Grex Coop Conference

Item 255: Nominations Open for 2010 Board

Entered by denise on Sat Nov 14 20:30:37 2009:

Nominations are now open for the 2010 Board and will remain open through
 November 23.  Below is a list of the current board and who is and is
not  eligible to run for this next year:

The 2009 Board is:

Joe Gelinas, 2009-2010, Chair.
Denise Anderson, 2008-2009, Secretary - Eligible for re-election
Mark Conger, 2006-2009, Treasurer - Ineligible for re-election
Dan Cross, 2007-2010
Chuck Martin, 2008-2009, Eligible for re-election
STeve Andre, 2008-2009, Eligible for re-election
TS Taylor, 2009-2010

So we have four positions open for two-year terms.
95 responses total.

#1 of 95 by gelinas on Mon Nov 16 15:29:05 2009:

I nominate Denise and cyclone.


#2 of 95 by tod on Mon Nov 16 19:31:52 2009:

I nominate unicorn and denise


#3 of 95 by denise on Mon Nov 16 20:44:19 2009:

I nominate remmers, mary, and glenda.


#4 of 95 by jgelinas on Mon Nov 16 23:13:29 2009:

Lest we forget:  Nominations must be accepted in this item, before
voting begins.  Self-nominations are acceptable and are usually
interpreted as accepting the nomination, as well.


#5 of 95 by tod on Tue Nov 17 00:06:09 2009:

I nominate tangodancer, womble, and ringbark


#6 of 95 by tsty on Tue Nov 17 00:39:16 2009:

  
i endors the nominaoin of cyklone adn denise
  


#7 of 95 by tsty on Wed Nov 18 02:27:53 2009:

  
and add remmers to the above
  


#8 of 95 by mary on Wed Nov 18 10:35:40 2009:

Mary won't be running for the board this election.  Thanks for the 
nomination though.


#9 of 95 by denise on Sun Nov 22 00:17:41 2009:

If we could keep Grex going  I would be willing to serve on the board. 
Dunno what's going to be happening, though.


#10 of 95 by tsty on Sun Nov 22 05:06:51 2009:

  
i;d liek to nomnate katie for board
  


#11 of 95 by unicorn on Sun Nov 22 05:07:03 2009:

I would also be willing to serve, although I admit I haven't been very
active lately.  I would also like to nominate tod if it isn't too late
for that, since he was willing and interested during the last election.


#12 of 95 by tsty on Sun Nov 22 06:20:15 2009:

  
unicorn! goo dto heare from you ...
  
i nominate unicorn and kentn
  


#13 of 95 by steve on Mon Nov 23 22:08:13 2009:

I am running again.



#14 of 95 by katie on Tue Nov 24 00:20:38 2009:

No, thank you. Thanks for thinking of me.


#15 of 95 by tsty on Tue Nov 24 00:45:08 2009:

  
tnx steve ... sorry about katie theough.
  


#16 of 95 by tsty on Tue Nov 24 01:47:31 2009:

  
ok unicorn, i;ll consider 11 to be a self-nomination and if others
disagree, then i nominate unicorn.
  


#17 of 95 by kentn on Tue Nov 24 14:46:40 2009:

I'll give it a shot.


#18 of 95 by unicorn on Tue Nov 24 16:47:36 2009:

Actually, tod nominated me in #2, and you nominated me in #12, so
your nomination in #16 makes 3.  ;)


#19 of 95 by remmers on Tue Nov 24 16:59:31 2009:

Joe Gelinas asked if I'd run the election this time around, which
basically involves setting up and running the voting software.  I've not
been a staff member for a few years, but I'm very familiar with the
voting software - having written it - so I'll be happy to do it.

Since Grex has been down for a couple of days, I respectfully suggest
extending the nomination period correspondingly.

Voting runs from December 1 through 15.  Nominees have through November
30 to accept a nomination, which they must do in this item.  You also
have to be a member in good standing by the time the polls open in order
to be a candidate.



#20 of 95 by denise on Tue Nov 24 17:07:56 2009:

Thanks for helping out, John! And I agree that we should extend the 
nomination period since Grex had been down for a couple days.


#21 of 95 by tsty on Tue Nov 24 18:38:33 2009:

  
tnx remmers ... and i agree with the extehnsion ...
  
please link to agora - tia
  


#22 of 95 by denise on Tue Nov 24 22:03:15 2009:

Just as a reminder: Any more nominations to be made should be done
within  the next day or so [extending the deadline by 2 days since Grex
had been  down earlier this week]. As remmmers mentioned, we have til
late November  to accept or decline nominations that have been posted
here in this item.


#23 of 95 by richard on Tue Nov 24 22:52:50 2009:

as stated in item #256, I think anyone running for the board should 
only do so if they have a clear idea of what they want for grex.  If 
you are willing to help wind down the company over the next year.and 
consider future options for what should happen with the bbs and the 
hardware thats good.  But grex doesn't need board members who are 
running reluctantly, who won't attend the meetings and won't consider 
being treasurer, or secretary or anything that involves doing any of 
the work.  


#24 of 95 by cyklone on Wed Nov 25 00:43:47 2009:

Thanks for the nomination, but I, like nate, must decline for
employment-related reasons.


#25 of 95 by jep on Wed Nov 25 04:01:36 2009:

I believe I see enough nominees who have accepted to fill the open spots. 
Denise, Chuck and STeve are running for re-election;  Kent has nominated 
himself, and Todd Plesco, Glenda Andre and John Remmers have been 
nominated and not declined.  There will be a full Board.  There will even 
be a contest if Todd, Glenda and/or John accept.  I find this encouraging.


#26 of 95 by cross on Wed Nov 25 05:26:55 2009:

I nominate Sindi Keesan and Rane Curl.


#27 of 95 by nharmon on Wed Nov 25 14:54:47 2009:

I nominate Kevin Nichols.


#28 of 95 by jgelinas on Tue Dec 1 22:08:40 2009:

OK, so grex has been down for four days.  Let's extend the acceptance
period for four days, and the election will be similarly delayed.


#29 of 95 by scholar on Tue Dec 1 22:11:47 2009:

I nominate myself.


#30 of 95 by denise on Tue Dec 1 23:03:03 2009:

I nominate krj.


#31 of 95 by twinkie on Tue Dec 1 23:22:58 2009:

I appreciate the nomination, but I decline.

(I'm also ineligible, anyway.)



#32 of 95 by richard on Tue Dec 1 23:26:06 2009:

Aruba has apparently emailed staff to the effect that renewal notices 
for memberships have not gone out in over a year and as a result 
virtually everyone's memberships have lapsed.  You have to have paid 
three months current dues to run according to the bylaws.  So not only 
are few, if any, of these nominees currently eligible to run, but 
there is the question as to who, if anybody, is eligible to vote.  You 
have to be a member to have a binding vote.

It seems like this election will therefore need to be postponed into 
the new year.  Which means grex may start 2010 without a board since 
even the sitting board members cannot serve, and the positions 
considered vacant, if *their* memberships have lapsed.  


#33 of 95 by scholar on Tue Dec 1 23:51:11 2009:



#34 of 95 by tod on Wed Dec 2 00:40:48 2009:

re #25
I was not nominated.


#35 of 95 by jep on Wed Dec 2 05:17:39 2009:

re resp:34: You were, in resp:11.


#36 of 95 by richard on Thu Dec 31 00:45:56 2009:

so what happens since no elections will have taken place before the 
end of the year?  current board members with expiring terms will 
continue or does that require amending the bylaws? 


#37 of 95 by tod on Thu Dec 31 19:08:35 2009:

re #36
 current board members with expiring terms will
 continue

Seems like the logical option considering the disruption in operations.


#38 of 95 by lar on Tue Jan 5 12:05:34 2010:

I nominate myself,Greg Russo and April Morrison


#39 of 95 by unicorn on Tue Jan 5 15:32:40 2010:

Three people who have all expressed an open disdain for Grex?  Why?


#40 of 95 by tod on Tue Jan 5 17:43:19 2010:

Dissent is patriotic.


#41 of 95 by tsty on Wed Jan 6 05:05:55 2010:

  
iirc, anyonwe who is, or ever ahs been, a member is elibigle, otherwinse,
no.
  


#42 of 95 by jp2 on Wed Jan 6 11:47:42 2010:

I nominate myself.  I, of course, accept.


#43 of 95 by nharmon on Wed Jan 6 14:40:13 2010:

I nominate myself, but do not accept. :(


#44 of 95 by tsty on Thu Jan 7 18:15:37 2010:

  
re 41 .. ammemding 41 ... eligible to vote ... dunno aobut runing, i got
a semi-cryptic email from gelinas regarding running for board.
  


#45 of 95 by richard on Thu Jan 7 20:44:02 2010:

This response has been erased.



#46 of 95 by jgelinas on Sat Jan 9 17:22:00 2010:

That "semi-cryptic email," IIRC, was sent before the most recent meeting
of the Board of Directors, during which the rules were changed.


#47 of 95 by richard on Sat Jan 9 20:47:25 2010:

So when are these elections actually taking place?


#48 of 95 by jgelinas on Sat Jan 9 21:48:33 2010:

RSN.  


#49 of 95 by denise on Mon Jan 11 14:28:57 2010:

We need to hold the elections soon, so we should close the nominations 
within the next few days. Say by 1/15th. There are 4 positions
available.  Four people have accepted nominations thus far [unicorn,
STeve, kentn, and  denise] and two have nominated themselves [scholar
and lar].  There are a  number of people that have been nominated but
have not accepted or  declined; if you're one of these people and would
like to run, please  accept by 1/11. 


#50 of 95 by denise on Mon Jan 11 14:48:48 2010:

Oops, that should read 'please accept by 1/15'.


#51 of 95 by tsty on Tue Jan 12 14:56:08 2010:

  
will remmers be teh vote-admin? 
  


#52 of 95 by denise on Tue Jan 12 15:54:38 2010:

I'm assuming so as we agreed to have him be vote administrator before
Grex  was down for so long.


#53 of 95 by remmers on Tue Jan 12 16:11:27 2010:

Yes, I'll do it.  Someone will have to tell me who the candidates are,
when the voting should start, and what votes should be counted.  (I
think there was some agreement at the last Board meeting to deviate
from the usual rules.)  Also, a rootish person will need to grant me
some relevant permissions permissions in order to update the necessary
files.  It's been a few years since I've done voteadm stuff, so my
memory is a tiny bit rusty as to exactly what permissions are needed.
(I know, I know, I wrote the voting software, but still...)


#54 of 95 by tsty on Wed Jan 13 15:01:45 2010:

  
aruba did say sumothing about it being relatibely easy to generate
an   'are you now or have you ever been'  membership list.
  
iirc, those ppl are the voters pool.
  


#55 of 95 by remmers on Wed Jan 13 15:29:43 2010:

Yes, I believe that's correct.


#56 of 95 by denise on Wed Jan 13 22:46:32 2010:

For this election, those that are or have ever been a member will be 
eligible to vote.


#57 of 95 by tonster on Thu Jan 14 02:57:38 2010:

Counts me out!


#58 of 95 by jgelinas on Thu Jan 14 12:47:53 2010:

Monthly dues are six dollars ($6.00), payable by the end of the
election.

Usually, a three-month investment, eighteen dollars ($18.00) is required
to vote, but that requirement has been waived.


#59 of 95 by jep on Thu Jan 14 20:11:58 2010:

I was a member probably 7 or 8 years ago.  I can vote?  Well, if so, I'll 
take my vote seriously and try to vote for the best candidates.


#60 of 95 by denise on Thu Jan 14 23:01:23 2010:

Yep, you're able to vote in this election.


#61 of 95 by tsty on Fri Jan 15 06:34:03 2010:

  
welcome jep
  


#62 of 95 by jep on Fri Jan 15 19:34:43 2010:

Heh, I'll be raking all the candidates over the coals to find out their 
positions on the important issues of the day.


#63 of 95 by tsty on Sat Jan 16 20:21:18 2010:

  
you got -that- mcuch coal at the end of last month?   [ed: oh, MY!]
  


#64 of 95 by jp2 on Sun Jan 17 13:47:18 2010:

49:  I sself-nominated and accepted back in 42.


#65 of 95 by denise on Sun Jan 17 22:23:15 2010:

Yep, jp2 should be added to the list of people that have nominated 
themselves and accepted. Scholar and lar also nominated themselves. 
Unicorn, STeve, kentn and denise have accepted nominations.

It looks like we can start voting whenever remmers is able to set things
 up for us.  I don't recall for sure how long voting is usually open
for,  though.


#66 of 95 by tsty on Mon Jan 18 05:17:17 2010:

  
14 days?  iirc


#67 of 95 by remmers on Mon Jan 18 14:36:04 2010:

Okay, I'll get on this.  Before I can proceed, I need some
permissions so that I can edit relevant files, and it'll take
someone with root access (which I don't currently have) to give
them to me.  I'll email staff and see if I can get that moving.

So should I take it from resp:65 that the final list of candidates
is unicorn, steve, kentn, denise, jp2, scholar, and lar?

Yes, I believe polls are open for 14 days.


#68 of 95 by denise on Mon Jan 18 20:49:20 2010:

I got the list in resp:65 from skimming through this item. I'm not sure 
how serious scholar and lar are about running, though they did nominate 
themselves. jp2 is self-nominated but did also accept the nomination in 
the same response, iirc.


#69 of 95 by remmers on Wed Jan 20 13:05:18 2010:

If I recall correctly, the policy adopted at the last board meeting
was that anyone who's been a member in the past and who accepted
prior to closing of nominations was eligible to run for the board
this time.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.  In any event, I'll
email aruba and ask him which of the folks on the list meet the
past-member criterion.

I emailed Grex staff (at grex-staff@googlegroups.com, which I
believe is the current address) a couple of days ago requesting
that someone with root privileges give me the necessary access
so that I can configure the vote program for the current election.
No response so far.  

A couple of roots seem to be reading Coop, so I'll repeat the
request here:  I need write access to the directory /var/spool/vote,
and be added to group 'motd' so that I can post election
announcements.


#70 of 95 by tonster on Wed Jan 20 14:31:04 2010:

I'd help out, but I've gotten a similar response from staff since
volunteering.


#71 of 95 by remmers on Wed Jan 20 14:48:46 2010:

Hm, somebody appears to have added me to group 'motd'.  Don't know
who, but thanks for that.  Still can't seem to access the vote
directory though.  Once that's fixed and I get a response from the
treasurer on who's eligible to run, the election can move forward.


#72 of 95 by remmers on Wed Jan 20 16:33:13 2010:

After reading my own documentation and refreshing my memory
as to how things are supposed to work, the directory /var/spool/vote
should actually be owned by voteadm:vote instead of board:vote as
it is now.  Don't know why it was changed.  So maybe the thing that
a root should do when they get to it is change ownership and then
give me the ability to su to voteadm (via sudo configuration, I
presume).

(Documentation for installing and configuring the vote program is
in the file ~remmers/grexdoc/vote/doc/INSTALL.)


#73 of 95 by cross on Wed Jan 20 16:56:46 2010:

resp:69 That's not true.  I both gave you the appropriate permissions
and wrote you back two days ago.  Did you not get the email?  Ah,
apparently you did not.  I have forwarded it to you.

resp:70 I support Tony on staff.

resp:71 Use 'sudo' to access the 'board' account.

resp:72 Very well; then use 'sudo' to access the voteadm account.


#74 of 95 by cross on Wed Jan 20 16:58:19 2010:

Well, if anybody who's ever been a member is elligable, then I'll nominate
myself and accept, even though I thought I was bumping up against term
limits.


#75 of 95 by jep on Wed Jan 20 17:42:47 2010:

Dan, I thought you were going to be serving overseas with the Marines.  
Will you have access to continue being active on Grex?


#76 of 95 by cross on Wed Jan 20 17:52:11 2010:

I will be for about seven months.  I'm not sure what kind of access I will
have, but will almost certainly have access to email and most likely will be
able to login to Gerx.


#77 of 95 by cross on Wed Jan 20 17:52:34 2010:

Ooops, I mean, login to Grex.

Sorry.  My fingers are cold.  It's pretty frozen in the Mojave right now.


#78 of 95 by remmers on Wed Jan 20 19:32:43 2010:

Re resp:73 - Didn't get your first email but got the second.  Thanks
for taking care of it.

Oh, and /suid/bin/board should be changed to run suid voteadm as well.
Hadn't noticed that had been changed to 'board'.  Important thing is
that the vote directory be writeable by whatever user the board
program runs as.

Re resp:74 - Here's what the board minutes from the December meeting
say:

    Motion to allow current and previously paid members to run and
    to vote through 6/30/2010. Moved by aruba, seconded by tsty; all
    in favor.

The wording doesn't spell it out, but my recollection was that this
didn't override other stipulations such as term limits and attendance
requirements.  Also, I think Denise closed the nominations as of a few 
days ago.

As I said a few responses back, I really just want to administer the 
voting software and not get into policy judgements.  I'll set up the
ballot however the board wants me to.  Denise, you were at the
meeting and took the minutes.  Can you provide clarification on
these issues, or ask the board to?


#79 of 95 by remmers on Wed Jan 20 20:22:06 2010:

While we're waiting for clarification on who can run, I'll remind
folks (or tell them for the first time if you're new to this) that
candidates can create a "campaign statement" that the vote program
will display.  It's limited to 23 lines by 79 columns, should be
a plain text file, stored in your home directory, be world-readable,
and named "statement" (filename should be all-lower-case).
Obviously, candidates typically use it to explain why the want
to be on the board and would be a good board member.

If you've run for the board in the past, you might already have
such a file, in which case you might want to edit it before the
voting starts.

The statement file is optional, but if you create it, the vote
program will display it.


#80 of 95 by denise on Wed Jan 20 20:54:51 2010:

Dan, you're listed as [still] being on the board through 2010, so no
need  for you to be a candidate this time around.

And as I recall at the meeting, we didn't make any changes in bylaws in 
the term limits.


#81 of 95 by cross on Wed Jan 20 23:53:07 2010:

Oh, huh; crazy.  I thought my term expired at the beginning of 2010.


#82 of 95 by tsty on Thu Jan 21 06:26:55 2010:

  
iirc, anone who has ever been a member ... can vote. i don;t remember
anything about changing running for board except a pledge to becme
a member for the duration ... and if tha is not effected, next highest
vote total ... who paid ... would be on board.
  
part of the above is 'loosly translated'.
  
btw, from what i have larned recently, i, myslef, am obligatd to an
anonymous donor .... to whomever you may be, thank you.
  


#83 of 95 by remmers on Thu Jan 21 14:01:47 2010:

I've updated the motd to reflect the current situation regarding
the board election.

Okay, I think I'm clear on the policy that the board adopted at
the last meeting:  All current and former members are considered
as in "good standing" through June 30, for purposes of eligibility
to run and have their votes count, subject to the term limit
proviso.

I've heard back from the treasurer as to which of the nominees
listed in resp:67 is eligible.  All but lar have been members.
By that criterion, the candidate list is:

   unicorn, steve, kentn, denise, jp2, scholar

My plan is to start the voting on Saturday, January 23 and have
it run for the standard two-week period.  This will give
candidates time to prepare a "statement" file, if they care to,
and also enable the results to be known by the time of the
February 7 board meeting.


#84 of 95 by denise on Thu Jan 21 15:33:37 2010:

resp:81  Dan, according to the info in resp:0, your term should expire 
at the end of 2010 since the terms served are for 2 years:

 Below is a list of the current board and who is and is
not  eligible to run for this next year:

The 2009 Board is:

Joe Gelinas, 2009-2010, Chair.
Denise Anderson, 2008-2009, Secretary - Eligible for re-election
Mark Conger, 2006-2009, Treasurer - Ineligible for re-election
Dan Cross, 2007-2010
Chuck Martin, 2008-2009, Eligible for re-election
STeve Andre, 2008-2009, Eligible for re-election
TS Taylor, 2009-2010

So we have four positions open for two-year terms.



#85 of 95 by remmers on Sat Jan 23 12:40:14 2010:

Okay, the polls are open; voting runs through the end of the day
(EST) on February 5.  You can run the vote program to see the
list of candidates, view their statements (if any), and (optionally)
cast a ballot.  Do this by typing "vote" at a Unix shell prompt,
"!vote" at most other prompts, or on the web going to the URL
http://grex.org/cgi-bin/pw/voting-booth.

You can also use secure http (i.e. https instead of http in the URL),
but doing this gives me an untrusted certificate warning.


#86 of 95 by jgelinas on Sat Jan 23 16:44:14 2010:

If you like secure connections, you may prefer to use 

    https://grex.org/cgi-bin/pw/voting-booth

The certificate is expired, though, so you may have to allow an
exception.


#87 of 95 by scholar on Fri Feb 5 03:01:19 2010:

I withdraw my nomination.


#88 of 95 by nharmon on Fri Feb 5 13:12:38 2010:

:(


#89 of 95 by veek on Fri Feb 5 13:20:44 2010:

what's to feel sad about.. he's prez on Arbornet


#90 of 95 by remmers on Fri Feb 5 17:53:51 2010:

Just a reminder that today, Friday February 5, is the last day
to vote.  The polls close at midnight EST.


#91 of 95 by remmers on Sat Feb 6 10:52:41 2010:

Winners of the election are Denise Anderson (denise), Kent
Nassen (kentn), STeve Andre (steve), and Chuck Martin (unicorn).

There were 25 votes cast.  In this election, the votes of past
and present members are to be counted.  I'm uncertain of the
membership history of a few of the voters, but that's a small
enough number that it wouldn't affect the outcome.  Nonetheless,
I'll email the treasurer (aruba), who has the records, and will
report the final totals when I've heard back from him.

In any case, congrats to the new and returning board members.


#92 of 95 by remmers on Sun Feb 7 17:17:32 2010:

Having heard back from Mark, I can report that of the 25 ballots
cast, 21 were by past and present members.  Counting their votes,
the totals are:

    denise      20
    jp2          3
    kentn       17
    scholar      3
    steve       14
    unicorn     20


#93 of 95 by tsty on Sun Feb 7 17:26:32 2010:

  
congrats to winers; live long and prosper!   
  


#94 of 95 by tsty on Sun Feb 7 17:36:35 2010:

  
and i would note that the electorate has doubled (@@@) since last yrs elcotin.
  


#95 of 95 by naftee on Tue Mar 16 17:51:44 2010:

you mmean tripled @@@


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