Second Pride Elections 2015

This is an excerpt from Karl Kalchek's statement according to the minutes of the Second Pride Board meeting Saturday, August 1, 2015 at Noon SLT

"Following this year's bylaw changes which were voted upon and adopted on in open membership meetings - board positions are no longer one year terms but staggered 2 years terms. The purpose of this change was to ensure greater continuity of leadership between one year and the next.

In odd years such as 2015, the following two year positions are to be elected:

Secretary

Events

Marketing

Treasurer

Security

In even years, such as next year's 2016 Election, the following two year positions are to be elected:

Chair

Community Relations

Build

IT

Being that this is a transitional year, this year's election's will be for the one year remaining in these terms, (chair, community Relations, Build and IT) and next year's elections will be a full two year term for each of these positions. Next year's elections may also include the remaining term of any unfilled or vacated two year term (Secretary, Events, Marketing, Treasurer, Security). 2015 will be the last year that every position is elected in a single year.

Term Limits:
Pursuant to our bylaws, No Board member who has served for two consecutive years may run for a board position in the following election. Therefore Jak Calcutt, Karl Kalchek, and Marge Beaumont are ineligible to run in this year's election. Any other member of Second Pride - including past board members, may run for election. One issue that our bylaw changes did not address was a scenario where a current board member who has served one year might run for a two year term. Without further amendments, our bylaws would require that person to step down at the end of the year, and the remainder of that two your term would come up for election in next year's election. I would recommend that - this being a transitional year - we make an exception for anyone who has served a year and runs for a two year term but that is a bylaw change and will be up to the next board to decide. In the meantime, nothing prevents an eligible current board member to run for a two year term other than the possibility that the seat will have to be declared vacant after one year without a bylaw amendment.

Election Timetable and procedures:
• Candidate declarations will be accepted (...) through midnight SLT August 14th, per the by laws. 

• Only Members of the Second Pride Group and who are willing to adhere to the Second Pride by-laws if elected can be considered for candidacy. 

Candidate declaration must be accompanied by a "Candidate Statement” Declarations and statements must be submitted on the Second Pride website at second-pride.com. No one will be able to declare candidacy for the 2016 Pride board after midnight on the August 14th.

• Members will be able to question the candidates for a period beginning August 16th and ending at midnight SLT August 28th.

• On August 28th candidates may answer any remaining member questions and make their final statements

• Voting will commence at 00:01AM SLT Sunday August 30th and remain open through Midnight SLT Wednesday September 2nd.

• You must have joined the Second Pride Festival Group by midnight July 31st to be able to vote for your candidates. (Membership is now closed until the Election has concluded and the results are announced).

• Between Midnight Wednesday September 2nd and No later than Midnight September 6th, election committee will certify the results of the election and announce to the results to membership.

• On September 12th at 11AM slt The new Board will be installed and have their 1st meeting as a Board of Second Pride. The existing Board will step down at that time and any transfers (property, passwords and group ownership) will take place at that time.

Discussion Forums:• These forums are designed to allow members to question candidates in a civil and respectful manner. Comments will be moderated by the election committee and any comments or lines of questioning which, in the sole discretion of the election committee, are found to be inappropriate will be removed.

Voting Procedures:We will use the same procedure that we used last year.
• The Second Pride sim will be closed to member access only during the voting period
• Members of the Second Pride Group will need to visit an election kiosk on the Second Pride sim.
• The election kiosk will provide access to an online voting ballot where members can vote for candidates of their choice.

Eligibility to vote and voter verification:• You MUST be a member of the Second Pride Festival in-world group before midnight July 31st to be eligible to vote. Joining of the Second Pride Group will be closed for the entire election period, between July 31st through September 6th.

• The election committee will be cross referencing the online votes received against the in-world membership list. Please be sure to click on your name at the bottom of the second pride website to view and/or update your online profile. Make sure your Second Life Avatar name is part of your profile so that your vote can be verified against the in-world membership.

• Protections have been put in place to block voter fraud through the use of Alt accounts. Votes from the same IP or Mac addresses, or votes that cannot be verified against any in world membership may be removed at the discretion of the election committee. If you are in a situation where multiple users in your household will be voting from the same device or internet connection, you must inform the election committee prior to voting.

Election Committee:• The election committee reviews and certifies votes. It arbitrates any disputes that may arise during voting. The Committee consists of two permanent members (The community Relations Director and the IT Director) and volunteers:

In 2014, Bylaw changes were adopted that specify which volunteers may serve on the committed to increase people's confidence that elections would be fair.

1. The volunteer must have been a member of Second Pride for at least one year.
2. The volunteer may not be a candidate for any position in the election nor may they have an alt who is a candidate
3. The volunteer or the volunteer's alts may not have a partner or business partner who is a candidate in the election
4. The volunteer must support the Mission, Objectives and Goals of Second Pride as articulated in the bylaws,
5. The volunteer must make a statement attesting to the criterion above, which will be posted to membership.

Any volunteer meeting the criteria above will be seated. A volunteer may be removed at the discretion of the permanent members of the committee, if a volunteer is found to not meet the criteria above. If a volunteer committee member is removed under this provision, the reasons will posted to the membership and the volunteer will be given an opportunity to respond.