Subscribe to our feed
Follow us on twitter
Listen to the podcast
Andrew Robinson
John Barron
Philip HuntElections for Treasurer and Nominating Officer
30th November 2009 03:10 | by Eric Priezkalns
Fellow Pirates, we are moving immediately to the first genuine internal elections for the party’s officers. This follows the successful completion of the vote to ratify appointments to second-tier positions of responsibility (more on that below). The vacant officer positions are Treasurer and Nominating Officer. For the role of Treasurer, we have one nominee: Peter Liddell. For Nominating Officer, there are two nominees: John Barron and Jeremy Morton. As well as voting for the nominees, members also have the option to call for the reopening of nominations, or to abstain. If any of the candidates gets a simple majority, they will be appointed. If reopening of nominations gets the most votes in either election, there will be a fresh call for nominees and a re-run of that election. Abstentions do not influence the result, but give members the opportunity to register their participation without expressing a preference.
As with last week’s ratification vote, all current members can vote by logging on to the website and visiting http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/vote/ where they will see two votes, one for Treasurer, and one for Nominating Officer. The vote is now open, and votes can be cast up to midnight Monday 7th December.
The nominees have been encouraged to promote themselves using the existing communication channels, particularly the forums and IRC. You can read about the candidates and ask them questions at the following forum threads:
Peter Liddell for Treasurer: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1082
John Barron for Nominating Officer: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=985
Jeremy Morton for Nominating Officer: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1048
To further aid the members in making their decision, Gavin Meredith has volunteered to collate questions from members and ask them to all of the nominees. Please keep an eye on the forums for news of this.
We are moving ahead with the internal election following the very successful first ‘trial’ of the voting system as used to ratify four new appointments to positions of responsibility. All four appointments were overwhelmingly endorsed by the party membership. The results were as follows.
Tom Lilley for Head of the Web Team: 157 to approve, 7 to reject
Peter Liddell for Deputy Treasurer (Members & Donations): 149 to approve, 4 to reject
John Prescott for Deputy Treasurer (Costs & Budgets): 143 to approve, 7 to reject
Eric Priezkalns for Election Overseer: 153 to approve, 4 to reject
This ratification vote showed not only that the voting system works, but also that a large number of members are happy to use it. The virtual turnout exceeded a quarter of all members. With that in mind, my first decision as Election Overseer is to adopt a thumbnail rule in lieu of a formal rule about what would count as a quorum. If either election fails to attract votes from at least 10% of members, I will look to extend the election deadlines and increase promotion of the election in order to engage more members in this vital process of deciding who administers the party. Given the results from the ratification vote, a quorum of 10% should be attainable, and a failure to achieve 10% would suggest a problem with poor awareness of the vote or members having trouble accessing the voting system. I am also floating the 10% threshold as a prospective quorum for all future votes. A democratic party should listen to all of its members, and be wary of any decisions where only a small minority respond. Prior to seeing the ratification results, deciding the quorum would have involved guesswork, but following that turnout, 10% appears to be a realistic threshold for a quorum of all party members.
Following the ratification vote, many of you will have noticed that Peter Liddell, having just been appointed as Deputy Treasurer, is already looking to step up and take on the role of Treasurer. I must admit that I had originally thought appointing deputies would be a very useful way to implement succession planning and give our volunteers hands-on experience. In an ideal world I would have preferred more time to do just that. In the imperfect but real world, we need more urgency and that is why it is better to move on quickly than to delay the election of my replacement. Peter was one of my choices as Deputy Treasurer. As nobody has stood against him, I see no harm in saying I have full confidence in Peter’s abilities. I believe Peter would make a dutiful and honest Treasurer, and I encourage you to back him so he can get on with the challenges ahead.
On a final note, it is worth reminding members that these officer elections were needed to fill the vacancy left by John McKeown as Nominating Officer and to permit me to stand down as Treasurer. All officer positions will be up for election in January and I would not be surprised if those elections become the start of a regular annual cycle for deciding the party’s leaders and administrators. With votes and elections there is a need for balance. Too few and you fail to listen, too many will foster indecision and apathy. As Election Overseer, I would be glad to hear the views of members on what is the right balance, and you can contact me in person if you prefer that to expressing a public opinion via our forums. We also have plans for a Party Unconference, which will be another opportunity for members to help steer the party and to engage with the people who run it. It is an unconference rather than a conference because actual decision-making will stay on-line, and because all attendees will have an opportunity to speak on any topic they choose. The tentative plan is to hold the unconference in Sheffield on Saturday January 16th, and to include hustings for the individuals standing for the party’s executive committee at that time. There are more details in this blog: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/blog/2009/nov/27/plans-party-unconference/ and you can help us improve our plans and forecast the number of attendees by responding to this forum poll: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1083 With your help, the unconference will also become part of our annual calendar of activities, helping to build our team and giving every member at least one opportunity to meet, question, socialize and engage with fellow Pirates from all over the country.
As with last week’s ratification vote, all current members can vote by logging on to the website and visiting http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/vote/ where they will see two votes, one for Treasurer, and one for Nominating Officer. The vote is now open, and votes can be cast up to midnight Monday 7th December.
The nominees have been encouraged to promote themselves using the existing communication channels, particularly the forums and IRC. You can read about the candidates and ask them questions at the following forum threads:
Peter Liddell for Treasurer: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1082
John Barron for Nominating Officer: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=985
Jeremy Morton for Nominating Officer: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1048
To further aid the members in making their decision, Gavin Meredith has volunteered to collate questions from members and ask them to all of the nominees. Please keep an eye on the forums for news of this.
We are moving ahead with the internal election following the very successful first ‘trial’ of the voting system as used to ratify four new appointments to positions of responsibility. All four appointments were overwhelmingly endorsed by the party membership. The results were as follows.
Tom Lilley for Head of the Web Team: 157 to approve, 7 to reject
Peter Liddell for Deputy Treasurer (Members & Donations): 149 to approve, 4 to reject
John Prescott for Deputy Treasurer (Costs & Budgets): 143 to approve, 7 to reject
Eric Priezkalns for Election Overseer: 153 to approve, 4 to reject
This ratification vote showed not only that the voting system works, but also that a large number of members are happy to use it. The virtual turnout exceeded a quarter of all members. With that in mind, my first decision as Election Overseer is to adopt a thumbnail rule in lieu of a formal rule about what would count as a quorum. If either election fails to attract votes from at least 10% of members, I will look to extend the election deadlines and increase promotion of the election in order to engage more members in this vital process of deciding who administers the party. Given the results from the ratification vote, a quorum of 10% should be attainable, and a failure to achieve 10% would suggest a problem with poor awareness of the vote or members having trouble accessing the voting system. I am also floating the 10% threshold as a prospective quorum for all future votes. A democratic party should listen to all of its members, and be wary of any decisions where only a small minority respond. Prior to seeing the ratification results, deciding the quorum would have involved guesswork, but following that turnout, 10% appears to be a realistic threshold for a quorum of all party members.
Following the ratification vote, many of you will have noticed that Peter Liddell, having just been appointed as Deputy Treasurer, is already looking to step up and take on the role of Treasurer. I must admit that I had originally thought appointing deputies would be a very useful way to implement succession planning and give our volunteers hands-on experience. In an ideal world I would have preferred more time to do just that. In the imperfect but real world, we need more urgency and that is why it is better to move on quickly than to delay the election of my replacement. Peter was one of my choices as Deputy Treasurer. As nobody has stood against him, I see no harm in saying I have full confidence in Peter’s abilities. I believe Peter would make a dutiful and honest Treasurer, and I encourage you to back him so he can get on with the challenges ahead.
On a final note, it is worth reminding members that these officer elections were needed to fill the vacancy left by John McKeown as Nominating Officer and to permit me to stand down as Treasurer. All officer positions will be up for election in January and I would not be surprised if those elections become the start of a regular annual cycle for deciding the party’s leaders and administrators. With votes and elections there is a need for balance. Too few and you fail to listen, too many will foster indecision and apathy. As Election Overseer, I would be glad to hear the views of members on what is the right balance, and you can contact me in person if you prefer that to expressing a public opinion via our forums. We also have plans for a Party Unconference, which will be another opportunity for members to help steer the party and to engage with the people who run it. It is an unconference rather than a conference because actual decision-making will stay on-line, and because all attendees will have an opportunity to speak on any topic they choose. The tentative plan is to hold the unconference in Sheffield on Saturday January 16th, and to include hustings for the individuals standing for the party’s executive committee at that time. There are more details in this blog: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/blog/2009/nov/27/plans-party-unconference/ and you can help us improve our plans and forecast the number of attendees by responding to this forum poll: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1083 With your help, the unconference will also become part of our annual calendar of activities, helping to build our team and giving every member at least one opportunity to meet, question, socialize and engage with fellow Pirates from all over the country.