Washington Apple Pi

2001 Washington Apple Pi Election Timetable and Rules

Nomination Phase: Until February 24, 2001

1) Until end of the General Meeting at 12:00 p.m. on February 24, 2001, members in good standing may make nominations, according to the bylaws.

2) Nominations must be made at the meeting or addressed to the Secretary, care of the Pi Office, or may be sent to the Secretary via E-mail (brian.mason@wap.org). Nominations not received by this deadline will not be valid.

3) The Secretary or presiding officer at the General Meeting on February 24, 2001 will announce that nominations are open for the various elective positions, solicit nominations from the floor, and transmit nominations to the Secretary. Members of the Election Committee present at the meeting should participate in the solicitation of nominations. Paper may be made available for those wishing to make written nominations. Campaigning for candidates at this meeting is out of order.

4) The Election Committee should obtain a minimum (6 month) rental of a small Post Office box. Due to the volume of returned mail, the ballots must be collected every few days during a one month period. No box will be big enough to hold all returned ballots, and the Pi has had bad experience with the Post Office "losing" mail held behind the counter. So, rent a box convenient for frequently collecting mail. The best choices, if possible, would be at the regional mail facilities at Merrifield, VA, or Gaithersburg or Capitol Heights, MD. In any case, the chosen Post Office should be in Montgomery, Prince Georges, Fairfax, or Arlington counties, or Washington, DC. No person outside of the Election Committee should have access to the mailbox.

5) The Election Committee should plan ahead all steps for the remainder of the Election, as much work will need to be done on a tight timetable.

Production Phase: February 26, - March 23, 2001

1) On Monday, February 26, 2001, the Secretary will provide the Office Manager with a list of nominated individuals. This list will be checked by the Office Manager against the Pi membership database, and the Secretary will then provide the Election Committee with a list of nominee names, addresses and phone numbers with valid Pi memberships. Names should appear on the ballot in the form they appear in the database.

2) As quickly as possible, the Election Committee should contact each nominee and:

• Inform them they have been nominated for which positions;

• Ask if they wish to accept nomination for any of those positions;

• If so, advise them of what material can or must be submitted, where it should be sent, and the deadline for receipt;

• Send to each nominee a copy of these rules. They include, by reference, Bylaw changes that were published in the March/April Journal.

3) The Election Committee will post the list of nominees on the TCS, not later than March 9, 2001.

4) The Election Committee will apprise the Board of Directors at the March 7, 2001 meeting of any action they feel required or any decisions they feel need be taken. After that time, all contact with the Board, for any purpose, must be made through the Secretary.

5) Neither the Election Committee nor candidates may request assistance or interpretation of any election matter from the Office Manager. Any requests of the Office Manager must be made through the Secretary.

6) To have a candidate statement published and listed on the ballot, there must be personal contact between the candidate and a member of the Election Committee, either in person, by telephone, or as a last resort by notarized letter. This is to verify that the candidate actually exists, is not operating under a pseudonym, is running on their own behalf, and will accept the position if elected. It is not enough to simply submit a candidate statement.

7) Nominees may, if they wish, submit a candidate statement not to exceed 250 words. The statement may include a description of the candidate's background, accomplishments, goals, special skills and involvements, and other matters related to his or her qualifications for office. It may not include mention of anyone else by name. All statements will be printed in the same font and size, without any boldface, italic, underscored, or similarly highlighted text. The statement will not be edited, except for layout and formatting and perhaps isolated, obvious spelling or grammatical errors. The Election Committee should contact any candidate whose statement contains other matter, remind them of the rule, and ask that they correct it. If possible, the Election Committee should ask candidates how they wish to shorten statements longer than 250 words; otherwise the statement must be truncated. The 250 words limit does not apply to the candidate's name or any required disclosures.

Statements should be submitted in printed form and, if possible, in electronic form (floppy disk, upload to the TCS bulletin board) acceptable to the Election Committee.

Nominees may, if they wish, submit a photograph of themselves for publication with their statement. Black and white photographs (regular or digital) are preferred; 2"x2" or passport size photographs would be best.

Each candidate's name and home city and state will be printed before their statements; this information does not count toward the word limit.

8) At the April 1990 Board of Directors meeting, the Board resolved: "All officers, directors, employees, appointees, SIG Chairpersons, and candidates for office shall disclose to the club any employment, remuneration, holdings, royalties, or other financial arrangements which could place such member in a position where the interests of the club could conflict with the financial interests of the member, or where those financial interests could bias the opinion, decision, or vote of the member in any club matter. No member may vote on a matter of official business when he/she has a financial interest in the outcome of the vote."

In accord with this resolution, each candidate must submit a disclosure statement as to whether or not any such situation exists. Absent such a statement, a candidate may not be listed on the ballot or have a candidacy statement published. The Election Committee will forward the original copies of received disclosure statements to the Secretary when they are through with them.

Each candidate will disclose any employment within the past two years having anything to do with producing goods or services for the microcomputer market. Each candidate will disclose any current situation where the candidate has a financial stake in or receives money from any aspect of the microcomputer industry. Each candidate will disclose any entrepreneurial activities or situations where they request money for producing goods or services for the microcomputer market, whether or not they expects to make a profit. The disclosures must include any financial arrangements involving the Pi (including employment, payment for services within the past year, pending claims, and legal causes of action). Each candidate will disclose if they are an officer or director of another computer user group.

The disclosures need not be quantitative (i.e., how much money, or how big a stake), but they should be specific (i.e., which stocks held, what employment, what office in what user group). Disclosures are not a means to extend candidate statements, and they may be edited. Specific questions to be addressed in the disclosure statements may be further clarified by the Election Committee.

9) The Election Committee will prepare introductory material and instructions to voters, similar to past practice. This material should be placed in the Journal ahead of all candidate statements. It must include a disclaimer saying that the views expressed in the statements are those of the candidates, and are not necessarily correct or representative of the Pi.

10) As part of the introductory material, the election committee will include the attendance record of candidates currently serving as Directors, through the March meeting, similar to the following format:

Board Meetings Attended by Directors Current Term (June 2001-March 2002)

Washington 7 Jefferson 1 Madison 0 Lincoln 0 Grant 4** Van Buren 7 Willkie 7 Chamberlain 6 De Soto 1* Molke 7 Bonaparte 5 Leaping Wolf 5 Romanov 6 Stern 7 Tanaka 2 Deep Blue 7

*Vacated Office 7/31/2001 **Appointed 10/14/2001

11) Each member will be provided a ballot and a preprinted return envelope. Conspicuous notice will be given that the return envelope must contain the member's Pi number and signature in order for the ballot to be counted.

12) The May/June Journal will not contain any material that criticizes or praises any candidates for office. The Election Committee will provide the Journal Editor with a list of candidates as soon as possible after March 9, 2001. This rule is not meant to limit bylines or interfere with normal writing or editorial tasks.

13) The Election Committee will produce "camera ready" copy of all election material to be published in the May/June Journals. The Journal Editor will have responsibility for the inclusion and production of this material. The March/April Journal will contain a prominent notice that the ballot will arrive in the May/June Journal The cover of the May/June Journal will have a conspicuous notice to vote promptly.

The Election Committee will have all camera-ready copy for the May/June Journal to the Journal Editor by March 23. The May/June Journal will be mailed to members not later than April 27.

14) Candidate statements will appear on the ballot in random order. Candidates will be listed on the ballot in another random order, except that no candidate will be both first or last in both orders.

Voting Phase: March 23 - May 31

1) At the April 28, 2001, General Meeting, each candidate for an Officer position will be given two minutes to address the meeting. (Candidates for President may have three minutes.) Candidates may not appoint surrogates or proxies -- if they wish to speak, they must do so themselves. Candidates for Director-at-Large will be asked to stand and be recognized.

2) There will be no promotions, banners, signs, or handouts at Pi meetings or at the Pi office concerning individuals related to the election. No one may use any proprietary Pi databases or membership lists for electioneering.

3) Ballots should be picked up regularly from the post office box after the May/June Journal is mailed, and stored securely in a matter satisfactory to the Election Committee.

4) Ballots will be due at the post office box by May 25, 2001. Any ballots received in the box by the first pick-up the following day will be accepted.

5) After the last ballots are collected, the ballots will be tallied at the Pi office under the supervision of the election committee. Members of Washington Apple Pi not running for election may assist in the counting.

6) As soon as possible after tallying is complete, the Election Committee will post an unofficial listing of election winners on the TCS. The Committee will make their official report to the Pi Board of Directors at the June 6, 2001 meeting.

Other

The Board of Directors may take any action it deems appropriate to redress any violation of these or other election procedures.