ACF Elections

[Eric Strange]

How is the voting being conducted? I heard a rumor that the voting slips would be part of ACF bulletin and they were to be mailed in.

Can we also get a POLL started in the forum for voting here?

[rich beckwith]

Yes, ACF members have voted by mail-in ballot for decades. Ballot will appear in February bulletin.

[Eric Strange]

What about ACF members who don't get bulletins? How about emailing ACF members and allowing them to vote via email? Anything that has been done for decades should probably be put under scrutiny.

[Chexhero]

I can say I went almost 4 to 6 months last year without getting a bulletin. I personally don't see what is wrong with having members vote by email considering there would be more likely voters. Only 4 votes for the nationals masters scoring method, 3 not including me. That is out of about 250 ACF members. I hope the voting for next year has a better turnout.

[tommyc]

In the 21st. Cen email sounds good to me. Most people wont bother to vote if it means buying a stamp....esp checker players.

[Eric Strange]

Looks like everyone is in agreement that being able to vote by email is a good idea. So lets set it up!

[tommyc]

Lets do it............................

[Eric Strange]

What is your opinion on voting electronically? Honestly, it is a no brainer, nobody is gonna get hurt because of electronic voting. It would just be a positive step in the right direction for the ACF.

[Eric Strange]

Email is not that easy to "Spoof" anymore. It is not like we have elite hacker checkers players all over the place either.

What about members who buy the cheaper membership which does not include a bulletin? What do you propose for them?

[Eric Strange]

So people who cannot afford the full price or people who don't want a bulletin so they buy the less expensive membership are not members worthy of voting?

Can I hear that from someone in charge please?

[Eric Strange]

I am completely speechless right now. I could understand not getting a bulletin. It costs extra money to print and ship a bulletin, hence the extra cost for membership. But this is basically out casting perfectly good members who do not have a lot of money, and I think it is wrong. SMH

[rich beckwith]

Rule about associates not voting is apparently a very old statute that precedes the current exec, and I'm not sure what their thinking was. (This is not to say the board of directors couldn't ever re-vote on it. It used to be that international members couldn't vote either, and Alan changed that many years ago.)

As a reminder, we have very few associate members. The purpose of associate membership is not a bargain rate for low-income players, but rather for new players (who likely wouldn't even know the candidates well) who wish to enter an ACF-sanctioned tournament as a member on a temporary trial basis without committing to a full membership price. Since we are largely entering the off-season now, these folks should know by now whether or not they want to upgrade to a full membership.

[Chexhero]

It is a ridiculous rule in my book and should be changed. Pay less membership so no bulletin, makes sense. But those people are still contributing to the ACF by being a member and are providing some of their money. Not to mention the 100's of dollars to spend to attend a tournament. But you are going to take their voting privilege away too? This rule needs to be reevaluated. It seems to me no more than a punishment for lower paying members when it shouldn't be.

[Eric Strange]

I also agree that the rule should be changed. Richard, what do we need to do to get this rule changed before elections next year?

This is definitely a step in the right direction and it seems almost everyone agrees with the ACF moving forward and becoming a better organization. Very productive!

Once this rule is overturned we will need to setup an alternate way of voting that is not specific to the bulletin requirement.

Lets brainstorm some ideas.

poll
email
PDF document with electronic signature

Any other ideas? From here we can decide which is the best option.

[Eric Strange]

Perfect, Thanks for that! I will get the ball rolling tomorrow then.