[nabs-l] NABS Leadership Update

[T. Joseph Carter]

Arielle and all of NABS,

I've heard more than a few rumblings about it already, and I am not 
sure the board should try to address them:  The NABS election was a 
complete and total fiasco lacking even the appearance of integrity.  
A number of people are really unhappy about it, and some are talking 
about taking action.

I feel a need to say, "Don't do it, please."  I know some of you to 
be good students and good advocates both fro this organization and 
for the blind in general.  If those of you I don't know are of the 
same caliber, then you may turn fiasco into tragedy.  Think about the 
possible outcomes first.

Either you will find widespread support, or you will not.  If the 
latter, you face marginalization and feelings of disenfranchisement 
greater than you already feel.  That will drive you away from the 
organization for certain.  Perhaps I am being a bit selfish here, but 
NABS and the NFB need _you_, and I'd rather not have you fall away 
over something as transitory as a single problematic election.

If you do garner widespread support, the tragedy will be larger 
still: The organization would faction into those who support the 
incoming board and those who oppose the process that elected them, 
with a lot of people who want to do both feeling caught in the 
middle.  There's no faster way to ensure more controversial elections 
than to go down this road.

So .. what do you do?  I made my decision before the election was 
even over: I'm going to support the incoming board, and I'm going to 
encourage (read: make a pain in the rear end of myself) the board to 
act boldly and with integrity on behalf of blind students.

I also intend to similarly encourage (read the same way) that only 
registered members vote, and that each registrant gets one vote.  I 
can't claim to have a simple and brilliant solution here yet because 
I can't figure out how to handle runoff elections quickly and cleanly 
yet.  The curious know my email address.  *smile*

Joseph

P.S. I considered suggesting the Condorcet method, but I decided not 
to propose anything that required calculating a square root to figure 
out who wins the election.