PROPOSED RULES FOR NOMINATION OF CITY COUNCILORS

1. These Rules shall govern the conduct of the Mass Meeting scheduled for February 21, 2000, and the Convention scheduled for February 26, 2000.

2. Only persons who execute a certification in accordance with Section 18.3 of the Virginia Democratic Party Plan shall be eligible to participate and vote in the Mass Meeting. The Certification attests that the participant:

a. Is a Democrat;
b. Is a registered voter within the precinct for which the caucus is held;
c. Believes in the principles of the Democratic Party; and
d. Does not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the next ensuing election (the City Council election).

3. Each precinct shall be assigned an Earned Allotment apportioned by the formula prescribed by the Virginia Democratic Party Plan:

Earned Allotment

Alumni Hall 8
Carver 11
Clark 6
Jefferson Park 18
Recreation 18
Tonsler Park 8
Venable 16
Walker 15

Total 100

Each precinct shall be permitted to choose a number of delegates equal to the Earned Allotment multiplied by the number of City Councilors to be chosen.

4. At the Mass Meeting, all participants shall assemble in one place to hear candidates speak and to conduct other business. They shall then break up into precinct caucuses to discuss the candidates and to vote. Each precinct caucus shall be led by the Precinct Chair, who shall select a precinct caucus secretary.

5. Printed ballots shall be prepared prior to the Mass Meeting. All persons who have made their candidacies known to the Party Secretary, Shirley Cauley, by 12:00 noon on February 20, 2000, shall be listed on the ballot, and those persons shall be deemed candidates for the purposes of these Rules. Additional candidates may be declared on the floor of the Mass Meeting, and their names may be written in by voters on the printed ballot. Any vote cast for someone whose candidacy was not declared in the Mass Meeting shall be void.

6. The precinct caucus secretary shall collect the certifications, and shall give a ballot to each properly certified participant. Each person voting shall have the right to vote for up to three candidates for City Council. Any ballot containing more than three names shall be void. A participant may not vote for any one candidate more than once. A participant may submit a ballot that names only one or two candidates.

7. The ballots shall be brought to a central counting place, to be counted there by the precinct caucus chair and secretary, in public. Each candidate will be awarded delegates and alternates as calculated in the following manner:

a. A Total Precinct Allotment (TPA) shall be calculated for each precinct by multiplying the Earned Allotment by 3. The Proportion of Vote (PV) for each candidate shall be calculated by dividing the number of votes for the candidate by the total number of votes cast for all candidates. A Proportional Delegate Count (PDC) will then be calculated by multiplying PV times TPA. Each candidate shall receive a number of delegates equal to the integer portion of the PDC. If this number equals or exceeds the Earned Allotment, the candidate shall receive a number of delegates equal to the Earned Allotment.

b. If the sum of all delegates awarded pursuant to paragraph 7.a. is less than the TPA, then additional delegates shall be selected. A Possible Number of Additional Delegates shall be calculated by taking the difference between the TPA and the number of delegates awarded under paragraph 7.a. Next, each candidate's remainder shall be determined by subtracting the integer component of the PDC from the PDC. If the remainder is equal to or greater than .5, that candidate shall be eligible to receive an additional delegate. If more than one candidate has a remainder greater than or equal to .5, the candidate with the largest remainder shall be rewarded the first such additional delegate; the candidate with the second-largest remainder shall be awarded the next such additional delegate, and so on until the Possible Number of Additional Delegates has been awarded or there are no more candidates with a remainder of .5 or greater. If there is a tie, the tie shall be decided by lot. Note that it is entirely possible that not all delegates to which a precinct is entitled would be awarded to candidates.

c. Under no circumstances may any candidate receive more votes from a precinct than the precinct's Earned Allotment. Under no circumstances may the total number of delegates awarded to any precinct exceed its TPA.

d. Each candidate receiving delegates in a precinct shall be entitled to have a number of alternates from the precinct equal to one half of the number of delegates earned from that precinct. If the quotient that results from dividing the number of delegates earned by two results in a number that is not an integer, the number shall be rounded up to the next nearest integer.

e. The number of delegates and alternates earned from each precinct by each candidate shall be reported promptly to the Chair of the Mass Meeting. Each candidate receiving delegates shall be informed of the results of the precinct caucuses promptly, and each candidate should remain after the conclusion of the Mass Meeting to learn the results.

8. Each candidate shall name delegates and alternates from each precinct according to the number of delegates and alternates awarded in the precinct caucuses. The delegates and alternates thus named must live in the precinct that they have been chosen to represent, and must sign the Certification described in paragraph 2. above. The names and addresses of the delegates and alternates named shall be registered by being submitted to the Chairman of the Credentials Committee no later than 12:00 PM on Friday, February 25, 2000. Each such delegate, or alternate serving in place of the delegate, shall be bound to cast his or her vote on the first round of the convention balloting for the candidate who selected him or her as a delegate. A candidate who has withdrawn from the nominating process may still submit a list of delegates and alternates, and those delegates and alternates shall still be bound to vote on the first round for the candidate who selected them. If a candidate fails for whatever reason to select delegates or alternates, those delegate or alternate positions will simply remain unfilled. An individual may serve as a delegate or alternate for up to three candidates.

9. At the convention on February 26, 2000, each delegate must check in with the Credentials Committee before the convention, and he or she shall receive a credential that shall identify how many votes the delegate is entitled to cast.

10. When the Convention is called to order on February 26, 2000, the roll will be taken of the delegates. If a delegate is not present, the candidate whom the missing delegate would have represented may select an alternate to replace the delegate. The alternate must have been registered with the Credentials Committee, as described in paragraph 8. If no alternate registered to the candidate is present to take the place of an absent delegate, the candidate may choose another alternate registered to another candidate from that precinct. Any alternate who takes the place of a delegate is committed to the candidate who has selected him or her for the first round. Each precinct chair shall be given a list of the delegates (and, if any have replaced delegates who did not appear, the alternates) who have been selected to represent his or her precinct. On the first round, the chairs shall give to each delegate a ballot premarked with the delegate's committed first round choice. In any subsequent round, each delegate (or alternate sitting in place of a delegate) shall receive one blank ballot for each vote he or she is entitled to cast, as specified on the credential issued in accordance with paragraph 9. On the second or subsequent rounds of voting, delegates (or alternates) are no longer bound and may vote for any candidate. Each ballot shall have only one name on it. Any ballot with more than one name on it shall be void. There shall be no fractional votes cast. The vote totals of each candidate shall be announced publicly after each round of voting.

11. If in the first round a candidate is among the top three vote-getters and he or she has also received 51 or more votes, he or she shall be deemed nominated.

12. If all three nominations have not been made after the first round, a second round shall be conducted, as follows:

a. For the second round of voting, no candidate shall be dropped from the nomination process. On any subsequent round, the candidate with the fewest number of votes in the last round shall be dropped.

b. To be nominated, a candidate must receive a number of votes greater than 50% of the number of votes cast in that round, divided by the number of nominations that have not yet been chosen. In other words, if no one has been nominated in the first round, and voting goes to a second round in which 300 votes were cast, a candidate receiving 51 votes would be nominated; in any round where two nominations remain to be made, a candidate would have to receive 76 votes (one more than half of the number of votes (300) divided by the number of nominees remaining to be selected (2)). In any round in which only one nomination remains to be made, a candidate would have to receive 151 votes, assuming that there were still 300 votes cast in that round. A candidate who receives the necessary majority votes shall be nominated, unless more candidates have received that majority than there are nominations remaining to be made. If that happens, and there are 3 nominations remaining to be made, the top 3 candidates shall be nominated; if there are 2 nominations remaining to be made, the top 2 candidates shall be nominated; if there is 1 nomination to be made, the top candidate shall be nominated. Voting shall continue until all three nominations have been made.

13. If two or more candidates finish in a tie for the final nomination, there shall be a runoff between those candidates only. If after a second vote the result is still a tie, the balloting shall continue until the tie is broken.