Friday April 20, 2007 – BGP deadline for candidates to notify the BGP Primary Committee of their Intent to Run as a Green Party candidate.
Sunday April 29, 2007 – The Primary Committee will have a sample ballot prepared by this date. Deadline for voters to register as Green and still participate in the Primary. Voters must fill out a registration form or sign the Ineligible to Register to Vote form by this date.
Friday May 11. 2007 – Deadline for Green voters to request an absentee ballot.
Monday May 14, 2007 – Deadline for the Primary Committee to mail out absentee ballots.
Friday May 18, 2007 – Absentee ballots must be postmarked by this date in order to be counted.
Sunday May 20, 2007 – Baltimore Green Party Primary. Greens will vote on candidate nominations. Poll locations and times will be decided by the Primary Committee.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007: General Election
Process Details
1. Primary Committee A special Primary Committee will be formed by an act of the Baltimore Green Party. The Primary Committee will be made up of volunteers who are willing to commit to working on the process through to the end. Members of the Maryland Green Party Coordinating Council’s Electoral Committee will be asked to be advisory members and to help the process go smoothly. The MGP will recognize through acceptance of a separate proposal brought to the MGP CC that the actions of this Baltimore City Primary Committee will be considered representative of the registered Greens in Baltimore City for the purpose of Green nominations for the 2007 Baltimore City election. The duties of the Primary Committee are as follows:
2. Who is eligible to vote in the 2007 Baltimore City Green Party Primary? Anyone who is meets the following criteria:
4. Will it be possible for voters to vote in both the Green Primary and the major parties’ primary? No.
5. Who is eligible to be a candidate?
Anyone who meets all the Board of Elections requirements for the office they are seeking and the additional Green Party requirements:
6. Will voters only vote for candidates in their district or will they vote for candidates in all districts? All Greens who are Baltimore City residents are eligible to vote in all races. Voting is not limited by district. Green voters will choose the races in which to cast their votes.
(BGP decided to defer #7 to the Primary Committee) [7. How are the winning candidates determined? The winning candidate or option will be determined by instant run-off (IRV). The IRV process insures the winning candidate or option will have a majority. For each office, voters rank the candidates assigning the number one to their first choice, two to their second choice, etc. They do not have to rank every candidate or option. The options “Nominate no candidate” and “None of the above” are treated like candidates and can be assigned a ranking. An additional option “No opinion” is not ranked and choosing it will abstain the voter from voting for that office—just like leaving all options blank (there will be no option to choose write-in candidates as they would not have fulfilled the Green Party requirements listed in #5). Example of ballot:
8. How and by whom will the votes be counted? The Primary Committee will make final decisions regarding vote tabulation. The Primary Committee may ask independent groups such as the League of Women Voters and/or Center for Voting and Democracy to help count ballots. Ballots will be counted using an instant run-off system of voting.
9. How and when will voters be notified of the Green Primary?
Public notice of the Green Primary shall be made. Available options may include press releases, newspaper/radio adds, postings on websites, phone-banking and direct mail. Final decisions regarding notice shall be made by the Primary Committee.
10. How will voters be able to verify that their vote was counted correctly?
Each ballot will have a unique ID numbers not linked to the voter. The results table will be posted to the website so any voter could look up his or her vote by ballot ID number to make sure it was counted correctly.
11. How and when will the Primary results be posted?
Within 10 days of election, two documents will be posted on the website as the BGP has done for 2004 and 2006. One is a summary of the election results indicating the winning candidates or options, and the other is a table of all votes cast listed by voter ID number, so voters can lookup and verify that their vote was counted correctly.
12. Dispute Resolution:
A candidate may dispute the results of the Primary by providing the rationale for his or her dispute and any supporting documentation to the Primary Committee. In order for the dispute to be heard, the Primary Committee must receive the written dispute within 48 hours of the closing of the polls. The Primary Committee will meet within 7 days to hear the dispute and will make final decisions on how to resolve the dispute.
13. Filling Vacancies.
Except in races “Nominate No Candidate” wins in the Primary, the Green Party may fill vacancies by the following procedure up until the Board of Elections deadline.