DFNYC Annual Member Survey

From the beginning, Democracy for New York City has been an organization that is run from the bottom up - that's a vital part of our mission and reason for being.  But in order to be that kind of organization, we need information from all of you, our members, about how we are doing - and what priorities to set for Democracy for NYC's  focus in the new year.

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5hk9lizgx14tkec/start

 

About DFNYC

Issue Endorsement Rules

These Rules are designed to serve as a general description of the Issue Endorsement Process for the group known as “Democracy for NYC.” These Rules only pertain to Democracy for NYC and are not intended to reflect endorsements by (actual or potential) or the endorsement process of any other local group of Democracy for America or of the National chapter of Democracy for America.

Definitions

1) Democracy for NYC (“DFNYC”) is a local group of Democracy for America, the organization founded by Howard Dean. DFNYC is a non-profit political action committee.

2) A Member of DFNYC is someone who has given DFNYC his/her name, address (residential, mailing, and registered), phone number, and email address (if applicable). Members have a voice, but no vote towards DFNYC endorsements.

3) A Voting Member of DFNYC is a Member who has participated in three DFNYC meeting, events or actions each year. Each Voting Member will have one vote towards DFNYC endorsements.

4) Until the official bylaws of DFNYC are completed and enacted by a vote of the membership, the Board of Directors shall include all Executive Board members, Linkup Hosts, Linkup Facilitators, and Event Coordinators. A list of the current board can be obtained by contacting DFNYC. Members of the Board of Directors shall be referred to as Board Members.

DFNYC Voting Process to Endorse Issues, Issue Campaigns, or Legislation

1) Voting by the Board of Directors to endorse issues, issue campaigns, or legislation will be initiated by a majority vote of the DFNYC Executive Board (“call to vote”).

2) A call to vote will be announced to the Board of Directors via email and good faith efforts will be made to notify Board Members who a limited access or no access to the internet.

3) Board Members will be instructed to vote as a representative of member opinions based on their historical experience communicating with the membership and not based on their personal feelings or opinion about the issue in question. If a Board Member feels that he or she is unable to vote as a representative of member opinions on the issue in question for whatever reason, they must abstain from voting. If a Board Member does not feel he or she has a clear and substantiated knowledge of member opinions on the issue in questions, they must vote no.

4) Board Members must cast their votes in writing either through email, mail, or in person.

5) An issue, issue campaign, or legislation will be endorsed by DFNYC if it receives 85% of the vote of the Board of Directors and a significant number of ballots are cast. If the issue, issue campaign, or legislation does not receive 85% of the vote of the Board of Directors a call to vote will be issued to voting membership.

6) A call to vote will be announced via the DFNYC email newsletter and DFNYC website, and good faith efforts will be made to notify members who have limited access or no access to the Internet.

7) Voting Members will be able to select from the following voting options as they become available: on-line voting through a voter verifiable system; in-person voting by paper ballot; or voting by a mail-in paper ballot. At least two of these options will be available for all candidate endorsement votes.

8) An issue, issue campaign, or legislation will be endorsed by DFNYC if it receives 60% of the vote and a significant number of ballots are cast.

9) A second endorsement vote may be called at a later date following the same rules as the first vote.

10) Voting results will be published on the DFNYC website and in the DFNYC email newsletter, and good faith efforts will be made to notify members who have limited access or no access to the Internet.

DFNYC Endorsed Issues

1) DFNYC endorsements will be announced to the local media via a media advisory.

2) DFNYC endorsements will be announced to DFNYC members via a posting on the DFNYC website, an announcement in the DFNYC email newsletter, and good faith efforts will be made to notify members who have limited access or no access to the Internet.

Auditing the Vote

1) Any member of DFNYC may request an audit of the vote.

2) The DFNYC Executive Board will review the request for a vote audit. All reasonable requests for a vote audit will be granted.

3) A vote audit may consist of, but is not limited to:

a. a recount of all ballots cast at which a representative of the issue campaign in question and the party(s) who requested the audit must be present; and

b. an investigation into any issues involved in the voting process

Withdrawing an Endorsement

1) Any member of DFNYC may request a withdrawal of an endorsement for any of the following reasons:

a. the endorsed issue, issue campaign, or legislation is suspected to be inconsistent with the ideal of DFNYC

b. the group or person associated with the endorsed issue, issue campaign, or legislation through words or actions demonstrates unethical behavior which is inconsistent with the ethical standards of DFNYC

c. the endorsed issue, issue campaign, or legislation is no longer valid and maintaining an endorsement would be harmful to the goals of DFNYC

2) The DFNYC Executive Board will review the requests for an endorsement withdrawal. If the request is reasonable and meets the criteria listed above for the withdrawal of an endorsement a call to vote will be issued.

3) A call to vote will be announced via the DFNYC email newsletter and DFNYC website, and good faith efforts will be made to notify members who have limited access or no access to the Internet.

4) Voting Members will be able to select from the following voting options as they become available: on-line voting through a voter verifiable system; in-person voting by paper ballot; or voting by a mail-in paper ballot. At least two of these options will be available for all candidate endorsement votes. All ballots will contain “no opinion” as a voting option.

5) A DFNYC issue endorsement will be withdrawn if 60% of the ballots are cast in favor of a withdrawal and a significant number of ballots are cast.

6) A new endorsement vote may be called at a later date following the same rules as the first vote.

Contact Us

Via E-mail

General Information: info (at) dfnyc.org. (replace (at) with '@')

Roberta "Bobby" Cohen, Executive Director, bcohen (at) dfnyc.org

Max Smith, msmith (at) dfnyc.org

Tracey Keij-Denton, former Exec. Dir, has moved to the Netherlands, but can be reached at the info (at) dfnyc.org address, or on social media.

Via Snail Mail

Democracy for NYC, c/o Roberta Cohen, 314 Alexander Avenue, Bronx, NY 10454

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