Hello election ship people.

Over the last 48 hours there have been some complaints against members or questions raised regarding the election process. As last election was uncontested and It has been a while since we had an election or some of our members both new and old aren’t actually sure how elections operate either due to the time lapsed or because they weren’t here or haven’t been involved before I am going to try and help with this.

I would encourage ALL members to read both the MOTD and LEGOE carefully but as I have been told that not everyone reads ship MOTDs and to avoid further confusion I am outlining some sections from both below.

The first half is on the MOTD the second half is taken from LEGOE

Topics

Please note when posting a note on the Election Ship only the following Topics are valid:
Bleacher Seats
Office of the Election Coordinator
Campaign HQ - Candidates X and Y (where X and Y are the candidate names) (candidates may add a neutral campaign topic modifier to differentiate HQ topics) Campaign HQ’s are for posting by candidates only. Questions for the candidates should be placed in the “Questions for the Candidates” topic.
Questions for the Candidates - [Insert Subject Here] Question threads are for direct questions to one or more tickets. Do not use a question post for endorsements, criticisms without a real question, rants, etc.
Endorsement (You may include the tickets name with your endorsement) Endorsements are only allowed once voting has started.
Nomination Only used during the nomination period

Rules
1) “Joke endorsements” of STF members will not be tolerated. Anyone who makes a “joke nomination” of an actual eligible member will face a minimum punishment of being denied the privilege of participating in the nominations process.
2) In the event of a tie in either the preliminary or final vote, the Election Coordinator will cast a single vote to break the tie. In the event of a tie between three or more tickets in the preliminary vote, the EC will cast two tie-breaking votes for two different tickets. Whether or not the EC cast a tie-breaking vote will not be announced.
3) Anonymous complaints will be not be acted on by the Election Coordinator.
4) Only members who are eligible to vote may endorse a candidate. However, anyone with an account is permitted to pose questions to candidates unless restricted from doing so as a penalty for some election-related violation.
5) All members not otherwise restricted from doing so may pose questions to candidates in the appropriate topic, and may engage candidates in on-topic discussion. As all candidates are members, candidates may ask each other questions the same as any other member.
6) No candidate may send an unsolicited email about the election to more than one member at a time.
7)Campaign promises that involve paying/donating/gifting money are not allowed without prior permission of the Election Coordinator.
8) If a candidate makes reference to an unnamed person/event (either directly or implicitly), and indicates that the person/event cannot be named due to privacy concerns, the Election Coordinator may seek from the candidate the unnamed person/event’s identity in confidence. Generally, candidates should try to refrain from making any statements that suggests they have been in contact with an unnamed person unless absolutely necessary.
9) All members are expected to follow appropriate post guidance. please see here for clarification https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89191/*
10)All candidates are expected to be familiar with the appropriate bylaw provisions about acceptable campaigning and prohibited conduct.

From LEGOE

Eligibility

1) Generally, all members are invited to participate in the election process. (For the purpose of this, the definition of ‘member’ is the same as found in Member Order and Organization.)

2) Certain election activities, including nominating, running as a Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate, endorsing, and voting, are limited to members with special eligibility.
3)For the purpose of this, an ‘eligible member’ is defined as a person who meets the definition of ‘member’ 30 days prior to the start of the Election Season, and continues to meet the definition up to and including the time of the election activity in question.

Nominations

1)Any eligible Member can nominate another eligible Member for the position of President. Another eligible Member must then second the nomination.
2)A prospective Presidential Candidate may not nominate or second their own ticket; however, a prospective Vice Presidential Candidate may do so.
3)A Member can only nominate or second one individual; however, if that individual declines the nomination, the nominating Members are free to nominate another individual.
4)A Member cannot run for the position of President if they have nominated or seconded another Member unless the nominated Member has declined the nomination or is otherwise ineligible to run.
5)Once the nomination has been seconded, the Candidate must publicly accept the nomination and declare another eligible Member to be their Vice Presidential Candidate in a post on the Election Area.
6) The Election Coordinator will then validate the ticket and the Candidate pair may begin campaigning.
7)If the Candidate does not publicly accept the nomination by the end of the nomination period, they will be disqualified.

** Campaigns**

1) Every person who posts on the Election Area (Candidates and non candidates) is expected to keep their posts to the point, truthful, and within the bounds of common courtesy.
2) Behavior such as, but not limited to, character attacks, inflammatory finger-pointing, trickery, and deception will not be tolerated and may lead to penalties at the Election Coordinator’s discretion. (Example: “Candidate X is a horrible person…” will not be tolerated. However, “Candidate X has made several mistakes as QDir. They are…” will be tolerated within the bounds of common courtesy).
3)Any additional campaign materials are required to meet the same standards as Election Area posts, regardless of the origin of the material.
4) The Election Coordinator is responsible for reviewing posts and campaign materials on a regular basis and for ruling on questionable instances as they occur.
5) Campaigning may take place on the Election Area only.
6)Any MOTD announcements implying support for or voicing opinions against any specific ticket are expressly forbidden.
7)MOTD announcements of upcoming Election Season events and timetables are permissible provided that they do not contain support for any ticket.
8)Violations of these rules will result in sanctions from the Election Coordinator, and immediate removal of the announcement by TECH or the Election Coordinator.
9)All members are permitted to pose questions to the candidates after the candidate’s ticket has been validated, unless the member has been restricted from doing so by the Election Coordinator.
10)Questions may be directed at some or all of the candidates, and may only be posted in the Election Area.
Candidates are not required to answer the questions.

Endorsements
1) During the voting period, eligible members may post a message in the Election Area endorsing another candidate.
2) Endorsements must meet the standards in this Section.
3) No person may post an endorsement message that implies it is also on behalf of anyone who is the not the person posting the message.
4) Candidates may individually contact people to discuss the Election and to ask for their support.
5) In the event that the person contacted does not wish to talk about the Election, the Candidate must refrain from discussing it with them.
6) At no time may any unsolicited campaign material be sent to more than one person at a time, including using capabilities offered by STF’s software platform.
7)Use of the BCC field in any election related email is prohibited.
8)Should an individual not wish to be contacted regarding the election, they may request that the Election Coordinator place them on a publicly accessible “do not contact” list. All members are required to abide by this list!
9) Discussion in the #star-fleet Discord channel is permissible as long as it does not imply support for or against a specific Candidate. (Example: “Have you read the election ship lately?” or “It sure is an interesting election” are permissible. However, “I can’t believe Candidate X said that” or “Candidate Y sure had some good answers today” or “I think it’s clear who’s winning” are not permissible).
10) violation of campaigning rules will be investigated by the Election Coordinator. The Election Coordinator must allow the accused Member the opportunity to adequately defend themselves and respond to any accusation before levying a penalty.
11) If it is found that a Member (Candidate or otherwise) did violate the campaigning rules, appropriate penalties will be given by the Election Coordinator, regardless of the location of the violation.
12)Campaigns may be held liable for actions of their supporters if it can be shown that the campaign was aware of the offending activity.
13)An anonymous complaint will only be investigated at the discretion of the Election Coordinator, and no penalty may be levied based on an anonymous Complaint.

Voting

During the Voting period, campaigning continues.

1)Voting is by secret ballot.
2) Every eligible Member is eligible to vote once, except for the Election Coordinator, who does not vote unless needed as a method of tie-breaking, and the Assistant Election Coordinator, who does not vote unless required to assumed the powers and duties of the Election Coordinator.
3) The Election Coordinator is empowered to determine how tie-breaking votes will be handled, which must be included in the published Election Rules.
4) During the Voting period, the Election Coordinator shall post a message on the main club announcement area that voting has started and that eligible members should have voting access.
5) You will only be able to see the ballot if you are eligible per the system requirements. You will receive an error message if you are not eligible.
6) If you do not have voting access, but believe your alleged ineligibility is in error, should contact the Election Coordinator.
7) If there are more than two Candidate teams that can be voted for, a preliminary run-off round of voting shall be held before the final round of voting.
8) Only the two Candidate teams with the highest number of votes cast for them in the run-off round of voting shall be on the ballot for the final round of voting.
9) The winning Candidate team is the one with a plurality of votes in the final (or only) round of voting, i.e., the highest number of votes.
10) All ballots shall be destroyed upon the deactivation of the Election Area.

I will be available for any and all questions via email at all times but tomorrow, 9th June will be online specifically for the purpose of answering any member questions pertaining to the election process from 1pm GMT till 4pm GMT

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