컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� FidoNet Zone 2 document Z2_ELECT.001 31 Jul 1996 Revision .002 13 Aug 1996 Revision 1 by Morten Mertner (RC23), based largely upon the work of Keith Wassell (RC25) and Jan Vermeulen (RC28). Revision 2 by Morten Mertner (RC23) with input from Frank Ellermann (2:240/5815). PREAMBLE This paragraph adresses the complex issue of how this document is to be approved and adopted for use by Z2. As long as the office of IC is vacant, ZC2 may approve this document as a local zone 2 policy, if the referendum following the procedure outlined below results in an absolute majority, as defined by section 8.6 of P4, of the votes cast. The electorate shall be all coordinators of the zone, as listed in the nodelist defined by the returning officer. Coordinators must vote according to the preferences of the majority of the region or network they represent, as determined by a poll made previous to this election. If a majority of the votes cast are in favor of this document, the rules and procedures outlined herein shall replace those outlined by Policy 4.07, wherever they conflict. The content of this preamble must be changed into an appendix once the above referenda has been succesfully completed, verbosely listing the result (as outlined in section 6). Only when approval from a forthcoming International Coordinator has been obtained, this preamble may be removed entirely. 0. INTRODUCTION These election rules are meant to be a replacement of the rules contained in the current FidoNet Policy. They are to be used in FidoNet zone 2 for the election of coordinators at or below regional level. They may be extended or replaced by rules at a lower level; for these to be valid, both a majority of the members affected by the new rules and a higher placed coordinator (see section 2 for an example) must approve of the changes. Also, the document must be made available in english. 1. CANDIDATES Anybody who is a member of the area administered may stand as a candidate, except persons who only have private entries within the appropriate region or network segment of the nodelist. Candidates must be listed within the FidoNet nodelist and not annotated 'hold' or 'down'. Candidates will advise the returning officer of their intention to stand. 2. RETURNING OFFICER The returning officer shall be appointed by the retiring officer. If more than 10% of the electorate object to the choice of returning officer, then the nearest higher placed officer shall be obliged to select a new returning officer. For example, in case of a NEC-election REC shall appoint a new RO, while in case of an RC-election ZC shall appoint a new RO. All objections must be received within seven days of the announcement of the election. The election timetable shall be restarted at the announcement of the new RO. Returning officers must operate a CM system and may not stand as candidates. A trusted method of validation shall be enforced by the RO. This may involve a second officer (to whom votes must also be sent for verification) and/or software such as VoteMgr. Unless otherwise defined by local policies, the electorate shall be all members of the region (R*C elections) or network (N*C elections) in the nodelist at the date of the announcement of the election. The election shall be held upon the basis of "1 Person - 1 Vote". This ensures that no person holds multiple votes, regardless of the number of node entries he/she holds. The returning officer will in his announcement of election, define the exact nodelist that will hold the list of elegible persons to vote, e.g. Nodelist.147. It is the duty of the returning officer to notify the entire electorate of the election and how votes are to be cast. If no conference exists for this purpose within the region or network where the election is to be held, the returning officer must use netmail. Due to the expense of this operation, it is acceptable to do this as routed netmail, although crash/direct netmail is preferred. The RO may then carry on all further election business in the regional or network echo. Nodes who are not FTS-004 compliant (thus lacking the capability of using echomail) should make arrangements to log into another system, if they wish to follow the questioning of the candidates, etc. The returning officer will announce the successful candidate, who, after confirmation of the correctness of the poll, will then automatically become the new *C. 3. PERIOD OF OFFICE The period of office for any *C will be a maximum of two years. The outgoing officer may of course stand again for the next period, but will be deemed to have resigned (see section 8). The departing *C does not have the right to appoint his/her successor. 4. TIMETABLE Elections should be held over a seven week period. Two weeks shall be allowed for candidates to put themselves forward, two weeks for questioning of candidates, two weeks for votes to be cast and one week for the returning officer to count and verify the votes cast. Elections should ideally be held so as to prevent coincidence with summer vacations, christmas or other major holidays. 5. VOTING All votes shall be carried out by netmail, sent direct to the votecatcher(s) (usually the returning officer and a verifier), except where technical problems prevent this. Since the method of validation used by the RO may differ, the following vote is provided as an example only. ============================================================= To : Returning Officer Attr: Crash/Direct From : A Voter Subject: Election Vote. CC: Verifying officer I cast my vote in the *C election for: Candidate Name : Joe Bloggs Password : Abcdefg ============================================================= Voters wishing to publish their votes are free to do so. 6. RESULTS The result should ideally contain a seperate list of voters at the top of the announcement, followed by a list of candidates and the passwords voting for them, as shown in the example below. ============================================================= Voters : - Candidate : - Joe Bloggs 6 Votes Passwords : - Password1 , Password2 , Password3 , Password4 Password5 , Password6 Candidate : - Fred Smith 4 Votes Passwords : - Password1 , Password2 , Password3 , Password4 ============================================================= If automated counting software is used, it shall release only this information. No action shall be taken that can lead to any form of recrimination against any voter for either his/her choice of candidate, or their abstention from voting. This is ensured by secrecy of the ballot. The result should be posted by netmail to all candidates and in the appropriate sysop/*C echoes. 7. HUNG ELECTIONS A second ballot is required if none of the candidates achieves an absolute majority (equal to or more than 50% of the votes cast) on the first ballot. The second ballot shall be a simple run off election, where simple majority (highest number of votes cast) is enough to win. If the majority of votes cast on the second ballot are abstentions, the 'no candidates' situation described in chapter 8 will exist. The candidates achieving the two best results on the first ballot will run against each other on the second ballot. If a tie occurs between two or more candidates for first or second place, they all qualify for the second ballot if no two candidates didn't already qualify. The following numeric examples are provided to illustrate the above. They have been deliberately selected to specifically illustrate the types of cases in which "common sense" may be insufficient to evaluate the election results. In case of discrepancies, these written rules take preceedence over the examples below. A, B and C represent up to three candidates and the votes cast for them. Any votes cast on a candidate that did not qualify for the second ballot, are not to be considered in the second ballot. Election results: Consequences: Abstain A B C 1st ballot -> 2nd ballot --------------------------- -------------------------------- 4 4 - - A wins 2 5 2 - A wins 0 4 3 2 A/B qualify -> A wins 5 2 2 - A/B qualify -> NHO selects *C 1 4 4 - A/B qualify -> NHO selects *C 3 4 1 1 A/B/C qualify -> A wins Legend: NHO = nearest higher officer (see section 2, paragraph 1). - = no candidate. 8. LACK OF CANDIDATES When an election becomes due, because the officer in post has completed his/her time of office (2 years), he/she will be deemed to have resigned and will have to stand again as a candidate if he/she wishes to serve another term. If there is only one candidate, that person will automatically take the position, unless that person has just been deselected for failure to carry out their duties properly, in which case the 'no candidates' situation below will exist. Should no candidates be forthcoming the matter will be referred to the nearest higher officer, as described in the first paragraph of section 2, who shall then appoint a *C of his/her choice from the nodes of the pertinent network or region. [EOT] 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�