ORMA Candidate Endorsement Policy

This proposal was submitted by the Electoral Issues Committee and accepted by the membership in May, 2018. It supersedes all prior endorsement policies. The version below represents the state of the document as of June 6, 2018.

1. Individual affiliates may endorse a candidate for any office any way they see fit. However, in order to obtain state level consideration, the ORMA process as described in this document must be completed and no other endorsement process will be recognized as satisfying ORMA’s endorsement requirements.
2. All documents and votes will be made public in a timely manner and will be archived in a Google Drive (or similar) by the Electoral Issues Committee (EIC).
3. Endorsements for local and regional elections including US Representatives
   1. An ORMA affiliate or caucus notifies the EIC of their intention to initiate the endorsement process.
   2. EIC checks if the district has constituents in the jurisdiction of more than one affiliate.
      1. If there are multiple affiliates but it is not statewide, EIC will assist in the creation of a Panel made of members from each interested affiliate which is responsible for the execution of the endorsement process and coordination of the affiliates.
      2. If there is only one affiliate, a Panel will still be created but made from members of the single affiliate.
      3. Individuals on a campaign’s payroll may not participate in the Panel.
   3. The Panel researches the candidates and creates an application.
      1. As reference material, the Panel may use the provided generic questionnaire, local pertinent topics, Our Revolution’s platform, and any other relevant material. There are no mandatory questions and any of the reference material may be used, added to or removed.
      2. The Panel will also plan a candidate forum or equivalent at this time.
   4. The Panel sends the application to all the candidates in that particular race. Reasonable effort will be made to reach each candidate.
      1. The EIC shall be included on official candidate communications having to do with the endorsement.
      2. The time to fill out the application can be determined by the Panel but must be at least 2 weeks.
   5. The Panel sends the completed applications all at once to each member living within the district for their review.
   6. A candidate forum shall be conducted, including all candidates that submitted an application/questionnaire.
      1. The details of the forum and its implementation will be the responsibility of the Panel.
      2. The forum will be live streamed or recorded if possible.
      3. The forum should occur even if only one candidate has applied. An in-person meeting or interview is an acceptable alternative in this case.
      4. If an in-person forum is not possible, a live virtual session should be attempted. The Panel must provide a method for members to interact with each candidate and ask follow up questions.
   7. The Panel will poll all ORMA members living within the district.
      1. The poll will be Ranked Choice Voting (https://youtu.be/oHRPMJmzBBw) and include each candidate that submitted an application plus “No Endorsement” as an option.
      2. If a candidate receives 60% of the ballots, the candidate has adequate local support to receive a state endorsement. In this case, the affiliate and/or caucus should begin coordinating support efforts and the process continues – if desired – to the state level for RC consideration.
      3. If no candidate receives 60% there will not be state level consideration and therefore national endorsement is not possible. In cities that have RCV, proportional voting systems or other unique exceptions an appropriate adjustment to the endorsement voting will be made to be determined by the Panel.
   8. ORMA RC will verify a fair and open process was adhered to with 60% needed to confirm.
   9. ORMA notifies National of the state level endorsement and works with the respective local affiliates and campaign to complete the National application.
4. Candidate endorsements for state elections
   1. The process will be the same as the local and regional process with the following exceptions.
   2. The Panel will be created from the EIC committee members and general membership volunteers, maintaining a fair representation of affiliates and a size that can be effective. If possible, no more than 2 representatives from one Congressional district and no fewer than 6 members on the panel.
   3. The EIC allows a two week comment period for all ORMA members to give input before finalizing the application/questionnaire.
5. Ballot Initiative endorsements
   1. Any affiliate or caucus notifies EIC of their intention to apply the endorsement process to a ballot question.
   2. EIC creates an online discussion platform (for example Slack Channel or Google Doc) for a 2 week discussion available to all ORMA members.
   3. A statewide vote is performed with 60% of the ballots needed for state endorsement.