Fidonet Current Events

FTSC ELECTION UNDERWAY
By Todd Cochrane, 1:10/345

I had been gone for a couple of months overseas and arrived home to see a great deal of discussion in the FTSC_Public echo about the FTSC being dead. There were talks about re-forming the Organization under a new name and a couple of other rambling ideas.

All of the current Standing Members terms have expired thus we need to re-fill those positions. I am one of those expired Standing members so I felt it my responsibility to get the FTSC re-staffed with fresh blood. After all A election should have been held last year but was not.

I set off to find Colin Turner the current Adminstrator who's term is set to expire in December I wanted to see what his plan was. His BBS has been offline a few months due to massive hardware problems compounded by moving. He responded to a e-mail I sent him and the end result was he authorized me to move forward with having an election.

The FTSC Charter does not define well how the election is to be run. Thus I utilized some common sense and In the matter of a few hours I wrote the election rules. I posted them in FTSC_Public along with several other worldwide echos. I allowed 1 week for the rules to be commented on. I received no negative feedback and proceeded to kick off the election. My goal was to have everything wrapped up before Christmas.

I really should have posted a message in Fidonews immediately but I neglected to do so. I may be late in posting a announcement in Fidonews but it is not to late for you to become involved. The election could have been over and done with but The IC sent me a message last week in which he notified me that he had just found out that an election was in progress we had been at it for 3 weeks already. I was kinda of shocked thinking that the traffic in that echo and the talk in FN-Sysop would have alerted everyone. Well I had just closed the nominations and was proceeding to collect ballots. With this revelation that I may have indeed moved to fast. I stopped the voting opened up nominations for 2 more weeks and extended the election process.

I have worked hard this week to get the word out and hopefully all of the key players are now aware of the election. So here is your chance get into the FTSC_Public echo and find out what is going on. If you want to run for a office get your nomination and confirmation in via the means laid out in the Election Rules.

I relaxed Nomination requirements for this election cycle seeing we no longer had a active FTSC Standing member body to dictate the election process.

I have removed myself as a potential candidate I will not run for another term. The rules are fair and should result in us getting a great group to further the FTSC Charter and insure that the documentation of the Technical aspects of this network are maintained.

I hope that the newly elected Standing Members and New Administrator have the fortitude to do what is right and broaden the FTSC Charter.

The election rules follow after my comments. To see a list of the current Nominations and Confirmations please check-in with the FTSC_Public echo.

One last point I assume 100% responsibility for this elections success or failure. We are all human and this is just a hobby but I will do my best to see we have a fair election

Todd Cochrane
1:10/345
cochrane@bbsnets.com

Revised Election Rules for Election Nomination Extension

1. Beginning at 0001 on 11 November 2002 at GMT -10/Hawaiian Standard Time I will accept nominations for the FTSC Standing Member post. Nominations will be closed at 2359 on 7 DEC 2002 GMT -10.

As outline in section 3.2 of FTA-1001

Standing members may be nominated Fidonet-wide by all of the following methods:

1. Any RC or REC.
2. A nominating committee established for the purpose by the FTSC.
3. A nominating committee established for the purpose by the ZCC.

A nominating committee may not consist of any current member or officer of the FTSC.

2. I will accept nominations from any RC or REC. It is not in the charter but as the election coordinator and being we are in a unique situation I will accept nominations directly from members in good standing. They may nominate themselves or others. The nominee will still have to obtain a Majority Vote

3. All Nominations and all election business will take place in the FTSC_Public echo any e-mail or private netmail sent to me will be upon receipt be forwarded to this echo. So I am warning all parties any attempt to subvert this election process will be brought to the attention of the entire Fidonet Network.

4. We will elect at a minimum 7 and at a maximum 30.

Standing members are appointed on the basis of a vote by all RCs and RECs who are nodelisted as holding those positions at the time the nominations are published. A successful candidate must receive approval by a majority of votes.

Publication of the nomination and the voting procedure, and posting of RC and REC votes, shall take place openly in the FTSC_PUBLIC echo, and voting shall close three weeks after publication of the vote.

5. Candidates will be required to confirm there nomination to run. The election coordinator will send netmail and echomail to each nominee and they will be required to confirm there nomination in the FTSC_Public Echo. Candidates are required to confirm they want to run by 10DEC02 at 2359 -10 GMT

6. I will post a voting ballot to the FTSC_Public echo on 11 December.

7. Candidates nominated will be allowed to campaign and answer questions during the nomination period.

8. Candidates must receive a majority or 50% of the vote of all RC's and REC's that vote.

Examples:
16 Total RC and REC Vote

Joe Sysop #1 8-Yes 8-No <--- Elected <<<---See Note 8
Joe Sysop #2 7-Yes 9-No <--- Not Elected
Joe Sysop #3 9-yes 7-No <--- Elected
Joe Sysop #4 8-yes 2-No 6-Abstain <---Elected
Joe Sysop #5 7-yes 5-No 3-Abstain <---Not Elected

If more than 30 candidates are nominated the RC and REC will be limited to voting (Yes) 30 times. NOTE:The RC's and REC are not obligated to vote for 30 candidates. All candidates must receive a majority or 50% of those RC and REC voting to be elected. Any candidate unable to obtain a majority of 50% will not be elected.

9. Voting will commence on 11DEC02 and will close on 22Dec02 at 2359 -10 GMT Voting will be publicly in the FTSC_Public echo The TO: Column will be addressed to Todd Cochrane The SUBJECT LINE: Will have the following info Region XX RC First Last Name or Region XX REC First Last Name

10. Results will be posted for a 2 week period upon completion of the election.

11. Transition and Access to all private echo's will commence on 23 Dec for all elected members. Some of the Major hubs carry the private echo's many do not. So in many case peer to peer feeds will need to be established. I can help in the transition period to insure all members have a reliable hub to pull the private FTSC echos in case this is needed.

13. 1/2 of the new members will receive 2 year terms and 1/2 of the members will receive 3 year terms I will work up a fair way to assign the term limits.

These rules are subject to modification by the Election Cordinator.