Articles

Zone 1
Coordinator Election
Begins Today!

Today, May 31, 1999 begins the Nomination Phase for selection of a Zone 1 Coordinator. Nominations may be done by any nodelisted Zone 1 Sysop in the echo Z1_ELECTION. The nominating process continues until June 12th.

The election rules and timetable are published daily in Z1_ELECTION and frequent announcements are posted to other echoes. The Election Coordinator, Ross Cassell, has made a strong effort to ensure that all Zone 1 Sysops have this opportunity to participate in the selection of the next Z1C.

Now it's time for the Zone 1 Sysops to reciprocate this effort, first by obtaining the Z1_ELECTION echo, making a nomination or seconding one if you know of a good candidate, and participating in the public discussion (theoretically starting June 13th, but ongoing right now).

The Z1C election in previous years was a closed process among the Zone 1 Regional Coordinators, so this year's election represents an important departure from this practice. Some sysops have responded negatively, pointing out that policy still gives the actual vote to the RCs and that they will vote as they wish irregardless of what the sysops say. Nonetheless, the RCs have pledged to vote according to the input they gather from their regions... so it's not the time for sysops to remain silent.

Some Net Coordinators have indicated that feedback from their own net is light, and the few responses they've had in attempting to publicize the election tell them to "use their judgement." Though this faith in their NC and ultimately RC is touching, it defeats the sincere wishes of the Coordinators to represent their constituency. Such a response is interpreted as apathy, that a sysop won't even take the time to familiarize with the candidates and issues and offer specific input.

Informed voting is a chore, to be sure. So much so that less than ten percent of sysops have participated in previous zone-wide elections. However, even if this ten percent is the most interest we can muster in the Z1C election, it's more reasonable than requiring just ten Regional Coordinators to make our decision for us.

Please take the time to participate in this election.