Maryland Republican Central Committee Voting Methodology - 20110426

8/6/2019 Maryland Republican Central Committee Voting Methodology - 20110426

1/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Maryland Republican Central

Committee Voting MethodologyTuesday, April 26th 2011

Marcus Alzona, MD State RCC MemberMaryland Legislative District 16


2/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Overview / Purpose

Discuss issues relating to recent voting

methodology proposals for the Maryland

Republican Central Committee

Propose a solution and way forward

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 2Maryland Republican Central CommitteeVoting Methodology


3/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

PrimaryResponsibilities of Different

Republican Central Committees

National Republican Committee

Presidential, U.S. House / Senate

State Republican Central Committee

Governor, State House / Senate, etc.

Local Republican Central Committee

County Executive / Council, School Boards,

Mayors, etc.



4/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Purpose of Maryland State Republican

Central Committee (CC)

Elect Republicans at all levels (general goal shared at alllevels)

Primarilyresponsible for Governorship, StateLegislature, and state-wide offices

Note that how you become a state CC member (i.e.being elected to a county CC) is NOT the same as whatyou are responsible for as a state CC member (i.e. electRepublicans state-wide)

Federal elections as delegated/coordinated by the RNC Local elections as delegated/coordinated by the county

central committees



5/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Complex Voting Scheme 2011

(here-after referred to as Complex2011)

March 2011 Proposal by MDRCC By-Laws

Committee

Overly complex

Many variables, based on county

Requires spreadsheet to calculate votes

Ignores Population Differences and Trends

Perverse Incentives



6/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Proposed Complex Voting Scheme and

Population Realities

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Maryland Republican Central CommitteeVoting Methodology

6

23%

77%

Complex2011 Voting Strength

Baltimore, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties and

Baltimore City

All Other Counties

56%

44%

Population

Baltimore, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties and

Baltimore City

All Other CountiesSource: David Parker, March 2011

By-Laws Committee Spreadsheet

Source: United States Census Bureau

44% of Maryland gets 77% of the vote


7/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Problem with Division By County

No elections of state offices by county

State Senate seats have not been divided by

county for nearly 50 years (see Maryland

constitutional changes in the 1960s)

Votes for Governor are state-wide, there is no

Maryland Gubernatorial electoral college,

winning a county just gets you the raw votes Amplifies my county vs. your county

problem



8/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Wont Show Up Issue (LCD)

It used to be that a single member from somelarge counties had more voting strength than fivemembers of a smaller county and so theydecided they werent going to bother showing

up (rationale against LCD, as stated by some2011 By-Laws Committee members) State CC member from county A = 5x member from

county B

Identified as unfair and disruptive

Identified as the primary reason for people from thosecounties not showing up


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9/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Wont Show Up Issue

(Complex2011)

New Complex Voting Scheme 2011 has the sameproblem, just with a change in the beneficiaries /victims If you were against LCD, then you should be against

Complex2011 as well All the same still applies (just with different A/B):

State CC member from county A = 5x member fromcounty B

Identified as unfair and disruptive Identified as the primary reason for people from those

counties not showing up


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10/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Wont Show Up Issue

(Complex2011)

Exacerbates CC Member Recruitment/Attendance

Problems recruiting CC members in heavilyDemocratic areas

This is where we are being blown out do we really want todiscourage participation by potential members from theseareas?

Problems getting CC members from those areas toattend

Not Helpful: By the way, if you go to the state convention,you are only worth 1/5 of a vote

Potential Donor Problem


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11/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

The Real Battle Lines: State Senate

Legislative Districts

Regardless of who draws the state legislative

district lines (it is what it is), these are the

boundary lines for the state legislative general

elections (i.e. why we are here)

Changes every 10 years

We need to be agile, adjusting immediately to the

new district realities when they happen (insteadof clinging to a structure that hasnt existed for

half a century or more)


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12/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Perverse Incentives in Complex2011

If incentives encourage performance within acounty, it follows that it discourages sharingbetween counties (which is the opposite of whatwe need to do)

Discourages sharing of successful strategies If you share your methods with another county, that

other county may use your strategy and performbetter, reducing your own voting strength

Discourages helping elections in other counties Helping with an election in another county just means

less voting strength for you if successful



13/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Cross-County Collaboration Example

In a heavily Democratic Legislative District (LD) in alarge county, a Republican Party Activist and Donoragreed to run as the GOP 2010 MD State SenateCandidate

While participating in his own campaign, the candidatespent significant time and resources campaigning forfellow GOP candidatesin other counties (running inmore evenly split LDs / closer races)

This kind of for the whole state party spirit would bediscouraged by the Complex2011 Voting Scheme


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14/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Complex2011 Voting Scheme Solves

Nothing & Ignores Reality


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Changing Maryland

Population andDemographics

Proposed Complex2011 Voting Scheme

but there is still time to change course.


15/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Solution: One-Person-One-Vote

Encourages Participation

You show up, you have a vote

You dont show up, you dont have a vote

Fair and Simple to Use No referencing tables or spreadsheets to figure

out if you have enough votes to pass a measure

Encourages Statewide Joint Effort At the state level, we are all in it together

Other state CC are partners not opponents


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16/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

One-Person-One-Vote (Reality)

Based in Reality

Delegations are based on the number of state

legislative districts, adjusted to give small counties

a boost

Uses the reality of what we face in the general

elections, not the structure from the 1960s

Adjusts automatically every 10 years withchanging legislative districts

Approximately 123,000 people per LD


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17/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

One-Person-One-Vote (Small Counties)

Still includes bonus for smaller counties

when looking at it by State Legislative District

(i.e. the general election fight we have)

LD 37 = 24 state CC members (2 full county

delegations, 2 half county delegations)

5,000 people per state CC member

LD 16 = 6 state CC members (5 specific 1 general) 20,000 people per state CC member

Is 4x the voting strength not enough?


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18/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Voting Method Comparison

Complex By-Laws Proposal 2011

Divides the party

Complex to use

Where do I staple my W-2?

Perverse Incentives

Discourages Collaboration

Maintains past problems

Just inverts the targets

Simplified One-Person-One-Vote

Based in Reality

Fair and Simple to Use

Encourages participationand collaboration

Automatically adjusts forchanging populations andlegislative districts

We already have thismethod by default nochanges required


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19/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Stop Voting About Voting Schemes

One-Person-One-Vote is already our currentvoting scheme

Simple, Fair, Reality-Based

To keep One-Person-One-Vote, just vote againstany voting scheme

The By-Laws Committee Complex 2011voting scheme:

Has no real benefit

Causes Problems


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20/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

BEYOND VOTING SCHEMES


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21/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

Beyond Voting Schemes / Future

Voting about voting schemes is a distraction,

lets stop doing it and move on to real work

The following page contains an example idea

that attempts to address the real issue before

us (i.e. winning State races)


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22/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC, MD LD16

State Legislative District Central

Committee Coordination

Propose that all state CC members residing withineach State Senatorial Legislative District meet atleast once annually (or more) to coordinate races/ candidates / efforts at the legislative district

level Note that this is an additional meeting, not meant to

replace current county and state CC activities

Based upon the idea that all MD RCC members are in

it together One-Person-One-Vote The perverse incentives of the Complex2011 Voting

Scheme discourage this collaboration


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23/23

Marcus Alzona

MDRCC MD LD16

State Legislative District Central

Committee Coordination (continued)

Particularly important for LDs that crosscounty lines

When asked, was told by CC members from

County A that they never hear from thepeople/CC/candidates from County B about theirshared LD, and that they dont know if County Beven tries to do anything about that LD race

County B said essentially the same thing aboutCounty A.see the problem?

Makes it an obvious state CC issue


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Maryland Republican Central Committee Voting Methodology - 20110426

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