The convention floor as Georgia delegates cast their vote
Delegate Bob Kinsey
Baltimore, MD was the location of the 2012 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention. The four-day convention began on Thursday, July 12 and concluded the following Sunday. The Green Party of Colorado had seven voting convention delegates, with four delegates present and three proxy delegates. Colorado’s four delegates that attended the convention were 2010 US Senate candidate Bob Kinsey, 2012 US House candidate Misha Luzov, Polina Reynolds, and Ryan Jones. The delegates were bound to vote based on the results of a vote of members present at the Green Party of Colorado Convention that occurred in Carbondale on March 31. Bob Kinsey cast Colorado’s vote of one delegate for Roseanne Barr, one delegate for Kent Mesplay, and five delegates for Jill Stein. In addition to casting the vote, Kinsey also gave a brief update on the convention floor of recent successes of the Green Party of Colorado including the formation of two new local chapters, the Douglas County Greens and the Green Party of the Pikes Peak Region. The audience was impressed when Kinsey spoke about his 2010 run for US senate in which he earned 38,768 votes (2.2%), even though there were only about 7,000 registered Greens in the state. Jill Stein won the Green Party’s nomination with 193.5 votes, nearly 66% of the vote. Stein selected Cheri Honkala as her running mate. Honkala is an anti-poverty activist and ran for Sheriff of Philadelphia in 2011 on the Green Party ticket.
Colorado delegate Bob Kinsey casts the vote for the presidential candidates. Delegates Misha Luzov and Polina Reynoldsare seated on left and delegate Ryan Jones on right.
In addition to the presidential nomination, several meetings and workshops took place at the convention. Frank Atwood, Libertarian Party liaison to the Denver Greens, held a workshop on alternative voting methods. Atwood endorses approval voting, and there was much debate during the workshop between approval voting and the Green Party endorsed instant runoff voting. David Cobb, spokesperson of Move to Amend was in the audience and active in the discussion.
Frank Atwood of the Libertarian Party of Colorado gives a presentation on approval voting. Move to Amend spokesperson David Cobb can be seen in the audience.
The Green Party US Youth Caucus held its inaugural meeting at the convention. Over twenty members were in attendance including three of Colorado’s delegates to the convention. The Youth Caucus is open to Greens age 14-35. The mission of the caucus is to give youth more representation within the Green Party.
Members of the GPUS Youth Caucus at the caucus’s first meeting
See Related Links:
Green Party Presidential Nominee Dr. Jill Stein’s acceptance speech – http://www.gp.org/video/display.php?ID=132
Green Party Vice Presidential Nominee Cheri Honkala’s acceptance speech – http://www.gp.org/video/display.php?ID=124
Democracy Now! interview of Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pr5pvmdFm4&feature=relmfu
Jill Stein for President website – http://www.jillstein.org/
Green Party US Youth Caucus website – http://GPUSyouth.org
* Thank you to Ryan Jones for submitting this report.
