[wplug] PROPOSED Bylaws Changes to be voted on Wednesday

[David Ostroske]

PROPOSED BYLAWS CHANGES FOR ELECTION OF AT-LARGE
BOARD MEMBERS

Here are the proposed bylaws changes for the
chapter election of at-large board
members. Deleted and added language are marked.

This document was first written and submitted to
the mailing lists on August 19, 2003.

On August 21, Tim Crowley suggested some language
changes. These were incorporated on September 4.

A few semantic changes were also interpreted and
incorporated on September 4. The most notable
change is that in the single-seat election
procedure, "votes" has been replaced with
"ballots." They are essentially the same, but the
new language makes it clear that a ballot counts
for only one candidate at any stage of the count.

David Ostroske eksortso at linuxmail.org

--------------------------------------------------

(Section changed in ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS AND
ELECTIONS)

B. Members in good standing at the time of the
nomination shall be eligible to vote {DELETE:
upon}{ADD: in} the subsequent election by
attending the {DELETE: following}{ADD: next}
regular meeting and casting a ballot personally,
or by delivering an absentee ballot {DELETE:
with}{ADD: to} the secretary or other designee of
the board prior to that meeting{DELETE: , but
a}{ADD: . A}bsentee ballots not received by the
secretary or designee prior to the meeting shall
be disqualified.

Absentee ballots shall be certified by the
signature of the member whose votes it shall
record, but the particular votes of each member
shall not be reported. Absentee ballots shall be
counted by the same procedure as those cast in
person, but they shall be totaled and reported
separately, prior to the first count.

Each voting member shall indicate for each
position upon the ballot the order in which he
prefers the candidates, placing a numeral 1 before
his first preference, 2 before his second
preference, and so on for every possible choice.

For the elections of the {DELETE: officers}{ADD:
Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer}, the
ballots shall be counted as follows:

1. The ballots shall be sorted {ADD: and assigned
to candidates }according to first
preferences. Invalid ballots shall be set
aside. To win, a candidate must get a majority of
the {DELETE: votes}{ADD: ballots}, here defined as
fifty percent (50%) of the total number of valid
ballots at the beginning of the first count,
rounded up to the next highest whole number.

2. If no candidate has a majority, then all
candidates with at least one {DELETE: vote}{ADD:
ballot} shall continue to the next round, except
for the candidate with the least number of
{DELETE: votes}{ADD: ballots}. Each of the ballots
cast for that candidate shall be redistributed to
the next-highest continuing candidate on the
ballot. Ballots with no continuing candidates
shall be declared exhausted and set aside.

3. Redistribution of ballots shall continue until
either (a) one candidate attains a majority of the
{DELETE: votes}{ADD: ballots}, or (b) only one
candidate remains. In either case, this candidate
shall be declared the winner.

4. "NOTA (None of the Above)," if it appears on
the ballot, shall be treated as an individual
candidate for the sake of the count.  Invalid
ballots and exhausted ballots shall not be counted
towards NOTA under any circumstances.

5. If at any point two or more candidates are tied
for the least popular position, the ballots for
each of them shall be so redistributed in a single
step. In the event of an eventual tie for the
winning position, the election shall be resolved
in favor of the candidate strongest in terms of
first preferences.

--- THIS PARAGRAPH IS DELETED:

For at-large board positions this procedure shall
be altered insofar as that candidates shall be
eliminated and their ballots redistributed until
the number of open positions matches or exceeds
the number of remaining candidates, at which point
these candidates shall be declared the winners.

--- THIS NEW SECTION IS ADDED:

For the elections of the at-large board positions,
the ballots shall be counted as follows:

1. The ballots' first preferences are counted and
recorded. Then their second preferences are
counted and recorded, followed by their third
preferences. If a preference is missing from a
ballot, then that ballot is recorded as "no
preference" for that particular count.

2. Each candidate receives points based on the
counts. Three (3) points are given to a candidate
for each first-preference vote, two (2) points for
each second-preference vote, and one (1) point for
each third-preference vote.

3. The points are then summed, and the candidates
with the top three point totals shall be declared
the winners, with the provision that no candidate
may be elected if their point total does not
exceed that of "NOTA (None of the Above)."

4. NOTA shall be treated as an individual
candidate for the sake of the count. Invalid
ballots shall not be counted towards NOTA under
any circumstances.

5. If two or more candidates are tied for third
place, then the election shall be resolved in
favor of the candidate with the greatest number of
first-preference votes. If there is still a tie,
the second-preference votes shall be used
instead. If there is still a tie, then 3rd, 4th,
etc. preferences, in turn, shall be used, until
all ties are resolved, or until no lower
preferences exist on the ballots. In the latter
case, a random method shall be used to resolve the
remaining ties.

-- 
--- David Ostroske
    eksortso at linuxmail.org
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