2012 June 16-17 – nomination for US Senate

On the weekend of 2012 June 16-17, the Libertarian Party of Texas held their state convention, in which they nominated their US Senate candidate. A prior motion to use Approval Voting passed without objection. The results are as follows:

Wayne Huffman 2

Dr. Raju 3

Robert Butler 19

John Roland 27

Scott Jameson 28

John Jay Myers 97

176 total approvals from 123 ballots cast = 1.43 approvals per ballot

A news item on the event quoted Pat Dixon, chairman of the TX LP:

[Dixon] said the answer to the spoiler effect is approval voting, in which voters check off every candidate that appeals to them instead of choosing one. He said the method is gaining traction among Libertarians nationwide.

 

The Libertarian Party of Texas will be putting approval voting up for a vote before its 210 delegates at this week’s convention. If accepted, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate will be chosen using the method (six candidates are running).

 

Approval voting is “the way most people make decisions,” Dixon said. “That’s the way elections ought to be, too. It shouldn’t be penalizing people for making a choice. It should be empowering people to say these are the acceptable choices and these are not.”

Dixon later reported positive results:

Given that the LP national convention went round after round into runoffs for national chair, with us wondering if a chair would be selected before adjournment, this experience may help get AV more widely implemented in the LP.  I think the experience of our delegates was very positive.

National Platform Consensus Voting on format by approval voting:

Directional Principals format (short or KISS format) received 8 votes.
Atlanta format (4 paragraphs) received 6 votes.
“None of the above” received 6 votes.

2006 June 11

28 members in attendance

Chair asked that the rules be suspended to consider out of order the appointment of a SLECT representative to the Operations Committee.

Brian Bracamonte received 8 votes.
Matt Finkel received 11 votes.
Chris Jagge received 11 votes.
Jon Roland received 7 votes.

Chris Jagge was elected in a run-off against Matt Finkel, 11 to 8.

Patrick Dixon explains that each year the State Committee has set annual goals for the State Party. We limit the goals to five and use approval voting.

Chair rules that we have a threshold of 50% approval for retaining a goal.

Political Goals:
22 votes for: 1. Deploy 5,000 signs and 100,000 door hangers for November elections.
20 votes for 2. Increase voting percentages, 1% statewide.
19 votes for 3. Defeat 10 incumbent state legislators.
22 votes for 4. Recruit 5 serious candidates for municipal offices in May 2007.
16 votes for 5. Present a bill that gets to the state house for a floor vote.
12 votes for 19. Produce or purchase a 30 second television commercial….
19 votes for 21. Win an election in November

Goal number 19 was dropped.

Financial Goals:
20 votes for 8. Establish a financial reserve plan.
20 votes for 9. Establish a reserve.
21 votes for 10. Increase the pledge amount to $5,000.
19 votes for 11. Increase pledgers to 150.
23 votes for 12. Increase donor base by 50%.
3 votes for 20. A plan to coordinate state and county treasurers

Goal number 20 was dropped.

Organizational Goals:
??? for 6. Develop the Party by having a plan for precinct chairs in organized counties.
23 votes for 7. Clean up the database.
19 votes for 13. One or more counties with Bylaws and a standing Executive Committee in each ….
9 votes for 14. To create or expand the infrastructure below the state party level
24 votes for 15. Develop a county organizational guide.
21 votes for 16. Re-form a Publications Committee and create a newsletter or other form of communications.
6 votes for 17. Counties adopt a neighboring unorganized county to organize.
6 votes for 18. Counties be encouraged to hold at least four meetings a year.

Goals numbered 14, 17, and 18 were dropped.

21 votes for: 1. Deploy 5,000 signs and 100,000 door hangers for November elections.
11 votes for 2. Increase voting percentages, 1% statewide.
12 votes for 3. Be a spoiler in 10 incumbent state legislative races.
23 votes for 4. Recruit 5 serious candidates for non-partisan offices in May 2007.
20 votes for 5. Present a bill that gets to the state house for a floor vote.
6 votes for 21. Win an election in November

Goals number 1, 4, and 5 were selected for our 2007 annual political goals.

2005 December 10

15 members in attendance

LP State Convention 2006 location:

Wichita Falls received 11 votes.
Dallas received 2 votes.
El Paso received 4 votes.
San Antonio 5 votes.

Wichita Falls was selected for the 2006 Convention.

2004 July 31

17 members in attandance

Patrick Dixon explained that the SLECT would select 5 goals for the year  June 2004 to June 2005. The method of selecting the goals would be Approval Voting with the top five goals with a majority of votes being accepted. Goals submitted by email were already listed and additional goals could be added to the list by motion and second.

Goal #1 was duplicative and was crossed out without objection by the Chair prior to any action.
Goal #2 received 14 votes.
Goal #3 received 9 votes.
Goal #4 received 11 votes.
Goal #5 received 3 votes.
Goal #6 received 12 votes.
Goal #7 received 6 votes.
Goal #8 received 10 votes.
Goal #9 received 14 votes.

The goals approved were #2, #4, #6, #8, and #9.