James Coll, was today’s guest speaker. Mr. Coll is the Founder of Change NYS, a nonprofit organization for educating the voting public about the November 7, 2017 Ballot Question concerning whether or not to hold a Constitutional Convention. The Ballot question is required every 20 years. There are 14 states including New York that require a voter approved Ballot question. There has been 233 State Constitutional Conventions since 1787; 9 Conventions in New York State. The last Convention that was approved by the voters and held was in 1967. If a Constitutional Convention is approved by the voters in November 2017, three delegates in each of the State Senate Districts shall be elected, with 15 at large delegates, or a total of 201 delegates are sent to convene in Albany. Mr. Coll reviewed the myriad of changes that could be made to the Constitution for the benefit of the people versus the benefit of special interests. Historically, the voter turnout for this question is an abysmal 39% of eligible voters. In 1997, 33% of the electorate did not vote on the question, which had a visible, first position on the ballot. Mr. Coll concluded that Union and other special interests engaged in a negative campaign to reject a Constitutional Convention. In 1997 of those who responded to the question about holding a Convention voted 1/3 in the affirmative and 2/3 in the negative, and the measure went to defeat. In 2017, Change NYS is hoping to provide education through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Belongs and E-mails) to educate the voters about the pending ballot initiative and encourage a vote, yes or no, on the issue. Mr. Coll did not have enough time to cover all the issues that he wanted and was invited to address the group in the future.