Secretary
To avoid a [s]election, I decided to run for MNGOP Secretary a few hours after learning on Dec 9 that two candidates had dropped—the election for which would be held on December 14, 2024 at the MNGOP State Central Meeting.
The bigger aim, in line with much of my work in the last three years in election integrity, was to serve in the secretary capacity to improve information flow; however, after being declined an interview throughout the day, despite having the required support, the body nevertheless voted against adding me as a candidate.
It probably should not have come to a vote as to whether I would be a candidate as the bylaw requirements are for two things: 1) nominating petitions from delegates, completed, and 2) an interview with nominations committee (perhaps this is why the interview was multiple times declined so that only way to become candidate would be through a vote from the body, which failed).
A number of delegates, alternates, and guests supported the decision and the desire for candidacy, and even though it seemed that I was steered away from an interview—potentially to avoid there being speeches and an election at all—I am thankful to those who expressed that they'd rather I had decided to enter the race sooner and nevertheless listened, gave feedback, and helped.
Before going further, I want to acknowledge that I did not meeting the original due dates of signatures, and even though these dates were tossed out by the delegate body on the day of the convention—making me eligible again—I realize that this was a stated cause for concern for a number of delegates. It indeed was a strange situation overall. Even still, the number of supporters (merely from petitions) was about 2x the requirement. (About 90 petitions / signatures in all, some from alternates.)
On the morning of December 14, I arrived to the Marriott Southwest hotel a little after 10am and sought a few more delegate signatures.
Then, at noon, brought these to the head of the nominations committee, who said he didn't have time to take them, before walking away.
After additional signatures were not accepted by nominations lead, the secretary agreed to keep them should anyone desire to review them.
Timeline Summary of Highlights
What follows are a few key time stamps with commentary where relevant.
Dec 14, around 7:30pm
After discussion—had a video of this, but agreed to delete it when seargent-at-arms insisted—a standing vote went 170-102 (with at least one abstention).
Dec 14, around 5-6pm
The convention chair used discretion to moved the secretary election to later in the evening. It was unclear why this was done.
Dec 14, around 5pm?
It was suggested by the parliamentarian, who came to speak outside the meeting room once to check in, then again to suggest a path forward, that some of my people make 2 separate motions, the first to accept nominating petitions / signatures, and the second, if the first passed, to be interviewed. I said something to effect of I was willing to try something like this, but suggested we bundle the two into one motion.
Dec 14, about 4:15?
In the hallway, I thanked the convention chair for considering and he now said he wasn't sure if he could make it happen, but I encouraged him by saying it was the right thing to do and it would be popular.
Dec 14, about 3:45pm - Conversation outside meeting room with the convention chair
Audio file below.
Dec 14, about 2:54pm - Nominations lead avoids conversation in hallway when shown an email he sent on Dec 10
Audio file below.
Email from Nominations Committee Lead on Dec 10:
Dec 14, Around Noon - Now with about 90 signatures or pledges of support (some from alternates), tried to give the hard copies to nominations committee lead
Dec 12, 11:45 am - 70 nominating petitions (including alternates)
Wouldn't it make more sense to do the interview in advance, given that we have the petitions (sent by deadline for interviews Dec 10)?
More than 70 delegates and alternates have now pledged support either for the secretary campaign or for there to be a motion made to allow nominations from floor to those who have enough petitions and have made efforts to be interviewed by nom com.
Dec 11, 11 am - interview could still happen, keep support coming
Dec 10, evening - request for interview made
Dec 10, midday - signatures/support gathered
Dec 9, evening - decision to run for secretary
After learning on Dec 9 that two(2) out of three(3) candidates for MNGOP Secretary had dropped out, one for not having enough signatures, and the other withdrawing (unknown reason to me) even though he had enough, leaving just one(1) candidate, I entered in the spirit of elections over [s]elections. 1 candidate is a selection. 2 or more allows an election.
In about 24 hours delegates and alternates came through, over 30 (about 39) delegates supports were sent (along with another 12-13 alternates) to the Nominations Committee, regarding which there are likely to be made motions on the floor on Saturday, not only to allow in my case a candidate coming in with the appropriate number of signatures (according to bylaws) and having sought to meet with the nominations committee (last night), which could still occur according to nominations committee head, if the rules are changed on Saturday.
Erik van Mechelen