It’s interesting to see so much discussion on the North Florida Section Manager election process.   I thought it would be useful if you were to hear from the E&E Committee on our deliberations on this issue – since no one has asked us for background…  
 
The Ethics and Elections Committee was asked if it was OK if K4AC’s Director e-mail privileges could be used for a reminder to the Northern Florida section about the current voting process for Section Manager.
 
In January, the Board and President asked the Committee to look at ways to improve member turnout in elections by reviewing our present Director/Vice Director electronic voting process.  That review is still underway.
 
No request was made to review Section Manager election turnout.  Note that Section Manager elections are still conducted by mail with paper ballots.  Nothing has changed in the process for conducting them in years (and years).  There has not been any data gathered showing a decline in turnout for SM elections.  That may be a useful thing to research.
 
According to K1ZZ, the policy in the past has been not to allow SMs or Directors to remind members about ongoing balloting at all.  Messages from SMs to their members are screened by WV1X, messages from Directors are screened by K1ZZ.
 
In 2012 when it looked liked the turnout in a Director/Vice Director election was a bit low, the E&E Committee decision was that a reminder should not be sent out.  During last year’s Director balloting the E&E Committee did allow a plan to remind voters about Division elections via the ARRL web. 
 
We decided that it would not be good for Directors to be able to send out reminders about elections, as requested by Director Rehman.   This could become a problem during a Director’s election year, for example. 
 
What happens during the SM or Division election period?  We need to review our present policy and take the time to update it if the policy is to be changed.
 
After discussion, we considered whether such a reminder should come from HQ in a general email to members in the Section or Division.   We thought it was a good idea to consider.
 
We discussed the impact of voter turnout efforts.  Generally, we agreed it is desirable to have higher member participation in our elections.  The editorial in May QST was generated as a result of the lousy turnout in last year’s Division elections, our discussions at the January Board meeting, and the need to highlight to members how the organization works (this was not directed by the E&E).
 
On the other hand, voter turnout efforts are quite contentious on the national level with strong efforts currently underway to both reduce and increase it depending on your political views.  The same issue exists with our elections.  A change in turnout will impact the results.  The general research on voter turnout is that a higher turnout usually favors change or candidates that are more disruptive to the status quo.  A low turnout favors incumbents.
 
We decided it was not a good idea to make any change now for several reasons:  
We anticipate making a recommendation that HQ send out an e-mail reminder(s) for SM (and Division?) elections in our report to the Board in July.
 
Director Rehman has stated he has not disclosed how he will vote (he is a member from the NFL section) but he clearly has an interest in the results or he wouldn't be so insistent in trying to increase the turnout at this point.  (my opinion)
 
If a change is needed, it should be done with care and thought.  Making a precipitous change can easily make for a bad outcome.  We may miss something important.
 
    -- Tom  (Chairman, E&E)

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e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org   ARRL New England Division Director  http://www.arrl.org/
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444