UM-ACM Election Plan and Speeches, May 2001.

     It looks as though everybody who wishes to stand for election has now sent in their few words. I have included them all below in alphabetical order on last name. We have five people standing for four positions: very exciting!

     In fact, it is really important that we keep as many interested people doing something as possible, and we want to make sure that next year (when even more people will graduate and disappear) we still have some people around who know something about the organisation. Together with the fact that we really haven't had any opportunity for you to get to know each other, I think it would be a good idea if we have FIVE OFFICERS.
     If that does not meet with obejections, what we're doing now is deciding who will have which position, but all five people who had an interest will be involved and give us some continuity in the future. Are there any objections?

Anyway, the five people standing are:
        Tamara Almeyda
        Samuel Covert
        Michael Drumheller
        Zsolt Kira
        Andrew Tappert
(details below)

The positions to be elected are:
        President
        Vice-President
        Treasurer
        Secretary
        Fifth Wheel (or whatever we call it, if you allow it)

     Nobody has objected to the idea of a kind-of free-for-all election, where the person with the most votes gets their most desired position, and so on down the list, so that is probably what we should do. We could spend hours discussing the best possible voting scheme, but we haven't got hours available. So I have made a plan, and if nobody objects, it is what we'll do.

The Voting Plan:
     Everybody arranges the five candidates in order of preference. The person they put at the top of their list gets 16 votes, their second choice gets 8 votes, third gets 4 votes, fourth gets 2 votes, and their last choice gets 1 vote. If you hate a candidate, just don't put them in your list, and you are giving them zero votes. Of course you are allowed (and probably expected) to vote for yourself.

     When all the votes are counted, the candidates are arranged in order, the one with the most votes first. We then run down the list in order, each candidate gets the office they most wanted out of those offices not yet taken.
     So, the winner gets the position they want. Whoever comes second gets the office they wanted unless the winner already took it, in which case they get their second choice of office. And so on, down to the end of the list.
     If anybody does not state a list of preferences for offices, it will be assumed that they most want to be president, and least want to be fifth wheel, with the five offices in the order I listed them above.

     On Monday, I will send a ballot email to everyone individually. Each of you reply to that email just listing the candidates in your preferred order. Make sure your reply is sent BY early Wednesday, votes will be counted at approximately mid-day on Wednesday.
     To protected against the very unlikely event of florida-style vote fraud, each individual ballot email that I send out will include a secret two word phrase. Include that two word phrase in your reply.      I will keep a list of all the two word phrases sent out, but I will not keep any record of who was sent which phrase. That way I can make sure that each person only gets one vote, and I can also make the voting secret: When each reply is received, I will append it (without record of sender) to a single large file of responses.

     I think that's everything. Sorry this is such a long message, but the virtual impossibility of meeting in person for elections (or any other purpose really) means that everything has to be spelled out in detail.

Now for the candidates' "speeches". I am including them exactly as received, ordered on surname. I have no preferred candidates, and it is none of my business anyway, so I'm not going to try to push anyone. I am not adding any comments about anyone, although there are plenty that I would add if it were appropriate: I'm very pleased with all five candidates, and don't think you can go wrong whomsoever you choose. No candidate gives me that dreadful sinking feeling that I have had a few times in past years! I said that I'd remove any particular obscenities from speeches, but nothing strikes me as obscene enough to merit removal, and censorship is one of my least favourite aspects of modern society, so I left them all alone. If I had thought a bit longer, I would never have brought up the subject in the first place. Also, I don't get a vote. It is just you student members.


The End.