Letters to the Editor

• Region 13 Election Schedule
• Quite the Election - Darrell Salter

Region 13 Election Schedule
David Calafrancesco
R13 Election Coordinator
1:2624/306, dave@drakkar.org

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* Forwarded (from: R13SYSOP) by David Calafrancesco
* Originally from David Calafrancesco (1:2624/306) to all.
* Original dated: Nov 17 '99, 00:00

As per the current R13 election guidelines (or as close as we will be able to achieve in the spirit of the document given some technical problems like different echo names and missed dates etc), I would like to announce the start of our selection process to determine the next Regional Coordinator for Region 13.

The schedule below has been modified from the absolute dates listed in the original document.

1. Announcement of the election: -- November 18th through November 28th
2. Declarations of Candidacy: November 29th through December 12th
   b. Two weeks are allowed for such declarations
3. Questions to the Candidates: December 13th through January 9th
   d. Three weeks are allowed for questions and answers
4. Vote: January 10th through January 19th
   One week is allowed for all members of the region to vote

The beginning dates are not absolute, however the ending dates are firm unless we have some catastrophic network failure (like a two week ice storm or something). This means that if someone wishes to jump the gun on a nomination it will be OK. Same for questions to the candidates or votes. Candidates may decline to respond to questions until the question phase starts but are free to respond early if they desire.

I have extended dates around the holidays to accomodate people's travel plans etc. There was no way to have the election end before the holidays so I set the dates to have things end well after New Years. We certainly don't need to have major chaos in the nodelist during the Y2K transition so having the election ending mid January is preferred. I also expect a one or two week transition period after the final results are posted. Note that the ending date for this term for the RC should stay on the October schedule (October 2001).

For the duration of this election, the valid echos for announcements, nominations, questions etc... will be R13SYSOP and R13_ELECTION. Announcements will be made in both, discussion can take place in either. Candidates are instructed to monitor both echos equally and to cross post any platforms or other mass announcements into R13SYSOP.

Votes will be accepted by almost any method that will get them to me. I plan to use a vote counting robot that will have a flexible format for sending in the votes. Netmail (routed or otherwise) or internet email will both have the same result as they end up in the exact same *.msg netmail folder. Votes will be the usual format, identify yourself (name and nodenumber), who you are voting for, and a keyword. The results will be tallied and reported by use of the keyword so choose something that will likely be unique. The relationship between you and your keyword is as private as you wish to make it. A list of nodes that have voted will also be published allowing people to track who is or is not voting.

The robot will hopefully be instructed to post nightly lists of the nodes that have voted so everyone can check to ensure that their vote has been counted.

The robot also has an interesting feature in that it allows a voter to change their mind. Only the last vote received for any node is accepted. It also has the ability to deal with slight mispellings of a candidates name.

Should anyone have any questions, I can be reached at any of the following methods:

1:2624/306 (preferred) or any of my other AKAs including the 1:13/2 that should be in the nodelist next week. All correspondance can also be sent via email to r13electmod@drakkar.org

Dave Calafrancesco, Team OS/2, Region 13 Election coordinator/moderator. dave@drakkar.org

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Quite the Election
Darrell Salter, R12C
1:12/0

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Nice 'snooze'.

Yeah, it was quite the election, and one that I thought would never end. Anyone that has followed Region 12 elections in the past usually finds them quite entertaining, but this one was really different. For me, this was the second time I had thrown my hat in the ring, while I believe it was Steve's first. Steve and I ran good, clean campaigns. No backbiting, slander, namecalling, and no real campaigning. It seems we were both content to just let the chips fall where they may. Steve would have made a fine R12C, and I hope he'll be around for the next one. My "win" was dubious at best, and Steve suffered being screwed over twice actually, once by Shawn, and finally by Mike. Immediately following Mike's declaration of me a the new R12C, I asked the Region if they wanted to do it again to get it right, but the general concensus was, nah, let it be, carry on. Even Steve didn't want to contest it, although he certainly had every right to. He was a class-act all the way, and my hat goes off to him.

So here I sit, learning a new job, and hoping things get back to normal (whatever that is). :-)

Regards,
Darrell

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