Posted by Russell Watt in Questions for the Candidates - All Tickets
JoeP noted that the turnout for this round of the election was very low (21 out of 82 possible voters). There were only 4 people who endorsed a ticket during the first round of voting, two of whom: Kat and Terry also nominated a ticket. One ticket didn’t receive any endorsements. Assuming all six people who ran, voted and voted for their own tickets, that the four endorsers also voted for the tickets they endorsed, and the other two people who nominated or seconded a ticket also voted, that leaves approximately 9 club members who voted who weren’t involved in the nominating, running or endorsing process of the election.
What does your ticket put this low voter turnout down to?

The more you tell people about something the more they have a chance to know about it and take action in response. In this case it was pretty difficult for an average member to tell the election was going on and the primary voting was open from only using our site as they typically do. The side bar on the old site made it really obvious when this kind of thing was going on. And there was no latest news mentioning the voting had opened for the primary round.

Do you believe this is representative of a larger problem that the club needs to deal with? Why/Why not?

We do sometimes have valuable discussions going on that don’t see as much action as I would expect, like the recent Academy Mentorship Policy discussion. But we’ve also had some very good participation at times the past couple months, most notably with the Exodus transition. So I wouldn’t really say it’s a larger problem, but there are similar situations where the membership may need a bit of a nudge.

Are there any changes your ticket thinks can/should be made to the election process that may improve it while ensuring the integrity of the process?

Long ago I thought we may want to get rid of the second week of the election, as I’ve noticed it usually being the slowest and cutting it might help keep the election more active from start to end. But I don’t have problem with the schedule as it has been. A survey sent out before the election prompted a couple of complaints because it didn’t identify its purpose, so preventing something similar may be worth considering.

On the whole, however, I think the election process is great as it is. We tend to have people who make good, fair decisions running it and the process accomplishes what it needs to.

Do you think there is any truth to the rumours that a Stargate/Game of Thrones/Divergent coalition of RPers have hacked our system and influenced the result, as occurred in my dreams last night?
Thank you everyone … I look forward to your answers to my (mostly) serious set of questions.
Russell the Annoying Tribble

First off, that’s amazing that you dreamed about that. And secondly, that would be amazing if it were true, as that is exactly the sort of thing this club was dealing with when it started in 1991 when the enemies were Beverly Hills 90210 fans.

On a serious note, I think it’s tempting for people to put too much stock in rumors and hearsay. As President, I intend to respond to evidence.

Adam
Adam W / Thomas B