Georgia Green Party to Hold Virtual State Convention
rules adopted to suspend some rules under ‘exigent circumstances’

Today the officers of the Georgia Green Party have published their determination that exigent circumstances exist, necessitating the suspension of certain rules for the conduct of party business related to the Party’s upcoming Nominating Convention and its local affiliation process.

“Under the exigent circumstances of pandemic conditions, for some, the price of admission to the Green Party’s state convention was just discounted by the cost of a cross-state round-trip commute. It is now as easy as checking your email and downloading a video conferencing client,” said Kweku Lumumbu, co-chair of the Georgia Green Party.  “Admittedly, for others, the price of participating in this imperative progressive work has grown, unfortunately matching the barriers which already exist for them because of internet inaccessibility or computer illiteracy.”

A determination (that exigent circumstances exist) now is authorized by newly adopted changes to the Rules of the party’s Nominating Convention, adopted Sunday evening, April 19th, at a called meeting of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party. The meeting considered six proposed changes to the party’s convention rules, adopting four of them. The other two items were discussed and postponed until a subsequent meeting scheduled for April 26th, to account for the notice requirements imposed by the state committee’s process.

Party officers intend to file and publish the revised rules of the party after next Sunday’s meeting. Most of the changes to these rules were designed to make allowances for certain face-to-face meetings to be conducted using video conference technologies, and for the party’s internal elections and its presidential preference caucus to be conducted on existing internet accessible applications, which have been used for years to elect the steering committee of the Green Party of the United States.

Besides the rules suspensions authorized under narrowly defined ‘exigent circumstances’, the state Green Party’s state committee also adopted significant changes to its Rules, determining how and by whom its delegation to the Presidential Nominating Convention are instructed.  Formerly, only “credentialed delegates to” a delegated convention were able to cast ballots on the question. The new rule will now require that all “dues paying members of the party in attendance at the Convention of the Georgia Green Party” will get a ballot on the question.

“We have always depended on our dues paying members to fuel the work,” said Denice Traina, an Augusta based physical therapist who serves as Co-Chair of the Georgia Green Party. “This year, being a member will come with an opportunity to vote directly, rather than through delegates elected by county caucuses, in our party’s Presidential Preference Caucus.”

Party officers intend this week to lay out a calendar and details for an online convention, culminating the weekend of June 6th, for an additional 2020 nominating convention originally anticipated to take place in Athens Georgia.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 4th, 2020

For further information, please contact:
Kweku Lumumba <[email protected]>
Denice Traina email