Viewpoint: One Member One Vote: Keep DSA Democratic!
by Lyra Spencer
The following article represents the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Detroit Socialist Editorial and Writers’ Collective or Detroit DSA as a whole.
At the last Steering Committee meeting, Steering Committee member Phil Bianco proposed a resolution that would continue to allow electronic voting on resolutions for all members, instead of just those that attend the General Body Meeting (GM). The motion was voted down largely across factional lines with all the members of the Bread and Roses caucus voting against it, and with only Groundwork members voting in favor. The full SC did vote to allow the question to be put forward at the March General Membership meeting.
This refusal to codify electronic voting continues a recent trend by the majority faction on the SC of being antagonistic toward online voting. Ending online voting not only goes against years of established chapter precedent, but would also disenfranchise huge swaths of working-class DSA comrades whose jobs exist outside of a typical 9–5 Monday-Friday work context.
Background
This resolution came as a response to the last GM, where ahead of the meeting co-chair Mikal Goodman had stated that the method of voting for a resolution in support of DSA’s staff union would take place after the meeting via OpaVote. During the meeting, there was a question over whether or not the bylaws allowed the question to be put forward to all members electronically. The parliamentarian ruled that the language was unclear, and allowed a floor vote to determine the voting method. A motion was made to conduct the voting in person and ultimately won out. Many were dismayed that they did not get to vote on the resolution, even though they had been promised that they did not need to attend the GM to vote on the resolution.
Disenfranchising the Working Class
Ending online voting will have a negative impact on a significant portion of our working class members. Currently, our General Body meetings are held once a month on Saturday at 11am. Should our leadership stop online voting, which is likely if the resolution fails, only members with weekends off will be able to participate in our chapter democracy. This means that largely 9–5 salaried workers and retirees will be the only ones able to vote in our chapter elections. Anyone who works inconsistently scheduled shift jobs like fast food or retail, late night weekend jobs like 3rd shift auto plant line workers, or morning weekend jobs like baristas will not be allowed to participate in Detroit DSA’s democratic structures, as well as anyone who can’t find childcare, or transportation.
Having a system that only benefits salaried workers with consistent schedules and retirees is hardly democratic, and is a rejection of our values as an organization. We reject these strict voting measures in our elections, within non-democratic unions, and nonprofits. Why then would we turn around and have a voting system that disenfranchises working-class people who work outside of the typical 9–5 schedule, and who don’t have the luxury of having weekends off. We should seek to welcome all segments of the working class to participate in our chapter democracy, by making voting accessible past the limited weekend window of our general body meetings.
The Shift
Online voting only needs to be codified because of a relatively recent shift in attitude toward electronic voting amongst the SC majority faction and the chapter Secretary. Throughout the majority of this SC term, standard practice used to be that the SC would decide the voting method on a particular question, and would sometimes put that question in front of the whole membership. Even if a question were to be voted on in person, the Secretary would often send out the question to registered members of a meeting via OpaVote if quorum was not met. In just this term, the SC has put forward resolutions to the whole of the membership via OpaVote on votes regarding the endorsements of Layla Taha and Alex Meyers, The expulsion of Shri Thanedar, a resolution to join the housing coalition, and the election of our NEC electors. In fact, questions regarding both the Shri expulsion and joining the housing coalition were put before the whole membership after the General Body meeting couldn’t reach quorum.
This is in stark contrast to how the most recent resolution regarding DSA staff was going to be handled if we didn’t meet quorum. Our chapter Secretary conveyed that if quorum was not met at the meeting, the question would be tabled indefinitely. The other inconsistency at this meeting was the endorsement vote for Rashida. This vote happened at the General Meeting and was not sent out to the whole of the membership. This is inconsistent with how this secretary and this Steering Committee have handled other endorsement votes, with the endorsement votes for Layla and Alex happening over OpaVote. Not only that, but the previous endorsement for Rashida was also conducted over OpaVote proving again that this policy of GM only votes is a recent development by some in leadership. The inconsistency of voting methods, and the recent shift in attitude amongst the chapter Secretary and the SC regarding electronic voting is why there is such a need to codify our voting practices.
Having inconsistent voting practices is not only unfair to authors of resolutions, but it is also unfair to all of membership, who have to check in every time there’s a vote to see if the method has changed from the previous vote conducted. The manner in which the chapter conducts votes shouldn’t be a factional football at the whims of SC members, but should be a consistent way in which we offer all of our members the ability to participate in our chapters democracy, despite their ability to attend weekend meetings.
Precedent
Not only is there precedent during this SC term for online voting, Detroit DSA has conducted numerous votes through OpaVote since the practice started 4 years ago. In 2020, the chapter started conducting online voting as a response to the Covid 19 pandemic. The decision to conduct online voting was not a bylaws decision, as this section of the bylaws has been the same since before the pandemic. Since 2020, we have conducted many votes over OpaVote and have sent numerous questions to the whole of the membership, from SC elections, to our delegate elections, to even a revision of the bylaws itself. There is a long precedent of the chapter utilizing online voting, and only in the later half of this SC term has there been such a strong rejection of online voting in its entirety.
The Informed Voting Question
One point that has been raised against online voting is that members won’t be able to hear the debate regarding resolutions and candidates if they don’t attend the general membership meetings and will be uninformed. This is a valid concern that could be solved with better communication to the whole of membership. We have the technology to fully record our meetings, as well as send out the minutes and material presented to the whole of membership following the meeting. In fact, allowing voting outside the meeting allows all members to process the new arguments raised at the GM, and raise even further questions about the resolution to the authors, all before casting a vote. If anything this shift could allow members to make even more informed decisions on resolutions with the voting window extended past the General Membership meeting.
Conclusion
One of DSA’s biggest strengths is its member-led democratic structure. Unlike most institutions within the United States, DSA is truly member run and member funded. Our leadership is democratically elected and held accountable by its membership. There’s not too many institutions in American society that democratically empower the working class quite like DSA. In part what makes us democratic socialists is a belief that this model should be recreated everywhere from the workplace, to apartment buildings, and even the grocery store. It is our member run structure that separates us from non-profits and has shaped DSA into the organization it is today. We should continue to empower all of our membership, by allowing members to vote, regardless of their inability to attend weekend meetings due to non-traditional work hours.
It was a beautiful thing when over 200 people voted to endorse congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in 2022, as opposed to restricting the vote to just 47 people at February’s general meeting. Having electronic voting keeps our chapter democracy accessible to everyone, which is a key tenant of our socialist principles. Socialism is the ultimate reflection of democracy. We should truly embody the namesake of our org by continuing to make our democracy inside of DSA accessible to all of its members.
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