Re: [Harp-L] SPAH election results

[The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>]

Yes, more transparency was one of the campaign issues/promises.



-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Jul 6, 2012 11:22 am
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] SPAH election results


I sent the message below two days ago and have heard no reply.  

Perhaps it's the novelty of actually having more than one candidate for a SPAH 
office that makes it difficult for the people administering the election to tell 
us how it was done.  I'm sympathetic to a point, but as a SPAH member I want to 
know the answers to the three questions posed below:

1)  What were the actual vote tallies for the candidates?
2)  How do I, as a voter, know that my vote was counted?
3)  Can you please tell us what measures were taken to preserve the integrity of 
the vote--e.g., who counted it, under what circumstances, how many ballots were 
rejected for various reasons, and how was the count vaalidated?

I'll add a fourth question to the three above: where are the ballots that were 
cast, and are those ballots available for inspection by, say, the candidates, or 
the SPAH membership, or some other third party not connected to the current SPAH 
administration?

Need I point out that there's plenty of potential for abuse in a system in which 
none of the above questions have answers?  Please note: I'm not questioning 
anybody's integrity.  I'm pointing out that in a well-run system, there's no 
question about the integrity of the election, because the procedures are in 
place to ensure that errors aren't easily made.  What were the procedures used 
to count the votes in this case?

While I'm on the subject, I'm disturbed that my vote, which was made via email 
as per instructions from SPAH, had to be accompanied by my name and address, 
which means that anyone counting the votes had my vote right there with my name 
and address.  That's not tops. 

As I said, it's apparently a novelty for SPAH to have more than one candidate 
for office, so perhaps the crew can be forgiven for not knowing how a vote is 
really run. They're still having problems with that in a lot of new democracies.  
But it is absolutely unconscionable to announce simply that one candidate won, 
without providing any information on the vote itself.

Making the information requested above available should help to improve 
everyone's confidence in the vote, and so confidence in future votes, higher 
levels of voter and candidate involvement, etc.  And that's what we want, right?

Thanks, Richard Hunter


-----Original Message-----
>From: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Jul 5, 2012 1:38 PM
>To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: [Harp-L] SPAH election results
>
>Jp Pag?n wrote:
><The SPAH 2012 Election is over! Winslow Yerxa has been elected to serve as 
SPAH's next president, beginning his term after the <2012 Convention. LJ Atkison 
will remain as SPAH's vice president. This was a historic election, with two 
official presidential <candidatesÂa SPAH firstÂand over 250 ballots castÂa SPAH 
record. We would like to thank Bob Cohen and Warren Bee for running and we 
<would especially like to thank all of the SPAH members who cast ballots. And 
don't forget, members, this is not the end of your <participation in SPAH's 
future, only the beginning. 
>
>JP:
>1)  What were the actual vote tallies for the candidates?
>2)  How do I, as a voter, know that my vote was counted?
>3)  Can you please tell us what measures were taken to preserve the integrity 
of the vote--e.g., who counted it, under what circumstances, how many ballots 
were rejected for various reasons, and how was the count vaalidated?
>
>There's no information on SPAH's site that describes any of the above, and I'd 
like to know. Anyone who's been involved in counting votes for any election 
knows that transparency in the process matters.
>
>Thanks, Richard Hunter
>
>author, "Jazz Harp" 
>latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
>Myspace http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
>Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
>more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
>Twitter: lightninrick


author, "Jazz Harp" 
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Myspace http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Twitter: lightninrick