Bylaws Interpretation

Whereas the GPCA Bylaws calling for six men and six women to be elected each year to serve staggered two year terms on the Coordinating Committee, were designed to uplift and not marginalize people who have been historically oppressed due to gender and/or gender identities, and the bylaws did not intend to exclude any Greens who are non-binary, or any Greens who identify not as male nor female, or not solely as male or not solely female;

Therefore until the Bylaws language can be fully updated, this bylaws interpretation makes it clear that any California Green who identifies as non-binary gender, as not male nor female, or not solely as male or not solely female, is eligible to apply to be a candidate and run for election to a seat on the GPCA CC. The call for candidates and other information about the CC election shall include information to make clear that non-binary gender candidates are not excluded and are eligible to apply and run for election to the CC. All other previous non-conflicting rules for election to the CC would apply (where to submit application, terms, timelines and deadlines, etc.)

Whereas the gender-specific bylaws were intended to prevent monopolization of power by those who historically, in western culture, have held power (cis-male) to the exclusion of those whose opinions or rights have historically been suppressed;

Therefore the cis-male candidates receiving the highest rankings shall be limited to no more than 6 seats, but shall not be guaranteed 6 seats if there are "female" and "non-binary" gender candidates that receive higher rankings than the cis-male candidates.

Therefore:

Implementation: To prevent cis-male candidates from taking seats from other candidates who receive higher votes than the cis-males, rankings between all candidates will be determined by having all candidates for CC seats run together in a single CC rank-choice-vote election for the total 12 seats. (There will NOT be separate ballots for 6 "male" seats and 6 "female" seats). Cis-males will be limited to 6 seats for the 6 males who receive the best rankings. It is possible for there to be fewer than 6 males elected if other candidates rank better than one or more of the male candidates, even if there are 6 or more male candidates running.

Additional information:

For example:

It would work like this.

(For simplicity’s sake, say there are 4 seats with no more than two seats going to males.)

Mary (female) 1321 elected
Steve (male) 1206 elected
Andrew (male) 1191 elected
Jim (male) 875 not elected
Sue Ellen (female) 743 elected
Lucille (female) 621 not elected
Nina 412 not elected
Beth 134 not elected
Jim receives more votes but because Steve and Andrew took up the two male slots available, the fourth seat goes to Sue Ellen.

But if it were

Mary (female)1321
Steve (male) 1206
Sue Ellen (female) 1191
Eleanor (non-binary) 875
Andrew 743
etc
Andrew would not be elected because the 2 male seat availability is a cap, rather than a requirement.

Definitions:

"Cis gender males" refers to biological males who are not transgender.

The definition of "Transgender" recently adopted by the State of California, Section 2 of SB 179 that takes effect in 2019 is: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB179

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References

Email Announcement sent out to the GPCA Inform list on March 20, 2018 with the Subject title "ANNOUNCEMENT: Application period for election to fill twelve seats on the GPCA Coordinating Committee (CC) to "announce a call for candidates for a regular election to fill twelve seats on the GPCA Coordinating Committee (CC) for the two-year CC terms running from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020

GPCA Bylaws

http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/04-02-2018

Background

This topic was on the Agenda of the CC March 5th call and also on the April 2nd call.

Following the March CC meeting, an announcement was sent out to the GPCA Inform list on March 20th to "announce a call for candidates for a regular election to fill twelve seats on the GPCA Coordinating Committee (CC) for the two-year CC terms running from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020."

The notice included the following text, "These seats on the CC are specified in our bylaws as apportioned for six “male” and six “female” California Greens. However, the current CC has concluded that the decades-old Green Party of California bylaws were not intended to exclude any Greens who are non-binary, or any Greens who identify not as male nor female, or not solely as male or not solely as female. Rather, these gender-specific bylaws were intended to prevent monopolization of power by those who historically, in western culture, have held power (cis-male) to the exclusion of those whose opinions or rights have historically been suppressed. The CC desires input into how best to ensure that representation on the CC is effected according to these principles. And, in the meantime, the CC also requests that each candidate's application for the CC clearly indicate whether they are applying for one of the six "male" seats, one of the six “female" seats, or for a "neither male nor female seat" (if our bylaws had included such a category)."

Input was received about how to ensure that representation on the CC is effected according to these principles and incorporated into the proposal.

This bylaws interpretation is being put to a vote by the SGA at the same time as the CC election due to the technical error that it was not instead on the Stockton General Assembly Agenda on June 9-10.