General Assembly Process Utilized by Occupy Delaware:

1. A Proposal is set forth (example: we should winterize our encampment.) This proposal will be brought to the facilitation committee meeting before the GA to work on wording the proposal for GA consideration. A proposal should be in a simple up or down format. For issues that require consideration of multiple options (such as the proposal that resulted in the occupation location), some deviations from the normal process are listed.

(edited 9-26-12) A quorum of 10 members is needed in order to entertain proposals. If a proposal is presented and a quorum is not present,  then an announcement will be made on the Web site and Facebook page that the proposal will move forward the next week, with or without a quorum.

2. Facilitation committee decides on timing the proposal for consideration. If the proposal concerns group demands or endorsements, the proposal should be announced to the GA one week prior to actual consideration.

3. Factual information: if the proposal is in the multiple option format, after each option is presented factual information related to each option will be solicited from the GA using stack. Factual information should be related to the specific option being presented.

4. Clarifying Questions (example: On the sidewalk or up the street?) are taken by a stack system. The stack system works thusly: two people will take stack from a list of names of people with questions.

5. Concerns (example: there is a lunch cart on the left side of the street and we should be concerned about disrupting their business) are taken by a stack system. The stack system works thusly: two people will take stack from a list of names of people with concerns.

6. Amendments are accepted from the GA. Stack will be used to gather a list of proposed amendments. Each amendment must have a second from the floor to move forward. The amendments are considered only after each has been announced and seconded, to ensure that there are no redundant amendments. Each amendment should be in up or down format. Amendments then go through the questions/concerns/consensus poll process. Once an amendment is announced and seconded, it must be considered by the GA. The person who has announced the amendment should be the one to answer questions in the questions phase. They may appeal to someone else if they are unsure of an answer. An amendment can be withdrawn at any time by the person who has announced the amendment.

7. Straw poll. The MC announces the entire proposal with all passed amendments. An informal poll is taken to test for a clear consensus (we strive for a consensus and ideally never have to vote). If there is a clear consensus, we move for official binding consensus test. If there is clear consensus, the proposal and all passed amendments pass.

If the proposal is in a multiple option format, some special rules apply. A straw poll is taken to understand which option has the most consensus. After the first poll, the option with the least support is eliminated, and the poll is taken again with the remaining options. This is repeated until there is only one remaining option. This option will then be considered as an up or down proposal.

8. If there is not a clear consensus, we break into small discussion groups, hear more questions and concerns, then try again. If after two repeats there is not clear consensus, we move to a supermajority vote. Two people should be on hand to count the vote. The proposal passed if 2/3 of those voting are in favor.