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The TNS Constitution requires voting on candidates for office to be on a preferential basis.
You vote for the candidates of your choice by ranking them.
Check the box in the “1st” column in the row of your first choice candidate.
Next, check the box in the “2nd” column in the row of your second choice candidate.
Repeat these steps with your 3rd, 4th, and lower choices.
You may rank some or all of the candidates from 1 up to the number of candidates for each office.
You may vote for as many or as few candidates as you wish by
ranking them, but since the second tally uses weighted totals
of the rankings, assigning any rank to
a less-preferred candidate will increase his total, possibly to a
total higher than that of a candidate you ranked higher.
It is not optimal voting strategy to rank every candidate.
You may not assign more than one ranking to any candidate.
Doing so will invalidate your vote on that office.
The Constitution calls for a two step tally procedure.
1. All first place votes are tallied (subtotaled) for each candidate.
Any candidate with a simple majority of first place votes is elected.
A simple majority is defined as “more than v/(s+1)” where v= the total
number of (first place) votes for the office, and s is the number to be elected
(number of seats to be filled for the office).
2. If not all of the available seats are filled through the first tally,
there shall be a second tally to fill the remaining seats.
In the second tally, each vote (ranking of candidate) is weighted. The weight factor (w) is equal
to the number of candidates (n) minus the voted rank (r) plus 1 [ w = n - r + 1 ].
(Example: with 9 candidates, a vote for first choice would count as 9-1+1=9 points; a vote for
second place would count for 9-2+1=8 points, etc.)
An unranked candidate shall receive zero points.
The candidate(s) with the highest weighted vote total(s) shall be elected to
any seats not filled on the first tally.
Note: In this election there is one candidate for Regent and two candidates for
Ombudsman, so the second tally will not apply to these two offices.
For Member-at-Large, there are 9 candidates for 4 positions.
While you may rank more than your first 4 choices for this office,
doing so will reduce the relative ranking of your four top-ranked candidates
in the event a second tally is needed.
Only paid up members (V215 or higher) may vote.
If your dues are lapsed, you may renew before the end of February and receive
a ballot with a valid VAN printed on it.
The voting is anonymous (the web page does not know who you are),
and your vote must be authorized by submitting your VAN with your vote.
You may only vote once, and you may not modify your vote once it is cast.
The association between VAN and member identity is random and unknown to anyone
(the ballots are shuffled and added to the Vidya V215 envelopes in a random sequence).
A list of valid VANs is held by the Elections Officer, who will compile the votes
from both mail-in ballots and the web page.
Wendell W. Reinking, Jr.
TNS Elections Officer
PO Box 240345
Anchorage, AK 99524-0345
elections@triplenine.org
Note: You may alternatively download the mail-in/fax-in ballot at:
Windows Word 2000 format: http://www.triplenine.org/download/TNS-Ballot-2004.doc
RTF format: http://www.triplenine.org/download/TNS-Ballot-2004.rtf
Right-click the link and select "Save Target As..."
Use of a printed ballot also requires a valid Voter Authentication Number. Mailed-in ballots must be postmarked before March 1, 2004, and received by March 15, 2004.
From the TNS Constitution:
[IV-2] The deadline for statements of candidacy to reach the Editor shall be December 15.
The publication date of these statements shall be the first issue of the Society's journal published in the following year.
The deadline for publication of ballots shall be for that same first issue of the Society's journal in the new year, and the ballots shall be returned to the Elections Officer by March 1.
The assumption date for all offices and the effective date for initiatives and Constitutional amendments shall be April 1.
[IV-6]
Voting for candidates for elective office shall be on a preferential basis, i.e.,
members will rank their preferences for all or some
of the candidates in terms of their first choice, second choice, etc.
The Elections Officer shall first tally the votes to determine
whether any candidate has a simple majority of the first-choice votes.
Those that have shall be considered elected.
Those votes which fail to meet this test shall be subject to a second tally
in which the information contained in all choices shall be utilized by a weighted vote,
the weights being the precise reverse of the rankings.
The remaining candidates receiving the majority of all weight,
preference votes shall be deemed elected.
In the case of a tie on the second tally,
a majority vote by the existing Executive Committee shall break the tie.
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