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Voting for the 2006 WGA Board of Directors has begun! Click here to go to the election page and cast your votes for your favorite candidates.
Some general notes about this phase of the Board of Directors election process:
- Since there are 4 open Board positions, members may vote for up to 4 of the candidates.
- If you try to vote for more than 4 candidates, all your votes will be thrown out and you’ll be given a chance to vote again.
- Once you vote, you cannot vote again. Therefore, if you vote for fewer than 4 candidates, you can’t come back and vote for more. Also, you can’t change your votes (so get them right the first time!).
- Voting will end at exactly 11:59:59pm on Sunday, February 12, 2006.
If you have any general questions about this phase of the election process, feel free to post them in the Candidates Corner 2006 forum. If you experience technical problems with the voting system or trouble with your WGA member account, you can contact me directly, jeremy at wi-geocaching.com.
As President Brian mentioned in a different topic, we take the Board elections very seriously. Here is just a quick list of the things that we do to prevent election/voting fraud…
- Only WGA members can vote in the election, and they can only vote once (enforced by the voting system).
- Only 2 people can view and modify the votes cast. This year it is Ken Braband and myself. Both of us are “impartial observers” because we won’t be on the Board next year.
- While we still allow people to sign up as WGA members during the election, any votes cast by these new members are carefully scrutinized. In the past, we’ve actually contacted several new members by email to verify their votes.
- Before the final numbers are released, all the votes will be audited.
I think we are doing a satisfactory job preventing fraud while still holding online elections, but if members have ideas for improvements, please let us know. Obviously, requiring votes to be cast in person at a WGA meeting of some sort would be the “safest”, but would likely mean that a much smaller fraction of members would have a say in the election.
[This message has been edited by jvechinski (edited 01-29-2006).]
I hate to be the one to mention this but really folks, its just the WGA elections.
They have less checks and balances in presidential elections and they even have more then 80 people voting.
Per their own writings, WGA has no real power with geocaching.com and the election is just about electing people who wish to serve in a volunteer capacity for geocaching in Wisconsin in order to assist others and help the cause.
Must we really have all the reminders of fraud etc.
This should not be too hard to police with as few people voting as we have.Either trust the members of WGA to be honest or just drop the whole concept of a board. Does the current board really distrust the members this much?
I believe we should be able to vote persons too a position when makeing our votes. Why are the positions not known when we vote!! If we do not know the positions, then how can we vote?? I believe that all positions should be listed as we vote for them!! Then we can know who to vote for!! I think it should be too the voters and NOT the boared who should be placed in their positions. Then why should we vote??? The Tapps
According to the WGA Bylaws, “Officers are members of the Board of Directors and are appointed by the Board.”
The election is a general election to appoint four (this year) board members. It just happens that three of the four board positions being filled this year are current officers. That does not mean that three of the persons voted in this year will take on those positions. Existing board members may have an interest in holding those positions as well, but they are not up for election. At the first meeting of the new board, the nine board members will vote for the officer positions to allow all board members an opportunity to take on officer responsibilities, if desired.
Hope this helps explain it a bit.
Ruth
Tried to vote, but the board didnt recognize me, though it recognizes me here. What should I do??
zuma
It’s all one cache.quote:
Originally posted by wzbt03:
They have less checks and balances in presidential elections and they even have more then 80 people voting.Per their own writings, WGA has no real power with geocaching.com and the election is just about electing people who wish to serve in a volunteer capacity for geocaching in Wisconsin in order to assist others and help the cause.
Must we really have all the reminders of fraud etc.
This should not be too hard to police with as few people voting as we have.Either trust the members of WGA to be honest or just drop the whole concept of a board. Does the current board really distrust the members this much?
Oh come on Jeff… What gives? Ever since we announced the election, you be posting little digs at the WGA.
If you are going to post your discontent, at least make it accurate.
when you vote for president, you are required to be a registered voter. You need to show 2 proofs of id. You come to vote and give your name and address. 2 or 3 different people verify you are registered to vote. You are not allowed to vote more then once or you can be charged with a crime.
We’ve seen people make multiple votes for COTM and COTY, whether accidental or intentional. We owe it to our members to make sure things are done properly.
We trust the members, and trust they want us to help run a clean election 🙂
Why do you keep putting your fellow members down?
Can’t we play nice
Zuma,
Your member name is zuma, not zuma4now like on the message boards.Brian (Tapps),
Almost all the candidates have posted their views/ideas/plans/personal info in the Candidate Corner 2006 forum. Take a look. I am sure you will find some people whose ideas are in line with yours.Happy voting,
Team Deejay
quote:
Originally posted by zuma4now:
Tried to vote, but the board didnt recognize me, though it recognizes me here. What should I do??zuma
Zuma, there are two different places to sign up, the message boards, and for membership.
I see you listed as a member under “zuma”, but it looks like your membership may have expired 12/11/05. Can you try the renew membership feature and see if that works?
That’s what I had to do also.Let us know if you still have problems
quote:
Originally posted by The Tapps:
I believe we should be able to vote persons too a position when makeing our votes. Why are the positions not known when we vote!! If we do not know the positions, then how can we vote?? I believe that all positions should be listed as we vote for them!! Then we can know who to vote for!! I think it should be too the voters and NOT the boared who should be placed in their positions. Then why should we vote??? The TappsIt would seem that there are some other organizations that operate like this too. My snowmobile club runs their elections / officer selection the same way.
The membership elects the board members, and the board members elect the officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer).
quote:
Originally posted by zuma4now:
Tried to vote, but the board didnt recognize me, though it recognizes me here. What should I do??zuma
I had the same problem, after trying a few variations on a theme, I finally got it. Seems it still thinks I use my old password, though I changed it and use a different one in the forums. Also, it recognizes my id without the underscores. Have no clue what that is happening.
It would seem to me that while individual positions on the board assume different responsibilities, it is the board as a whole that makes vital decisions. This being said, each board position is equally important.
A face-to-face meeting of current and newly appointed board members would be the only reasonable way to fit each person into the position which is best suited for them. This is the current policy, which makes good sense.
quote:
Originally posted by Cathunter:
It would seem to me that while individual positions on the board assume different responsibilities, it is the board as a whole that makes vital decisions. This being said, each board position is equally important.This is exactly right… the officers have some special roles and extra tasks to perform, but they have no more power than any of the other Board members (i.e. they still have only one vote on Board matters). There aren’t multiple branches of governance in the WGA (thank God), so it is not like the President can veto proposals or make unilateral decisions without consulting the Board.
Because all Board members have the same power, we decided to let the Board work out who would be responsible for what. This is similar to how the Board is allowed to determine who will lead efforts like event planning, geocoins, etc. The Board is not giving individual board members more power, just dividing up the work that it has to get done.
If the members really want to choose the officers, I would suggest that this be done in a separate election after the 9 board members are set for the year… however, I think the current system is working fine.
quote:
Originally posted by wzbt03:
Must we really have all the reminders of fraud etc.
This should not be too hard to police with as few people voting as we have.
Yes, there are a lot fewer people voting in our election versus say a Presidential election, which does make it easier to police.
However, if there is fraud in any sized election, it undermines the entire political system. People become disinterested, feel that they don’t have a voice, and then don’t even bother voting and participating. Hence the reason that the Board wanted to assure members that voting fraud would not be tolerated, just as the “real” government works hard to keep its elections fair (though there are problems from time to time).
The fraud concerns were raised by several members, not the Board itself. These are valid concerns (members should not blindly trust the Board), and the Board was right to address the issue.
I realize that some of you do not like to hear that others may not share your opinions on geocaching. If my opinions are in the minority, so be it, they still merit review by others.
I have noticed a trend with WGA which I find rather disturbing and decided that to drop out of sight or keep quiet is not the proper option.
So here we go….
First to address Brian (grousetales), I am being honest about the ease of voting in elections, when you vote where I live you just show up, tell them where you live and then vote. No one threatens you, no one tries to itimidate you, in fact they are actually pretty friendly folks.
For the people running the election to talk of “sock puppets” is kind of weird since I have fairly reliable information that the sock puppet issue was with fellow board members, not the general membership.
Certain board members have been rather quick to criticize others, including myself, without ever looking at what they do themselves.
So if you want a positive organization, you have to be positive yourself and that starts by not starting a negative thread on voter fraud.
I also find it kind of funny that I leave one thread about how I feel about the election and three board member respond in a matter of hours but I leave one message asking that a accounting of WGA funds and expenditures to be posted and I get total silence…. hmmmmmmmmm.
quote:
Originally posted by wzbt03:
I also find it kind of funny that I leave one thread about how I feel about the election and three board member respond in a matter of hours but I leave one message asking that a accounting of WGA funds and expenditures to be posted and I get total silence…. hmmmmmmmmm.My response, and I believe Tie’s, was directed toward The Tapps’ questions about the officers. Please do not assume that my response about the officers was in any way related to your opinions about the elections.
Ruth
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