work is completed and submitted to the Manager, the Manager shall send documentation to the GPUS Treasurer that the work has been completed to the satisfaction of the Manager (according to the specifications of the Stipend Research Plan) and the Treasurer shall provide the compensation agreed to under the Plan.

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