Posted by Admiral Joe P (Librarian / TECH Chairman) in Motion By Member For Modification of Election Rules.

Posted by Timothy Frogue in Motion By Member For Modification of Election Rules.

Posted by Admiral Katherine Dedul (Academy Commandant) in Motion By Member For Modification of Election Rules.
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
I, Timothy J. Frogue, being a member in good standing of STF, and a qualified club elector, do hereby propose the following changes to the current election rules:

1) The current rule states “If a Vice-President withdraws from the election after the end of the nomination period, but prior to the start of the voting period, and the Election Coordinator decides that there are special circumstances, the Election Coordinator may set a time period for the Presidential candidate to publicly declare an eligible member as his new Vice-Presidential candidate, at which time the Election Coordinator shall re-validate the ticket. Otherwise, the ticket shall remain invalidated”

2) Proposed New Rule: It is proposed to add the following language to the current rule

“If any time the Presidential candidate of any ticket is disqualified, the vice-president candidate shall be given five days to either select a new candidate, for which to complete his or her run for office, or to officially withdraw.”
“Moreover, if the vice president candidate can find another elector willing to only run as vice-president, then the former vice-president member shall be allowed to assume the presidential end of the ticket to allow for a new vice-president candidate be seated on said ticket. In any event: the withdraw or disqualification of a presidential candidate will trigger a five-day event that causes the vice-president to either find a new running mate or the ticket will automatically terminate at midnight (PST) on the fifth day.”

Argument:
I was once on the receiving end of this problem. A few elections ago, I was running for Vice-President when our ticket was invalidated by the Election Coordinator. I was left without any recourse and that does not seem fair. I had put in several hours of work trying to gain votes. Unfortunately, our ticket was invalided when my running partner, due to no fault of my own, was disqualified. As a vice-president candidate, I had no recourse. Hence, I motion that the election rules be modified to give the vice-president candidate some recourse.
It would not hurt the election process to allow a vice-president the ability to create a new ticket and carry on until the end of the election. To do other wise makes the statement that the vice-president candidate is not as important as the proposed presidential candidate and that can’t be correct. If we think about it logically, if after election, the President was to leave, the Vice-President would then become President of the Club. If vice-president candidates are important enough to assume command in the worst-case scenario, then he/she should be allowed to do the same during an election.

Having been both, I would say the vice presidential candidate is not as important as the presidential candidate. So I disagree with the concept here. On a healthy exec team both are going to be important. But only one makes the final decisions.

Even if I did think this was a good idea I’d still strongly object to the wording. We can’t have it unclear who we’re voting for during the voting period of the election.

Adam

I agree with Adam. You cannot confuse voters when they are meant to be voting. Plus, what happens then if the now presidential candidate has to resign or gets disqualified? Does the new running mate get the chance to make another ticket?

This also presents the problem that we allow a presidential candidate to run even though they were not nominated. Remember, the presidential candidate (and the presidential candidate ONLY) is nominated first by two members. When that candidate accepts the nomination he or she names their running mate. I don’t like that idea at all.

~Kat

Sorry, I realize I might not have been clear on my last sentence. I don’t like the idea of having a presidential candidate who hasn’t secured two member nominations in the primary stage of our election process.

~Kat

While I appreciate all the comments, a motion has been properly made.

Timothy Frogue

Those words you just said don’t actually mean anything. We don’t follow Robert’s rules here, and we don’t vote on “motions”.

Joe

And with the greatest of respect, Tim, you were specifically told this when you made this proposal four months ago. Here is the full thread of that discussion: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/command/notes/30742/. The sitting president, and two former presidents and EGO members said that’s not how STF discussions and proposals work.

Daniel