Humane Party

Happy World Vegan Month! With this update, I will share current political challenges, updates for the Humane Party, share about volunteering, and finally, social media updates.

Political Updates

2020 continues to be a challenge as the Presidential election ends and the transition commences. What does the future look like for those of us focused on a humane legal system in which all beings are free from exploitation, discrimination, and abuse? Those of us focused on fiscally responsible, conscientious, and competent government led by elected officials for whom ethics and integrity are not optional? In a single word, challenging.

Challenges to the political status quo are being pushed back at every turn. New York snuck into a budget bill several changes to the rules for 3rd party political organizations. These changes resulted in 3rd parties that have been on the ballot since the ’40s, to lose their ballot line. Of the six 3rd parties on New York ballots this year, only 2 kept their ballot line after the election.

During September, minor party and independent candidates won only 6 lawsuits of the 16 that they filed regarding ballot access.

In August, the Montana Supreme Court removed the Green Party from the ballot just five months after the party had been determined to have enough valid signatures by the Secretary of State. In this case, the Democratic Party obtained copies of the petition and began knocking on doors of people who had signed to ask them to remove their signatures. They were able to get 600 people to remove their signatures, and the Democratic Party requested the Secretary of State to remove the Green Party’s qualified status. The Secretary of State said no, and lawsuits ensued, and now the Green Party is unqualified in Montana.

I share these to provide evidence that our work is getting harder. The two parties in power have no interest in changing things, yet the public wants to change. For example, Maine this year was able to have Rank Choice Voting for the Presidential election! This is big news! It was not easy; they had to go to the State Supreme court to get approval. Yet, they persevered and were successful, even with the Republican Party fighting against them.

We continue to push forward at the Humane Party, working to be that light that leads others on an ethical path, a path that empowers citizens and industry to build and sustain a humane, secure, and prosperous nation.

Party Updates

Our work in New York City to sow the seeds of the Humane Party has achieved several important milestones:

#1 – The Humane Party is happy to announce our new website focused on supporting vegan political action in New York City. Please visit https://humane.nyc and bookmark it. Today you can take the humane pledge, volunteer with the party, and nominate someone for office. Tomorrow there will be much more. We have much more work ahead, but we now have the foundation needed to build our future efforts. Feel free to visit the site and share any comments or concerns with thehumaneparty@gmail.com. This work is creating a template we will replicate across the nation.

#2 – Last week, we began our first effort in establishing a special committee to identify political focus areas unique to New York City. We are reaching out to existing animal support organizations to partner in the creation of local legislative actions. If you know of a group in New York interested in stopping the exploitation of animals that would like to partner with us, please get in touch at thehumaneparty@gmail.com.

Volunteer Update

In concert with our work in New York City, we are creating role descriptions for the volunteer opportunities we have within the party, nationally and locally in New York. We recognize that it is hard for people to dedicate time to volunteer, and we want to be as transparent as possible on the time commitment a particular role will require. These new role descriptions will better allow you and those you know to see how much time might need to be dedicated and what exactly they are volunteering for. These more specific roles provide greater opportunity for people to plug in and out with the Humane Party as it fits their schedule.
https://humaneparty.org/volunteer-roles-responsibilites/

Volunteer Highlight

The Humane Party is always recruiting for several volunteer positions. We all live busy lives, as do our volunteers who come and go as they have time. In this section, we highlight a couple of important roles we have open.

Staff Coordinator – Term: 6 months ; Time commitment: 30 hrs / month

The Staff Coordinator role with the Humane Party is responsible for the day to day operations of the party and staff management. This role is similar to the CEO of a corporation or Director of a charitable organization. The Staff Coordinator works directly with the board to carry out the party’s mission, creating an organizational structure, assigning roles as volunteers become available, reaching out to other organizations, monitoring volunteers’ activities, and reporting on monthly party activities. The Staff Coordinator can delegate responsibilities as necessary, creating whatever structure is necessary to carry out the party mission.

Political Researcher – NYC Term: unrestricted : Time commitment 10hrs/month

The political researcher role with the Humane Party assists the party in understanding key concepts that change from state to state, municipality to municipality. The role currently available is specific to New York State. However, we do need volunteers who have researching skills in all states. A political researcher will participate in bi-weekly status calls, researching political initiatives, from getting someone elected to get names on the ballot to organizing a political party.

Wrap up

As I wrap up this newsletter, know that your support of the Humane Party and your volunteering in the past and present or your giving are greatly appreciated. A diverse community working together toward a common goal that is tremendously powerful!

We have new social media accounts. Feel free to follow us for regular updates about important vegan political topics.

https://twitter.com/TheHumaneParty_

https://www.instagram.com/officialhumaneparty/

Mike Harms
Board Coordinator for the Humane Party

Monday, April 22, is Earth Day and the Humane Party’s tenth birthday. Congratulations to everyone who made this anniversary possible.

Each day, more and more people come to realize that ending the animal-exploitation industries is not only an ethical and moral necessity but also the best choice for the economy, the environment, the health care system, the cause of human rights and social justice worldwide, and the U.S.’s national-security and resource-independence interests.

As we turn toward the HP’s next decade, let us to redouble our commitment to elect vegan, abolitionist candidates to the U.S. Presidency and to a majority of the seats in both houses of the U.S. Congress so that we can put an end to the kidnapping, confinement, forced impregnation, torture, mutilation, and slaughter of innocent beings, in every U.S. jurisdiction, once and for all.