Brooklyn Law School, Room 601 and via Zoom
Seamus Campbell, president of IND, opened the meeting and provided an update on petitioning progress. To date the members of IND have collected 1073 signatures for our endorsed slate and a total of 1,142 signatures.
Jeremy Perkins, representing Brad Lander’s Campaign provided an update on his campaign for mayor of NYC.
Maya Kornberg presented an update on her campaign for City Council Member in the 39th CD and introduced her new field director, Olivia O’Brien
Norma Jean Jennings thanked Ind for their support.
“What should we be doing” was the topic of a membership discussion on ways to respond to the actions of the Trump administration. Various strategies were proposed.
A motion to amend the IND constitution as follows was made:
Amend Article VIII on the IND Constitution to add new Section 8 reading:
Section 8: Ranked Endorsements
Following the period of petitioning for ballot access for candidates, the membership may, by a majority vote, choose to give a ranked endorsement of candidates for public office. The membership shall then, by majority, vote on the number of additional ranked choice endorsements to give, with a maximum of one less than the number of candidates in the race or four (4), whichever comes first.
If the membership chooses to give a ranked-choice endorsement in a given race, the membership shall be given an endorsement ballot that includes all candidates for that office who have qualified for the ballot. For every such candidate, voting members will have two choices: “Endorse” or “Do Not Endorse”. All candidates who receive the “Endorse” vote of two-thirds (2/3rds) of the voting electorate shall receive a ranked-choice endorsement. If more candidates receive sufficient votes to receive an endorsement than the number determined by the membership, then the candidates with the highest level of support, up to the number determined by the membership, shall receive a ranked-choice endorsement.
This section of the Constitution shall sunset after the 2025 calendar year and the Executive Board shall, before the next regular election in which ranked-choice voting is used, be charged with writing a new version of this section.
After discussion, a vote was held and the motion to amend the constitution was passed.
Ronen Shatsky, representing Justin Brannan, provided an update on his campaign for NYC comptroller.
Seamus offered a “Know Your Rights” training session, explaining rights of refugees and immigrants.
Jo Anne Simon greeted the group and provided an update on the State budget.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15.