Tag Archives: one member one vote

Conference Countdown 2015: Why you shouldn’t give me a vote at Conference

By George Kendall | Fri 18th September 2015 - 8:26 am

In the last four years, I’ve been to a lot of Lib Dem conferences – though sadly not next week – but I’ve had a vote at none of them. I was even the mover of an amendment, but I didn’t get to vote on it.

On Monday the One Member One Vote motion would give me a vote at conference. So why do I think you shouldn’t give it to me?

I’m not worried about the vast, vast majority of members. But there are a just a few who do worry me. If we decided votes by referenda, I wouldn’t be concerned. Among 61,000 members, a few rogue votes wouldn’t be significant. But attendance at conference is a lot lower.

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged autumn conference 2015 and conference countdown | 14 Comments

Conference Countdown 2015: Would you abolish One Member One Vote if it was already in place?

By Mark Pack | Wed 16th September 2015 - 11:55 am

A good test of a proposed new rule is to imagine: if it was already in place, would you be convinced by arguments to abolish it? So imagine with me that the Liberal Democrats had one-member, one-vote (OMOV) in place, instead of our conference representatives system, for electing our federal committees and for voting at party conference. A world with all party members able to vote in both.

It would not be nirvana. You can imagine some being concerned about the time and cost involved in coming to conference and the members who therefore miss out. You can also imagine complaints when ballot papers come round that members do not know enough about what the candidates are like or their track records.

So take one more step down imaginary lane with me and picture me at a podium in front of you, laying out all these problems and revealing – hooray! – I have an answer.

Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged autumn conference 2015, conference countdown and omov | 15 Comments

How you can support One Member One Vote for Party Committees

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 15th July 2014 - 9:32 pm

In March, Sue Doughty invited members to take part in a consultation on the idea of allowing one member one vote for party committee elections and on party policy at Conference. The Internal Democratic Reform Working Group, which Sue chairs, then looked at the submissions they received and the feedback at a consultative session at York Conference. They have now drawn up some radical proposals which will give every member the right to vote on policy at Conference and in Committee elections which they want to submit for debate at …