[wplug-board] ballots and bylaws revision

[Patrick Wagstrom]

> That's how I'm interpreting it. I'll say that volunteers were sought,
> that these three offered their help, and that the membership accepted
> them without objection. But I won't say that they were selected to be
> tellers.
> 
> I ran into John McCarter and Bob Turley at the Pittsburgh Perl
> Workshop. I told them what was happening and asked for their advice.
> John said that yes, we should follow the Election special rules of
> order that we set for ourselves. It could be as simple as announcing
> their names and accepting them as tellers, if we can get unanimous
> consent.

Sounds good.  We never did officially assign them as tellers.

> I'll probably delegate the task this year, just for the sake of
> practicality. Patrick and Bill have the keys to the WPLUG mailbox, and
> both work in Squirrel Hill, within walking distance of our post
> office.
> 
> Guys, the box would need to be checked more often than it's checked
> now. It was about once every ten days, right? Is it checked more
> frequently now?

Umm, no, why should it be?  Once we send out the ballots, maybe, but
it's not critical.

> > Here's what I can remember.  In addition to e-mailing those who
> > voted by ballot, I e-mailed the Board the night before the
> > election meeting to inform them of how many ballots were received
> > by mail (but not who sent them).  I kept these envelopes separate
> > going into the tellers meeting so that if someone mailed a ballot
> > and brought one in person as well, only the later ballot would be
> > counted.  Once everybody's names were validated, we mixed all the
> > ballots together so they were effectively anonymous at that point.
> 
> Sounds good. I'd probably want a more frequent report as the weeks
> progress, but I can work that out.

One report at the end is fine with me.  I don't see what having someone
go through the trouble of interim reports would manage to do.  We can't
change election process mid-election.

I would argue for having the list of names of people who submitted
absentee ballots by mail included.  The reason is because in any
election the submission of an absentee ballot is a public event.  Next
time you go to your polling place, ask them where they have posted the
list of received absentee ballots.  Heck, you can even ask to see the
envelope each absentee ballot is in, but not the ballot itself of
course.  The ballots are sealed until the end of the night.

Other than that little nit-picky thing, stuff looks good.

--Patrick