The LP’s bylaws committee spent several hours over many meetings hammering out the pros and cons of different options for how to conduct electronic ballots, including how to balance deliberative process with practical constraints, and how to make sure we have a process that would be fair and transparent. This was intended to be a guide that could serve as a procedural framework for any remote-voting plan, even if it was not actually adopted as a bylaws amendment (for example, the LNC could have used it with little change as their process to poll delegates).
It was tailored to fit the specifications for one bid that had already been received by staff from a voting-software vendor, one that has already done very similar work for other clients. But the process laid out was open enough to accommodate other possible platforms, in the expectation of a more thorough request for proposals by staff and/or the COC if the LNC decided to pursue it. And the bylaws committee voted to present this work product to the LNC, not necessarily as our recommendation, but as our contribution to helping flesh out the options.
Not only did the national committee consider none of this, they were falsely told it didn’t exist and that there was nothing about it for them to consider.
And going forward, there is still nobody instructed to do any further planning or preparation for any kind of electronic backup plan. Even though the do-nothing delay was repeatedly justified by the need to do that, the truth is that as of right now there is nobody who is clearly expected to do it.
We have had two months now to know this was a looming problem and start preparing contingency plans and that a big part of this was going to be having a well-developed virtual option. Instead we got nothing, because outside of the bylaws committee considering the process questions and staff exploring possible vendors on their own initiative, nobody on the LNC or COC has done anything to prepare for the possibility that an in-person convention won’t happen.
And what was all that time and work spent on instead? Also having no plan ready in time to adopt today for an in-person convention, leaving us with no substantive decision at all as of the deadline that had been misleadingly promised for weeks.
Bottom line is that nobody can have any real confidence in when or where or how or if the LP is going to nominate a presidential candidate this year. That’s where we at right now.