[BwayDems] 2021 Endorsement Meetings -- Thursday, February 11th, from 7:00-9:00pm

[Paula Diamond Roman]

Hello Everyone,
Welcome to our new virtual world of voting for endorsements.This Thursday, February 11th, from 7:00-7:45pm we’ll be hearing from theBorough President candidates, and from 7:45-9:00pm we’ll be discussing all thecandidates we’ve heard from in the last couple of months. Since we aren’t meetingin person, dues must be paid beforehand and voting will be electronic forthe most part. Voting will open at 7:00pm on February 11th and close at 9:00pmon February 13th. Our new president, Heather Ducharme will give a brief training will give a brief training on electronic voting as well.

Things have been confusing in our new virtualworld. If you can’t vote electronically, contact District Leaders Paula DiamondRomán & Curtis Arluck at districtleaders at broadwaydemocrats.org or callPaula at 917-757-6058 to make arrangements for a paper ballot. If you’reunclear whether you’ve attended one of the previous nine monthly publicmeetings or any of the other rules, also please feel free to contact us as well. 


Eligibility to Vote in Club Elections

To vote in club elections (endorsements,elections of officers, judicial convention, amendments), you must be aneligible, voting member of the Broadway Democrats. 
   
   - You must live in the69th Assembly District, or an area that used to be in the 69th AD beforeredistricting.
   - You can’t have voted inany other club for the 2021 races. 
   - You must have attendedat least one of the monthly public/virtual meetings between January 2020 and January2021. 
   -  You must be up to datewith your membership dues. Dues are $25; senior/low-income dues are $10. Duescan be paid two ways. 1) Checks can be mailed toLuis Román, c/o Broadway Democrats, 120 West 109th Street #3E, New York, NY10025 or left with Curtis’ doorman at 545 West 111   th Street. Please callPaula if you pay your dues by check. 2) Dues can also be paid throughPaypal using your account or your credit card on our website. Click on http://www.broadwaydemocrats.org/pay-your-annual-dues.html . When you pay your dues, please include your email address andtelephone number.

 

How to Endorse with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)

We use Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which is verysimilar to the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) coming to New York City this year. Eachballot consists of a list of the candidates known to be running, as well as"No Endorsement", for each office. Assuming there are more than twocandidates running for an office, the voting member ranks candidates by numbers- 1 for first choice, 2 for second choice, 3 for third choice. No more thanthree choices are ranked, although a member can choose to rank fewer than threecandidates.

This year, we’ll be conducting the voteelectronically using an internet app calledOPAVote which allows you to vote anonymously. If you’re eligible to vote, you’ll receive a link to cast your vote. (Weneed to enter you into OPAVote beforehand which is why you must contact us ASAPto pay your dues or if you didn't receive a link and you think you're eligible.)The OPAVote ballot features each of the races beingendorsed, with each of the candidates in each race in a randomized order, witha button to click next to each candidate’s name.  You can vote for up to three candidates ineach race, including “No Endorsement.” The first candidate you “add” will beyour first choice, the second will be your second choice, and the third will beyour third choice.  "No Endorsement" is always anoption. You can review your choices before you submit your vote. OPAVoteallows you to select more than three choices but any candidate after threechoices won’t be included in our results.
If a single candidate has received a majority ofvotes (50% plus 1), that candidate has won the vote and the club endorsement.Otherwise, whichever candidate (other than “No Endorsement”) has the fewesttotal votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the next rankedcandidate down the list. In the case where no further ranked candidates arelisted on a ballot, that vote is distributed to “ No Endorsement. ” When asingle candidate has a majority of votes, that candidate has won the vote andthe club endorsement. If the process reduces to a single candidate, and thatcandidate doesn’t have more votes than “ No Endorsement, ” the club doesn’tendorse in that race. In addition, where the office represents only part of theClub’s area, at least ten votes must be cast by members living in the districtrepresented, and the candidate must win the majority of the vote among thosemembers living in that district, as well as the majority of the vote of thefull club.
Paula DiamondRomán & Curtis Arluckdistrictleaders at broadwaydemocrats.org
917-757-6058
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