Articles

Region 13 Policy Proposal

Region 13 has a new Regional policy proposed for vote. This is the first update proposed since 1994.

Sysops in region should contact their NC for information. A copy has been delivered to all NC's in R13 (some routed, most crashed).

Discussion is expected to be in the R13SYSOP echo.

Specifics on the election can be obtained from 1:13/2.
Carol Shenkenberger
xxcarol 1:13/0

[Editor's Note - Appended to Carol's announcement above is the policy proposal below distributed to the Network Coordinators in Region 13]:

Region 13 Election Policy Proposal
Proposed Revision 2.03
January 30, 2000

Heavily modified by David Calafrancesco
superseding Rev 1.04, August 21, 1994

Written in committee by Michael Walsh, R13C, with the assistance and input of Phillip Dampier, Howie Ducat and Bill Fisch

Changes suggested by various members of the region and incorporated

This proposal is presented to the membership of Region 13 for debate and modification as is deemed appropriate, and wil be balloted upon in its final form. If adopted, it will become the first part of a region-wide operations policy.

A simple majority of the ballots received will be necessary to adopt this proposal.

--Michael Walsh, R13C

I. The Election Moderator (EM)

1. The moderator is appointed by the RC at the beginning of the RC's term, and must be confirmed by a vote of the nodes of the region. Any node can volunteer to be the election moderator. The RC will select a candidate from the volunteers. Discussion on the selection will take place for as long as necessary in the R13 Sysop's echo with the RC able to call for a confirmation vote after one week of discussion. A netmail ballot to confirm or reject the selection is then held, using the procedure outlined later in this document. The RC will count the votes and post the results in the R13 sysops echo, and if a simple majority {trunc(ballots/2)+1} vote is in favor of the selectee, this person is confirmed.
2. The election moderator has complete control over the electoral process and validates all candidates' nominations, counts all votes and announces the results. The election moderator may appoint an assistant with the approval of all nominated candidates at the end of the nomination process, whose job will be to assist in counting votes. It is highly recomended that the EM use a robot vote counter to automate the tally process and post interim results of whose ballots have been received and validated, but not which candidate is currently leading.
3. In order to easily identify the election moderator to members of the region, s/he will receive the nodelist designation of 1:13/2, and will be added to the segment upon confirmation. (I. A.)
4. The election moderator serves in the appointed position for the entire term of the sitting RC, but may be replaced by the RC using this same process.

II. Election Details

1. The Election Moderator (EM) has sole discretion to select the working echo for the election. It is suggested that declerations be accepted in any of the three major R13 echos but the EM may restrict to a single echo which meets the needs of the election (accessable to all R13 nodes) as necessary. The Primary R13 echos will be defined as those listed in an available echolist database as being the R13 sysops echo, the R13 election echo and the R13 coordinators echo and being listed in such database by the current RC and/or REC. Any echo of a similar name listed by one or more other members of the region will be considered an unofficial echo and the EM may use it or ignore it at their sole discretion. At the time of this writing those echo tags are currently R13SYSOP, R13_ELECTION and R13COORD.
2. The final election schedule is set by the election moderator (EM) but should adhere to the following norms. All schedules start at 00:01 hours and end at 24:00 hours. Schedules can be stretched as necessary to ensure that all nodes in the region are dealt with fairly. In the past schedules have been delayed to accomodate storms and other network problems.
   1. Announcement of the election: 7 days.
      1. The EM will cause sufficient notices to be made in all three of the above referenced R13 echos (sysop, election and coordinators) echos so that everyone in the region has the same opportunity to participate. The election moderator will also cause a netmail to be sent to each NC in the region as well as an article to be submitted to FIDONEWS. This only requires a best effort attempt to route to each NC and does not require the EM to crash mail direct to any NCs. We also recognize that we can't control the editorial policies of FIDONEWS and only can require a submission, not publication.
      2. The announcement describes what position will be elected, whether RC or REC or other.
      3. The announcements are to be posted at least three times in a one-week period in the above echos. Netmail notification is done at least once, as is the FidoNews announcement though the EM can always undertake more if they so choose.
   2. Declarations of Candidacy: 2 weeks.
      1. Any member of the region may declare their own candidacy.
      2. Any member of the region may nominate any other member.
      3. A nominee will only become a candidate if they notify the EM of their acceptance of the nomination within the time alloted for declarations.
      4. Declarations should be allowed in any of the above R13 echos as well as netmail or email sent to the EM. At the EMs discression they may select one R13 echo as the primary election business echo and the EM may restrict declarations and nominations to that single echo.
      5. The message header/timestamp will be used to determine whether a declaration was received in time, but no more than two days after the end of the declaration period.
   3. Questions to the Candidates: 3 weeks
      1. The candidates will state, briefly, their platforms in the designated election business echomail area.
      2. Members of the region may question the candidates on any issues that they may feel are important to them or the region.
      3. Debate between candidates should be limited; it is the membership that must be answered, and the election moderator may halt debate at any time if it is clear that the membership is not benefiting from the debate. This does not apply to clarification of position; i.e., if a candidate states a position and it isn't clear, any other candidate may request clarification and present their position. This is not intended to prevent opposing points of view from being discussed, but rather is intended to prevent the candidates from focusing on each other and ignoring the members of the region.
   4. Vote: Two weeks are allowed for all members of the region to vote.
   5. Announcement of the results: within three days of the end of the vote.
3. Elections are held once every two years for each of the RC and REC positions. The elections are staggered, such that in one calendar year an RC election will be held, and the next calendar year an REC election will be held. The purpose of this is to maintain continuity in the operation of the region.

III. Recall Elections

1. Recalls are started by a referendum, in which 20% of the nodes or 20% of the NCs of the region request the recall action; this request for a recall must be filed with the election moderator.
2. The recall election is held as a regular election would be, with the sitting *C running as a candidate while still in office.
3. A recall election does not upset the regular schedule of elections; if a recall election is held, and results in the replacement of a *C, that replacement will only serve until the next regularly scheduled election at which time s/he may run as a candidate.

IV. Voting Procedure

1. Each nodelisted operator is entitled to one vote; if more than one person shares responsibility for a system, and also share a nodelist entry, then only one vote is allowed between them. By the same definition, a system with more than one node address is still a single system and is only entitled to a single vote.
2. Ballots are counted only when received by the election moderator. The EM may accept nodes sent by netmail (direct or routed), email or even public posting in the election business echo. The EM may restrict the method of receiving ballots to only netmail at their discretion. Voice or proxy ballots are NOT COUNTED. All ballots must be addressed in such a way that they will be received by the EM and identify the note as a ballot (eg being addressed to 1:13/2).
3. Ballots should probably be sent DIRECT to avoid the possibility of tampering, but in recognition of the fact that not all members of the region are able/willing to make a long-distance call to deliver their vote and that the EM might not have a POTS line to receive crashed mail, it may be routed. As always, ballots which are routed are not guaranteed to be delivered, and as such, no responsibility can be placed on any systems who may route such mail.
4. Each ballot must contain:
   1. The name and node address of the operator casting the ballot,
   2. The ballot identifying who the sysop is voting for.
   3. A password to be used in announcing and validating the vote.
   4. Example ballot:
      John Doe, sysop of 1:2634/567
      candidate_name
      {ballot_password}
5. The election moderator will tally and summarize the ballots, listing each vote by password in the announcement, i.e. if John Doe and Jane Doe are candidates, the announcement of the results would look like this: John Doe Jane Doe
   -------------------- --------------------
   Beeswax Whatchamacallit
   Zaphod Zoos
   Viper Kitchen
   Wrangler
   Hunter
   -------------------- --------------------
   3 votes (37.5%) 5 votes (62.5%)

   A second announcement will follow this, listing in numerical order, all node addresses from which a ballot was received and counted. These two messages will serve as the record of vote, and by the nature of their content, will allow all members of the region to see that their ballots were counted and counted correctly while maintaining the confidentiality of the votes. Under no circumstances will the Election Moderator (or assistant) release any information concerning the nature of specific ballots -- absolute confidentiality of the ballots must and will be maintained.

6. A candidate must receive a simple majority of the votes in order to be elected. If there is a clear understanding of the leading candidates (combined 75% of ballots) then a runoff between the top two candidates can commence, otherwise supplementary runoffs to determine the top two candidates may be necessary.

   For example:

   If four candidates are running, and the vote is:

   A: 91 votes B: 37 votes C: 69 votes D: 12 votes

   Candidates "A" and "C" will face each other in a runoff to determine the winner of the election. A runoff election is held between the two candidates receiving the most votes, and is handled as described above except:

   1. One week for further questions to the remaining candidates, not three, and;
   2. All results from the general election are discarded and a new ballot is taken, with the results of the new ballot alone being counted.
   3. One week for voting instead of two as above.

   Second example:

   Same four candidates above but the breakdown is

   A: 35 votes B: 35 votes C: 35 votes D: 15 votes

   An intermediate runoff between the top three candidates will commence. In general, the runoff will be amongst the candidates that recived 75% of the vote.

7. In any case, if the election results in a tie, the ZC or RC will choose the RC or REC from amongst the two tied candidates.
8. The elected person will take office one week following the announcement of the results, and in the case of the RC election, with the approval of the ZC (in recognition of FidoNet Policy.) The outgoing coordinator will make available all materials necessary to ensure a smooth transition, and will support the coordinator-elect for as long as is possible or needed.

V. Dispute Resolution

1. Any dispute of the election results, whether a miscounted ballot or a ballot not counted that a node claims should have been etc... must be filed, via netmail, to the election moderator within the one week time frame before the electee takes office. This dispute notice should be carbon-copied to at least two other members of the region (RC and REC for example) to ensure fairness and action on the part of the election moderator.
2. The election moderator will announce the dispute, and request a Judge of Elections be named. The Judge of Elections will be the ZC, or if s/he is unavailable, another region's RC or a member of the region acceptable to all of the candidates.
3. The Judge of Elections will receive from the election moderator all votes cast, without the summaries.
4. The Judge of Elections will recount the votes and create a new summary which will be forwarded to the election moderator and posted accordingly. This will be the final count in cases of dispute.

VI. Amendments to Election Policy

1. Any member of the region may propose an amendment to this election policy, but no amendment may be proposed during an election.
2. Such a proposal must be sent to the RC and the election moderator. The RC will cause it to be distributed to all NCs in the region, and direct that the NCs distribute it to all members of the region.
3. Debate on any amendment may be held in any of the above listed echos.
4. The process for voting on the amendment will be as follows:
   1. The proposal will require a simple majority of the votes to be adopted.
   3. The ballots will be counted as in a regular election, with the results posted similarly.
   4. The time frame for debate is open, but the voting period will still take place in one week's time.
   5. The election moderator will schedule the vote at least one week in advance to allow all members of the region to have time to consider their vote.
   6. The vote can be forced to occur by referrendum of either 20% of the nodes or 20% of the NCs; if 20% of the nodes or NCs request the vote be scheduled, the election moderator has no choice but to schedule the vote.

VII. Continutity and Successive Administrations

It is recommended to the members of the region that any candidates who may run for the RC position be clearly asked to abide the terms and conditions of the approved regional policy, such that no future RC may throw out policy to suit his/her whim. If a candidate does not clearly state that they will abide the terms and conditions of approved regional policy, you are advised that you should cast your vote in favor of a candidate who will abide it so that it can be maintained in perpetuity for the benefit of the members of the region.