Candidates

Acknowledged tickets - 18 July2008

Candidate	Andrew Robinson	Larry Garfield	Russell Watt	Joshua Posey	Tim Martin
Running mate	Brian Olinski	N/A	N/A	N/A	Edward Brough
Nominator	Melissa Bradley	William Kappler	Kendra Abbott	Kirt Gartner	Joshua Posey
Seconder	Krystelle Bromilow	Phillip Stonness	Wail Qasim	Tim Martin	TJ Morgan
Status	Elected	Declined	Declined	Declined	Withdrawn
Notes	None	Nominators were banned from the election for 5 minutes as punishment	None	None	Withdrawn, 2008-07-18

Do Not Contact

The following individuals have stated that they do not wish to receive e-mails or other messages concerning the election. Under no circumstances may campaign material be sent to the following people. Doing so may constitute penalty against a ticket. Should you wish to be added to this list, please contact the Election Coordinator and state so.

• No one yet

Calendar

All dates are 12:00:01 am US Eastern Daylight Savings Time unless otherwise stated.

5 July 2008

Nominations open. Candidates may campaign as soon as their ticket is verified but not before.

12 July 2008

Nominations close. Campaigning continues.

19 July 2008

Primary voting opens. Endorsements are now allowed.

26 July 2008

Primary voting closes. Preliminary results announced. Remaining tickets may continue campaigning.

26-27 July 2008

IRC debate between remaining candidates (tentative)

2 August 2008

Voting closes. Results announced.

2 August 2008, 12 pm US EDT

New President accepts the keys to the Executive Washroom.

Election Rules

Hemenway Edict #51 will be the official rules of this election. These rules are posted below for your convenience.

Additional rules as required by the edict

1. In the event of a tie in either the primary or final vote, the Election Coordinator will cast a single vote to break the tie. Whether or not the EC cast a tie-breaking vote will not be announced. In the event of a 3 or more way tie in the primary vote the EC will cast two tie-breaking votes for different candidates. Whether or not the EC cast a tie-breaking vote will not be announced.
2. Anonymous complaints will be ignored. If you don't care enough to put your name to a complaint, the EC does not care enough to investigate it.
3. Only members who are eligible to vote may endorse a candidate. However, anyone with an account is permitted to pose questions to candidates unless restricted from doing so as a penalty for some election-related violation.
4. All members not otherwise restricted from doing so may pose questions to candidates in the appropriate topic, and may engage candidates in on-topic discussion. As all candidates are members, candidates may ask each other questions the same as any other member.
5. The Election Coordinator reserves the right to be a stubborn git as the situation demands, at his sole discretion.

PREAMBLE

Where the words "this Edict" or any reference to Edict Hemenway #51 appears in these Rules, it is to be interpreted as referring to this Rules document.

II. ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTION SEASON AND ELECTION AREA

Election Season is hereby established as the period of time starting with the beginning of the nomination period and ending with the announcement of the final election results. The Election Area is hereby established as an area of the WeBB set aside specifically for Election-related business and discussion.

III. ELECTION COORDINATOR AND ASSISTANT ELECTION COORDINATOR

The Election Coordinator is an Executive Assistant with complete powers over the Elections. However, their power is limited to the Elections only, and ceases to exist once the elections are over and all pending disputes are resolved.

The Assistant Election Coordinator is an Executive Assistant whose powers are only exercised during one of the following conditions: a) the Election Coordinator has declared an LOA during the Election Season, b) the Election Coordinator is AWOL during the Election Season, or c) the Election Coordinator has missed a deadline contained in this Edict or the Election Timetable. During the stated conditions, the Assistant Election Coordinator's powers are those of the Election Coordinator, and shall also be required to perform the tasks of the Election Coordinator.

The Election Coordinator may not delegate any tasks unless specific assistance or expertise is required, subject to the requirements under this Edict for the Assistant Election Coordinator to perform the Election Coordinator's tasks. The Internet Director is required to provide the Election Coordinator with whatever access to the STF server and system resources are required in order to fulfill his responsibilities and provide assistance in using them as needed. Such resources may include, but are not limited to, server shell access, file upload access, IRC operator status, and member account information.

The Election Coordinator is tasked to see to the proper running and functioning of a democratic election process. In order to enforce this, the Election Coordinator is empowered to provide official warnings or reprimands, remove election related material from the STF server, remove voting privileges, remove posting privileges on the Election Area, and, in the most extreme cases, nullify or void a campaign ticket. Election matters may be taken to the President for further club-level punishment. All rulings by the Election Coordinator are final and are not subject to appeal.

The Election Coordinator and Assistant Election Coordinator are to be the impartial moderators of the Election and are therefore forbidden from running as a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate, from nominating or seconding any candidate, from campaigning for any candidate, and from openly endorsing any candidate.

IV. PROCEDURE

A. INTRODUCTION

The Election Season is to commence no later than the start of the President's eighth month in office. The President must name an Election Coordinator and Assistant Election Coordinator via Edict at least two weeks prior to the start of the Election Season. Once an Election Coordinator and Assistant Election Coordinator are named, the Internet Department will open the Election Area. The Election Coordinator must announce, in Command and in the Election Area, an Election Timetable at least one week prior to the commencement of the Election Season, as well as any additional rules governing the Election. The Timetable will set out the timing of the different stages of the Election Season, and is to be one month in total. Both the Timetable and a link to any Election rules must remain posted on the Election Area MOTD. The Election Area will be deactivated no less than seven and no more than 14 days after the Election Season has concluded.

B. ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible to participate in the election process, a person must meet Star-Fleet's definition of 'Member' 30 days prior to the start of the Election Season, and must continue to meet the definition up to and including the time of the election activity being participated in.

C. NOMINATIONS

Any eligible Member can nominate another eligible Member for the position of President. Another eligible Member must then second the nomination. A prospective Presidential Candidate may not nominate or second their own ticket; however, a prospective Vice Presidential Candidate may do so. A Member can only nominate or second one individual; however, if that individual declines the nomination, the nominating Members are free to nominate another individual.

Once the nomination has been seconded, the Candidate must publicly accept the nomination and declare another eligible Member to be their Vice Presidential Candidate in a post on the Election Area. The Election Coordinator will then validate the ticket and the Candidate pair may begin campaigning. If the Candidate does not publicly accept the nomination by the end of the nomination period, he will be disqualified.

D. CAMPAIGNS

Every person who posts on the Election Area is expected to keep their posts to the point, truthful, and within the bounds of common courtesy. Behavior such as, but not limited to, character attacks, inflammatory finger-pointing, trickery, and deception will not be tolerated and may lead to penalties at the Election Coordinator's discretion. (Example: "Candidate X is a horrible person..." will not be tolerated. However, "Candidate X has made several mistakes as QDir. They are..." will be tolerated within the bounds of common courtesy). Any additional campaign materials, including, but not limited to, candidate websites, are required to meet the same standards as Election Area posts, regardless of the origin of the material. The Election Coordinator is responsible for reviewing posts and campaign materials on a regular basis and for ruling on questionable instances as they occur.

Campaigning on the WeBB may take place on the Election Area only. Any MOTD announcements implying support for or voicing opinions against any specific ticket are expressly forbidden. MOTD announcements of upcoming Election Season events and timetables are permissible provided that they do not contain support for any ticket. Violations of these rules will result in sanctions from the Election Coordinator, and immediate removal of the announcement by the Internet Department or the Election Coordinator.

Except as provided by this Edict, no person shall post a message on the WeBB endorsing a Candidate. During the voting period, eligible members may post a message in the Election Area endorsing another candidate. Endorsements must meet the standards in this Section. No person may post an endorsement message that implies it is also on behalf of anyone who is the not the person posting the message.

Candidates may individually contact people to discuss the Election and to ask for their support. In the event that the person contacted does not wish to talk about the Election, the Candidate must refrain from discussing it with him. At no time will any unsolicited campaign material be sent to more than one person at a time. Should an individual not wish to be contacted regarding the election, he may request that the Election Coordinator place him on a publicly accessible "do not contact" list. All members are required to abide by this list.

Discussion in the #star-fleet IRC channel is permissible as long as it does not imply support for or against a specific Candidate. (Example: "Have you read the election ship lately?" or "It sure is an interesting election" are permissible. However, "I can't believe Candidate X said that" or "Candidate Y sure had some good answers today" or "I think it's clear who's winning" are not permissible). IRC quit messages are permissible, but limited to the following format: Presidential Candidate/Vice Presidential Candidate - "Slogan Here".

Any violation of campaigning rules will be investigated by the Election Coordinator. The Election Coordinator must allow the accused Member the opportunity to adequately defend himself and respond to any accusation before levying a penalty. If it is found that a Member (Candidate or otherwise) did violate the campaigning rules, appropriate penalties will be given by the Election Coordinator as outlined in Section III, regardless of the location of the violation. Campaigns may be held liable for actions of their supporters if it can be shown that the campaign was aware of the offending activity. An anonymous complaint will only be investigated at the discretion of the Election Coordinator, and no penalty may be levied based on an anonymous complaint.

E. ELECTION AREA MOTD

The Election Coordinator is responsible for maintaining the Election Area MOTD. The Election Area MOTD must contain any content requirements as set out in Section IV.

The Election Area MOTD shall contain a toteboard containing important administrative information about the Candidates, which shall be updated by the Election Coordinator. At a minimum, the toteboard shall include a list of the Candidate teams, the status of the Candidate teams, penalties and warnings that have been issued by the Election Coordinator, and a list of endorsements.

Candidates may provide a short summary of their platform to the Election Coordinator. A link to the summaries shall be posted on the Election Area MOTD after the Election Coordinator has approved them for length and standards compliance.

F. VOTING

During the Voting period, campaigning continues. Voting is by secret ballot, utilizing a method decided upon by the Election Coordinator that allows for votes to be "locked" and has appropriate security. Every eligible Member is eligible to vote once, except for the Election Coordinator, who does not vote unless needed as a method of tie-breaking, and the Assistant Election Coordinator, who does not vote unless required to assumed the powers and duties of the Election Coordinator. The Election Coordinator is empowered to determine how tie-breaking votes will be handled, which must be included in the published Election Rules.

During the Voting period, the Election Coordinator shall post a message on the main club announcement area that voting has started and that eligible members should have voting access. The announcement must also state that a person who does have voting access, but believes their alleged ineligibility is in error, should contact the Election Coordinator.

If there are more than two Candidate teams that can be voted for, a preliminary run-off round of voting shall be held before the final round of voting. Only the two Candidate teams with the highest number of votes cast for them in the run-off round of voting shall be on the ballot for the final round of voting.

The winning Candidate team is the one with a plurality of votes in the final (or only) round of voting, i.e., the highest number of votes.

All ballots shall be destroyed upon the deactivation of the Election Area.

G. RESULTS

The Election Coordinator is responsible for tallying all votes cast and announcing the results of each round publicly in Command and the Election Area. The announced results shall include the number of votes cast for each Candidate team.

The new President will be installed on the first day of the new Presidential Term.

V. IRREGULARITIES

In the event that the procedure outlined in this Edict is not properly followed, the Election Coordinator may note an irregularity.

If in the judgment of the Election Coordinator the irregularity does not violate the integrity of the election process then he must state so publicly and provide reasoning.

If in the judgment of the Election Coordinator the procedure outlined in this Edict may be adjusted to account for the irregularity without violating the integrity of the election process, he must state so publicly and explain what temporary adjustments will be made and why.

If in the judgment of the Election Coordinator the irregularity does violate the integrity of the election process or render a fair and honest result impossible to determine, the Election Coordinator may declare a Irregular Election. A Irregular Election may only be declared in extreme circumstances, upon the advise and consent of the sitting President or senior-most member who is not a candidate in the election, and must include a detailed explanation of why it is impossible to recover from the irregularity.

If an Irregular Election is declared, the election is considered void. The Election Coordinator must immediately restart the election process with fresh nominations. The new election process will follow the same procedure as a normal election unless explicitly stated otherwise by the Election Coordinator. Should the new election process extend into what would be the new Presidential term, the sitting president will remain in office for the duration of the new election process until a new President is installed, and the new President's term will be shortened by the amount of overlap.

VI. CONCLUSION

This edict may not be amended or replaced during an election season, except with the posted consent of the currently sitting President, Vice President, and Election Coordinator.