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Proposal Details

Proposal ID1275
ProposalCertification of 2025 Steering Committee Elections
PresenterElection Tabulation Committee
Floor ManagerJustin Paglino
PhaseClosed - Adopted
Discussion11-17-2025 - 11-30-2025
Voting12-01-2025 - 12-07-2025
Presens QuorumTwo Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Consens QuorumA Majority of Yes and No Votes

Background

"When the GNC receives a report from the Election Tabulation Committee or a properly filed Challenge as described in paragraph 3., below, the question shall be put to the GNC, on the fourteenth day following the transmittal of the report, on certifying the results as so reported, and as a distinct question, on sustaining each Challenge as may have been timely filed."

Please have the question of the certification and any challenges put to the National Committee for vote on the fourteenth day following the transmittal of the ETC report. The files (spreadsheet, report doc, pdf, email exhibit) are stored here https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/19GaDGQBRav-9kwdoVdqFxt23I5pYmHZf

Thank you,

Samuel Chance (he/him)
ETC

Proposal

2025 GPUS Election Tabulation Committee Report

Declared Winners

The report shall declare which candidates were elected to which seats and for what terms for each election they are charged with tabulating (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. C.1)
Secretary (1)
Name: Holly Hart
Term of Office: 2025-2027

“The term of office is two years, with no term limits. For the purposes of defining terms of office, years are defined as the period between regular elections as described in Article VI. The Secretary shall be elected in odd-numbered years and the Treasurer elected in even-numbered years.” (GPUS Bylaws 4-4.2(a))

“The terms of the newly elected Co-chairs and Secretary shall commence upon the conclusion of the Annual National Meeting.” (GPUS Bylaws 6-2.5)

Treasurer (1)
Name: Mark Elbourno
Term of Office: 2025-2026

“the Treasurer [shall be] elected in even-numbered years.” (GPUS Bylaws 4-4.2(a))

“If a vacancy occurs after thirty days after a regular election for Co-chair, Treasurer or Secretary, the Steering Committee shall conduct a special election to fill the seat for the remainder of the term until the next regularly scheduled election for that position.” (GPUS Bylaws 6-3.3)

“The term of the newly elected Treasurer shall commence on the first of the month that occurs at least four weeks after the conclusion of the Annual National Meeting. During this time the outgoing Treasurer would be accountable to the party as before, but would spend approximately one month working with the newly elected Treasurer to understand the party’s finances so that person would be prepared to directly oversee them upon assuming office.” (GPUS Bylaws 6-2.6)

Steering Committee Co-chairs (4)
Awarded Seats:

Wissam Charaffedine, Michigan
Tamar Yager, Virginia
Craig Cayetano, New Jersey
Arshia Papari, Texas

Term of Office: 2025-2027

“The term of office is two years, with a limit of two consecutive terms. For the purposes of defining terms of office, years are defined as the period between regular elections as described in Article VI. Four Co-chairs shall be elected in odd-numbered years and three in even-numbered years.” (GPUS Bylaws 4-4.1(a))

“After two consecutive terms, and after at least one additional year, a candidate may serve two consecutive terms. For the purposes of calculating consecutive terms, if in being elected to fill a vacancy under 6-3, a person has served for less than one year, it shall not count as a term under this Section. If they have served for one year or more, it shall count as a term.” (GPUS Bylaws 4-4.1(b))

“The terms of the newly elected Co-chairs and Secretary shall commence upon the conclusion of the Annual National Meeting.” (GPUS Bylaws 6-2.5)

Narrative Description
“a narrative description of the tabulation detailing how surpluses were redistributed, how candidates were identified for elimination at the end of each round, how ties were resolved and other factors that weighed in the final determination of the winning candidates.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. C.1)

Secretary (1)

Determination of Victory Threshold:

“In order for a candidate to be elected, the number of votes for that candidate to be an elected shall surpass the “threshold” or “winning threshold”.”
(GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.1(a))

“In an election to name a single individual to fill an office, the winning threshold shall be a simple majority of the ballots cast” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.1(b))

One hundred nine (109) votes were received for GPUS Proposal 1259 - “2025 Election - GPUS Secretary”, to fill one (1) seat. The victory threshold for single-seat positions is a simple majority, which is 54.501 votes, or 55 votes for whole vote transfers.

Tabulation for Single Seat Position

First-Choice Votes

“If a candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, then that candidate shall be declared elected.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.4)

Candidates received the following first-choice votes:

Holly Hart, IA 69
Esmée Silverman, OR 25
Philena Farley, OH 15

Holly Hart received a majority of first-choice votes and is declared elected.

Treasurer (1)

Determination of Victory Threshold

“In order for a candidate to be elected, the number of votes for that candidate to be an elected shall surpass the “threshold” or “winning threshold”.”
(GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.1(a))

“In an election to name a single individual to fill an office, the winning threshold shall be a simple majority of the ballots cast” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.1(b))

Ninety-five (95) votes were received for GPUS Proposal 1263 “2025 Special Election - GPUS Treasurer”, to fill one (1) seat. The victory threshold for single-seat positions is a simple majority, which is 47.501 votes, or 48 votes for whole vote transfers.

Tabulation for Single Seat Position

First-Choice Votes

“If a candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, then that candidate shall be declared elected.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.4)

Candidates received the following first-choice votes.

Mark Elbourno, NC 74
Samantha Hull, CO 21

Mark Elbourno received a majority of first-choice votes and is declared elected.
Steering Committee Co-Chairs (4)
Determination of Victory Threshold

“In order for a candidate to be elected, the number of votes for that candidate to be an elected shall surpass the “threshold” or “winning threshold”.”
(GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.1(a))

“The threshold is determined by dividing (the number of valid votes cast) by (the number of seats + 1)”
(GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.1(b))

One hundred four (104) votes were received for GPUS Proposal 1254 - “2025 Election - Steering Committee Co-chairs” to fill four (4) seats. The victory threshold for multi-seat elections is “determined by dividing (the number of valid votes cast) by (the number of seats + 1)”. The equation is provided below

104 / (4+1) = 104 / 5 = 20.8

The victory threshold is 20.8 votes.
Tabulation for Multi-Seat Positions
First-Choice Votes

“Any candidate whose total votes at any stage of the tabulation exceeds the winning threshold shall be declared to have won a seat.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.3(a))

Candidates received the following first-choice votes

Wissam Charaffedine, MI 42
Tamar Yager, VA 25
Craig Cayetano, NJ 20
Arshia Papari, TX 9
Laura Potts, FL 8

Wissam Charaffedine and Tamar Yager’s first-choice votes exceeded the victory threshold by 21.2 and 4.2 votes, respectively, and they were declared to have won two (2) of the four (4) Steering Committee Co-chair seats.

Surplus Vote Transfers #1

“Votes acquired by a candidate in excess of the threshold for that election shall be termed their “surplus”. A candidate’s surplus votes shall be transferred according to the following rule: transfer a portion of each vote determined by dividing the surplus of the candidate by the total number of votes for that candidate, rounded to the third decimal place, to each voter’s next choice. Votes cast for candidates who are eliminated (as described below) shall be transferred at their full current value to those voter’s next choice(s).” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.2(a))

“Votes may not be transferred to candidates who have already surpassed the threshold, nor may votes be transferred to candidates who have been eliminated. When a voter’s next choice is not eligible for receipt of transferred votes, that vote (or portion of a vote) shall be transferred to the voter’s next indicated choice until all choices on that ballot have been exhausted.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.2(b))

“Transfer of surpluses shall commence with the candidate having the largest surplus and proceed successively to the candidates with the next largest surplus” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.3(b))

Surplus votes were transferred to fill the two (2) unfilled seats.

To be awarded a seat, the remaining candidates needed to receive the following number of transferred votes.

Craig Cayetano, NJ 0.8
Arshia Papari, TX 11.8
Laura Potts, FL 12.8

The transfer of surpluses began with the candidate who had the largest surplus (21.2 votes), Wissam Charaffedine.

Tamar Yager had already surpassed the victory threshold; therefore, she was not eligible for receipt of transferred votes. On ballots where Wissam was the first choice and Tamar was the second choice, votes were transferred to the next-ranked candidate or exhausted if there were no remaining eligible candidates ranked.

Below is a breakdown of the subsequent rankings of ballots where Wissam Chareffedine was ranked as the first choice.

Craig Cayetano, NJ 7
Tamar Yager (Craig Cayetano) 6
Arshia Papari, TX 22
Tamar Yager (Arshia Papari) 2
Laura Potts, FL 1
Tamar Yager (Laura Potts) 2
No Other Candidate 0
Exhausted 2

The totals for each candidate, including the ballots where Tamar was ranked second-choice, were

Craig Cayetano, NJ 13
Arshia Papari, TX 24
Laura Potts, FL 3

Candidates’ surplus votes are transferred at a rate determined by dividing the candidate’s vote surplus by the total number of votes for that candidate, and rounding to the third decimal.

Wissam Chareffedine received 42 total votes and had a surplus of 21.2 votes. The surplus vote transfer rate was calculated using the following equation, rounded to the third decimal place.

21.2 / 42 = 0.505

The number of transferred votes for each candidate was calculated by multiplying the total number of subsequent rankings by the surplus vote transfer rate.

Craig Cayetano, NJ 13 * 0.505 = 6.565
Arshia Papari, TX 24 * 0.505 = 12.12
Laura Potts, FL 3 * 0.505 = 1.515
The candidates' new vote totals are calculated by adding their number of transferred votes and their first choice votes

Craig Cayetano, NJ 6.565 + 20 = 26.565
Arshia Papari, TX 12.12 + 9 = 21.12
Laura Potts, FL 1.515 + 8 = 9.515

Craig Cayetano and Arshia Papari exceeded the victory threshold, and they are declared to have won the remaining two (2) Steering Committee Co-chair seats.

Resources

Appendix

“The Election Tabulation Committee shall publish as an appendix to their Report the details of each ballot received, including the rankings of each individual National Committee delegate, sufficient to permit an independent tabulation.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. C.1)

2025 GPUS Elections Tabulation Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aaA_ADJQrP21KljdTyBT6Pk9j7B6uh-mLjKbJCOL_SQ/edit?usp=sharing), contains the details of each ballot received, including the ranking of each individual National Committee delegate sufficient to permit independent tabulation. The spreadsheet also includes the sheet used during the tabulation process.

In addition, all election tabulation steps were performed in recorded Zoom meetings. Video and audio recordings, as well as transcripts and chat logs, can be found on the 2025 Elections Tabulation Committee recordings page (https://secure.gpus.org/secure/Zoom-Recordings/Committee-ETC/).

Rules Evaluation

“The report shall further evaluate the extent to which these rules anticipated the demands of the election and gave adequate guidance to the Election Tabulation Committee on the conduct of its responsibilities.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. C.1)

GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII provided adequate guidance to facilitate the election tabulation process; however, rules relating to the conduct of the Election Tabulation Committee’s (ETC) responsibilities could be further developed or improved in several ways.

Findings and recommendations are outlined briefly below.

GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII

Overall, GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII: Preference Voting Rules for Steering Committee Elections provides sufficient instruction to perform the election tabulation process. Nevertheless, there are a few areas that warrant review.

Finding: Outdated Language
GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII employs outdated terminology that no longer conforms with the language used elsewhere in GPUS governing documents. Notably, Article VII includes the acronym “GNC” ten (10) times, referring to the “Green National Committee.” For example:

“Two months before each Annual National Meeting (reduced to one month for 2006), the Secretary of GPUS shall post to the GNC a request for nominations for an Election Tabulation Committee.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B)

While the term was used more commonly in the past, it is now largely outmoded, and the GPUS National Committee is generally referred to as the “National Committee” throughout GPUS’s governing documents. The first instance of the term in GPUS Rules and Procedures appears in Article VII, and is not defined. This creates potential for confusion and misinterpretation.

Recommendation: Modernize Language
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends that language and terminology found under Article VII be updated to conform with the wording found more commonly elsewhere in GPUS Rules and Procedures.

Finding: ETC Size Requirements
“The Election Tabulation Committee will consist of five members of the GNC” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B)

GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII indicates the ETC will consist of five (5) members. In the 2025 Steering Committee Election and in past elections, fewer than five (5) members of the GPUS National Committee have volunteered or been nominated to serve on the ETC. Alternatively, members elected to the ETC have resigned or otherwise become inactive following their election. These situations have required the ETC to operate with fewer than five (5) members.

Recommendation: Specify Maximum Threshold
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends that the referenced clause of GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B should be updated to read:

“The Election Tabulation Committee will consist of up to five members of the GNC”

Recommendation: Consider Minimum Membership
There were some concerns expressed during the 2025 Steering Committee Election related to the ETC consisting of a single member. To address this concern, a minimum membership requirement for ETC could be considered. In such cases, procedures should also be developed to address scenarios where the minimum membership requirement cannot be met.
Recommendation: Vacancy Process
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends the development of a vacancy process to be used to fill vacancies on the ETC. In general, having a fully staffed ETC benefits the committee by providing additional labor and oversight; to that end, efforts should be made to fill empty seats on the ETC. A vacancy process is also a straightforward method to address scenarios where a minimum membership requirement is not being met.

Finding: Impossible Ranking Scenarios
“If a voter fails to designate a candidate to a ranking, the vote shall be transferred to that voter’s next clearly indicated choice.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.2(c))

“Ballots ranking two or more candidates as the voter’s first ranked choice shall be declared “exhausted”. Ballots with two candidates sharing the same rank shall be declared exhausted when a transfer of a surplus would put in doubt which candidate would next be eligible for the transfer, unless all but one of the candidates with the shared ranking have already been defeated or elected making them ineligible to receive a transfer.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B.2(e))

Certain scenarios described under GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII are impossible with the current voting software. Voters are unable to leave intermediate rankings blank (i.e., voters cannot designate candidates to rankings 1 and 3, while designating no candidate for ranking 2). Voters are unable to designate more than one candidate for a ranking.

Recommendation: No Action Required
The Election Tabulation Committee does not recommend modifying the specified language at this time. While the described scenarios are impossible with the current voting software, they may occur in the future if a different voting system is employed, and their inclusion does not create any tabulation issues under the current system.

Finding: Immediate Tabulation and Reporting
“Immediately upon the close of the polls the Election Tabulation Committee shall tabulate the ballots pursuant to these rules. Immediately following the tabulation of such ballots, the Election Tabulation Committee shall file its written report on the election with the National Committee.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. C.1)

GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII Section C.1 specifies that ballot tabulation shall occur immediately upon the close of the polls, and that the Election Tabulation Report shall be filed immediately following the ballot tabulation. In practice, these processes take time to perform and complete, and all required resources might not be immediately available.

Recommendation: Tabulation and Reporting Timelines
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends that GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII Section C.1 be updated to establish timeline requirements for tabulation and reporting. Similar to nomination timeline requirements, Article VII should specify a number of days or weeks following the close of polls within which ballot tabulation shall occur, and following that, a number of days or weeks within which reporting must be filed.

Finding: Preservation of Election Records
“(a) All original election materials, including ballots and tally sheets, with an original signed copy of the report of the Election Tabulation Committee shall be sealed under the signatures of each committee member. An additional signed copy of the report and copies of all other election materials shall be preserved for review. The sealed original record may not be unsealed except by resolution of the GNC or by Order of a Court of competent jurisdiction.

(b) An original signed report of the Elections Tabulation Committee, including the details of each ballot received sufficient to permit an independent tabulation, shall be preserved, published and made available at the principle office of the Party for inspection by any member of the Party. An electronic form of the report shall be published, web-accessible, in the archives of the Party.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. D)

GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII Section D includes procedures that imply the existence of physical election record documents, and reference a “principle office of the Party”. The voting, tabulation, and reporting processes occur electronically, with ETC members working remotely from geographically separate locations. No physical documents are produced, and sealing such physical documents with signatures would not be viable due to distance.

Recommendation: Define Current Preservation Practices
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends that GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII Section D be updated to correspond with the practices currently being used to preserve electronic election records. During the revision process, improvements might be considered.

Election Tabulation Committee Rules

Finding: Lack of ETC Committee rules
“In conjunction with or after the establishment of a new committee, the National Committee shall approve Committee Rules, that will guide each committee’s internal operations and decision-making. Until the adoption of such Rules a Committee may meet, but may not conduct internal committee elections nor make proposals to the National Committee.” (GPUS Bylaws, Art. III Sec 3-1.3)

“Section 3-7 Committee Rules

The Committee Rules adopted by the National Committee for each Committee shall establish and codify:

3-7.1 Procedures for internal decision-making, including the consideration of proposals, appointments, nominations and elections, by conference calls, email, web pages and/or in-person meetings;

3-7.2 The responsibilities of each Committee officer;

3-7.3 The process for establishing sub-committees, as necessary to the fulfillment of the Committee’s mission;

3-7.4 Guidelines for member participation, with an emphasis on promoting participation in committee work and decision-making and protecting the ability of a Committee to raise quorum for the conduct of Committee business;

3-7.5 Procedures by which minority opinions on committee business that relate to the workings of the GPUS may be conveyed to the National Committee.” (GPUS Bylaws, Art. III Sec 3-7)

Section 3-8 Special Rules of a Committee

3-8.1 Each Committee shall have the discretion to adopt such special rules as it deems advisable to govern the conduct of internal Committee business, including for the appointment of advisors and observers, which are not inconsistent with the Rules of the Committee or the Bylaws or Rules and Procedures of the GPUS; and must report all such adopted special rules to the Steering Committee and National Committee upon passage” (GPUS Bylaws, Art. III Sec 3-8)

The Election Tabulation Committee (ETC) lacks an official set of committee rules, as called for in GPUS Bylaws, Art. III Sec 3-1.3. GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII provides instruction on the election of ETC members, the tabulation of votes, reporting, certification, and challenging of election rules, the preservation of election records, and the filling of GPUS Steering Committee (GPUS SC) vacancies. However, Article VII does not provide guidance on matters specified in GPUS Bylaws, Art. III Sec 3-7 such as internal committee decision-making, internal committee positions, guidelines for member participation, quorum, and reporting minority opinions; or other relevant concerns such as minimum membership, filling internal vacancies, resignation/removal procedures, election material (e.g., ballot key inbox) access, or the participation of current candidates in advisory, orientation, or hosting roles.

The lack of codified committee rules places increased pressure for GPUS SC and National Committee to become involved in ETC processes for the purpose of rules interpretation/guidance. The former raises potential objections due to ETC’s primary responsibilities being the tabulation of GPUS SC elections, and the latter can create a significant amount of email traffic.

This dynamic was evident during the 2025 Steering Committee election tabulation process:

On July 28th, 2025, GPUS Secretary Holly Hart, a candidate running for reelection, emailed the two members of the newly elected ETC, Samuel Chance and Donna Pulling, GPUS SC Liaison to ETC Cassandra Lems, and GPUS SC Co-chair Darryl Moch. She attempted to schedule an orientation with the newly elected ETC. She attempted to provide guidance and commentary on several topics, including the timing of ETC's access to the ballot key inbox and the necessity of performing the election tabulation process outlined in GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII for all Steering Committee elections, as opposed to only upon request. Samuel Chance felt this was inappropriate due to Holly Hart’s candidacy in the election, and requested that Holly Hart not be involved in the election tabulation process and that a non-candidate contact be provided for ETC to provide ballot key inbox access and to handle any questions or information requests from ETC. Samuel also raised concerns related to that and the lack of manual tabulation for past elections. Holly Hart, Darryl Moch, Cassandra Lems, and Donna Pulling defended Holly’s involvement in this process and the conduct of previous elections. A contentious email exchange occurred, including sarcasm, personal attacks, accusations, and the resignation of ETC member Donna Pulling. This led to an additional question of whether ETC could function with a single member. Holly Hart provided a short list of non-candidate individuals for ETC to contact to obtain ballot key inbox access. Samuel Chance made several attempts to obtain inbox access from the provided individuals, but all individuals provided either indicated that they lacked the credentials to access the inbox or did not respond.

A copy of the July 28th, 2025, email correspondence has been provided in whole as Exhibit 1: “Elections ambulation committee”.

On July 30th, 2025, ETC member Samuel Chance raised his concerns to the GPUS National Committee (GPUS NC) on the Votes list. Additional confrontational dialogue occurred, including some discussion about whether a single active member could constitute the Election Tabulation Committee, when ETC would be provided access to the ballot key inbox, and whether GPUS Secretary Holly Hart had access, or even sole access, to the ballot key inbox. Samuel Chance argued ETC should have access to the inbox on August 2nd or earlier, prior to polls closing, to allow for tabulation to begin immediately, whereas Holly Hart and SC Liaison Cassandra Lems argued the inbox access should only be granted after polls close.

Copies of emails can be found in The Natlcomvotes Archives, under subject “[usgp-nc] Input Sought: Candidate Involvement in Election Tabulation Orientation and ETC Access to Ballot Inbox” starting on Wed Jul 30 16:33:17 EDT 2025.

On August 3rd, 2025, polls closed for the GPUS Steering Committee Co-chair and GPUS Secretary elections, and on August 4th, 2025, for the GPUS Treasurer election. On August 2nd, 2025, and August 3rd, 2025, ETC Member Samuel Chance raised concerns to the GPUS National Committee about not having access to the ballot key inbox both before and after polls closed, despite multiple direct requests made to Holly Hart, Darryl Moch, and the contact list Holly Hart provided. This generated additional heated emails related to whether ETC should be granted ballot key inbox access while consisting of a single active member, as well as some apparent confusion on the part of Holly Hart and Darryl Moch on whether Samuel Chance wanted either of them to provide ballot inbox access based on his previous requests that Holly Hart not be involved.

Copies of emails can be found in The Natlcomvotes Archives, under the subject “[usgp-nc] ETC Ballot Inbox Access” starting on Sat Aug 2 17:17:06 EDT 2025. GPUS SC Co-chair Darryl Moch provided his own account of events in another email chain, with the subject “[usgp-nc] clarifications regarding ETC” starting on Mon Aug 4 15:36:42 EDT 2025.

On August 4th, 2025, prospective GPUS SC member Wissam Charafeddine brokered an agreement between the GPUS Steering Committee and the Election Tabulation Committee to address concerns related to ETC consisting of a single active member by recruiting two volunteer non-candidate observers. ETC member Samuel Chance had already planned to perform the election tabulation in recorded Zoom meetings open to all GPUS NC members. The agreement was announced by Wissam Charafeddine with the subject “[usgp-nc] ETC Ballot Inbox Access” at Mon Aug 4 14:51:04 EDT 2025. ETC was given access credentials for the ballot key inbox, and the first election tabulation session occurred the following day.

Recommendation: Adoption of Election Tabulation Committee rules
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends the GPUS National Committee adopt and approve committee rules for the ETC that address the aforementioned areas of concern. Committee rules adopted by existing elected committees, such as the GPUS Credentials Committee can serve as a guide for the development of ETC committee rules. Based on the particularities of the 2025 Steering Committee elections, we recommend that those rules address access to the ballot key inbox, whether ETC can consist of one active member, and whether/how candidates may interact with the election tabulation process.

Election Tabulation Committee Election Timeline

Finding: Overlap with GPUS Steering Committee Elections
"6-1.1 Between seventy-five and eighty days before the Annual National Meeting, the Secretary shall publish a call for nominations for Steering Committee members to the National Committees Votes List. The call shall contain the job description for each position, as is described in the the GPUS Rules and Procedures, and a copy of this Article.

6-1.2 Nominations may be made by any National Committee member or alternate, including the candidate. Nominations shall be considered made when posted to the National Committees Votes List. Nominations shall be considered accepted when posted as such to the National Committees Votes List by the candidate. Self-nominations shall be considered accepted when made.

6-1.3 The deadline for nominations shall be 28 days before the Annual National Meeting." (GPUS Bylaws Art. VI Sec. 6.1)

“Two months before each Annual National Meeting (reduced to one month for 2006), the Secretary of GPUS shall post to the GNC a request for nominations for an Election Tabulation Committee.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. B)

On August 4th, GPCA Delegate Jared Laiti contacted the GPUS NC and indicated they “think that the ETC elections should not have taken place after nominations for steering committee were open, when candidates are formally identified” due to concerns regarding “ETC candidates ... be[ing] motivated by any possible support or opposition to declared SC candidates”

The schedules provided by GPUS Bylaws and Rules and Procedures for the election of GPUS Steering Committee and the Election Tabulation Committee overlap. GPUS Bylaws dictate that nominations for GPUS SC nominations open prior to, and close after nominations for ETC, meaning that the entire ETC nomination process takes place while GPUS SC nominations are open, creating the possibility for ETC candidates to be motivated by support or opposition to already declared SC candidates.

During the 2025 Steering Committee election cycle, the GPUS Secretary did not post a call for ETC volunteers/nominations on time. Based on the 2025 ANM date of July 31, the call for ETC volunteers/nominations should have been posted on May 31. The call for ETC volunteers/nominations was first posted on July 8th, which is thirty-eight (38) days after the date provided in GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII and five (5) days after the close of nominations for GPUS SC. Meaning the entire ETC nomination period occurred after all GPUS SC nominees were declared.

The ETC nomination period ended July 13, five (5) days after nominations were called. As a result, the discussion and voting periods for GPUS Proposals 1261 Election of 2025 Elections Tabulation Committee - ETC, 1254 2025 Election - Steering Committee Co-chairs, 1259 2025 Election - GPUS Secretary, and 1263 2025 Special Election - GPUS Treasurer all occurred largely concurrently. The voting period for Proposal 1261 Election of 2025 Elections Tabulation Committee - ETC ended on July 27, just six (6) to seven (7) days before the end of the voting periods for the Steering Committee elections on August 2nd and 3rd. The 2025 Green Party ANM took place from July 31 through August 3, during which period many members of GPUS SC and GPUS NC were occupied. Due to this confluence of factors, there was a significantly reduced timeline to address and resolve any issues emerging from the ETC election, during which time key actors had limited availability and focus.

Recommendation: Schedule ETC election before GPUS SC Nominations
The Election Tabulation Committee recommends that the GPUS NC update GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VII to have the GPUS Secretary post the Call for ETC nomination/volunteers a sufficient period of time prior to the call for GPUS SC candidates to allow for matters related to ETC elections to be resolved prior to the beginning of the GPUS SC nomination period, and well before GPUS SC election discussion and voting periods.

Exhibits

Exhibit 1: “Elections ambulation committee”
Gmail - Elections ambulation committee.pdf (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p8B6DkGHnW6EjiN8WzdJ7gihzPsf06U_/view?usp=sharing)

2025 Election Tabulation Committee Report.pdf (formatted) (https://drive.google.com/file/d/14xRk48evNFOzeLAI8o-e-7Ggpcf8upho/view?usp=sharing)
 

6-4.7 PROPOSAL:

The Green Party the U.S. National Committee hereby certifies the results of the August 2nd, 2025, Steering Committee elections for Co-chairs and Secretary, and the August 3rd, 2025 Steering Committee election for Treasurer.

Co-chairs

Wissam Charaffedine, Michigan
Tamar Yager, Virginia
Craig Cayetano, New Jersey
Arshia Papari, Texas

Secretary

Holly Hart, Iowa

Treasurer

Mark Elbourno

6-4.8 IMPLEMENTATION/TIMELINE/RESOURCES: (personnel, meetings, work hours, finances, period of implementation, including any sunset clause if applicable)

6-4.9 REFERENCES:

Appendix
“The Election Tabulation Committee shall publish as an appendix to their Report the details of each ballot received, including the rankings of each individual National Committee delegate, sufficient to permit an independent tabulation.” (GPUS Rules and Procedures Art. VII Sec. C.1)

2025 GPUS Elections Tabulation Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aaA_ADJQrP21KljdTyBT6Pk9j7B6uh-mLjKbJCOL_SQ/edit?usp=sharing), contains the details of each ballot received, including the ranking of each individual National Committee delegate sufficient to permit independent tabulation. The spreadsheet also includes the sheet used during the tabulation process.

In addition, all election tabulation steps were performed in recorded Zoom meetings. Video and audio recordings, as well as transcripts and chat logs, can be found on the 2025 Elections Tabulation Committee recordings page (https://secure.gpus.org/secure/Zoom-Recordings/Committee-ETC/).

Exhibits
Exhibit 1: “Elections ambulation committee”
Gmail - Elections ambulation committee.pdf (https://drive.google.com/file/d/15L_AynGfr3Fj3rzDtraqsvJe5KUl7SIA/view?usp=sharing)

2025 Election Tabulation Committee Report.pdf (formatted) (https://drive.google.com/file/d/14xRk48evNFOzeLAI8o-e-7Ggpcf8upho/view?usp=sharing)

References

None


The voting software used by the Green Party of the United States is free software, licensed under the General Public License v2 (GPL).