[nabs-l] NABS Leadership Update

Sun Jul 12 20:50:31 UTC 2009

Hi all,

If I may pipe in here with a possible suggestion for future elections. Why not do a vote the way our US Congress does it...in a way. At the beginning of the meeting, have a list of all people at said meeting. Use the list to do a voice vote, one by one. It may be tedious and long (depending on the amount of people) but it gets the job done and correctly. If a voice vote isnt desired, you could use the head nod for yes/head shake for no version.

Also, it may be going out on a limb, but maybe the eventual use of a voting system like the clickers that go to a computer program to obtain the vote info. The UCCS Student Government has used such system for a while now and I still have contact there that I could look into it for you all.

I wish I would have been able to make national convention, but hoping that maybe next year I will be able to go.

Just my 2 pennies,
Monika Reinholz

> Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:45:41 +1000
> From: nabs.president at gmail.com
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] NABS Leadership Update
> 
> Hi Joseph and all,
> 
> I am aware that many of the vote counts reported were multiples of 10.
> >From my position at the podium, it appears to me that any counting
> discrepancies can be attributed to a lack of training of the vote
> counters, a problem that can be easily avoided in the future by
> carefully selecting and training the counters beforehand. However, to
> be fair, this is the first I've heard about the reported counts
> differing from those observed by other students in the room. Had a
> discrepancy in a particular race been reported to us, we would have
> entertained a recount.
> 
> Keep in mind also that some people choose to vote in some races but
> not others, leading to different counts. This is a situation we've
> seen in the past. In fact, in my recollection when we did standing
> votes, the number of people voting differed significantly from one
> race to the next.
> 
> I do acknowledge that even the suspicion of inaccurate counting is a
> serious problem, and one we need to correct in the future with proper
> training of the vote counters, and perhaps a paper trail or some other
> method of verification. Joseph, if you or others have suggestions for
> solutions by all means present them to the board. We will consider all
> suggestions and implement those that we deem best. We will also
> consult with NFB national leaders and past NABS presidents before
> making any decisions on this matter.
> 
> Anyone who feels angered or upset by the election process, please
> feel free to share your concerns with me or another member of the NABS
> board. You also have the right as a member of this organization to
> speak with someone at the national office. Again, I ask that you
> couple your concerns with concrete suggestions for change or at least
> specific examples of what you found offensive, as Joseph has done.
> 
> I think we can say that we in NABS all have a common goal to make the
> organization as strong as possible. Let's keep that overarching goal
> in mind when we discuss this issue.
> 
> Arielle
> 
> 
> On 7/13/09, Jessica Kostiw <jessicac.kostiw at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Congratulations Arielle and to the rest of the board,
> > I know most of you personally and I am excited to see what the next year
> > holds!
> >
> > I was not able to make convention this year, but have read the posts
> > concerning issues of the election. Arielle, I think you have addressed the
> > concerns more then adequately. This is certainly not the first time that
> > NABS elections have been contested, and it will not be the last.
> >
> > Again, sincere congratulations to all!! You earned it!!
> > Jessica Kostiw
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Arielle Silverman" <nabs.president at gmail.com>
> > To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> > <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 9:28 PM
> > Subject: Re: [nabs-l] NABS Leadership Update
> >
> >
> > Dear Joseph and all:
> >
> > I am aware that some of our members were disappointed in the way
> > that elections and the passing of a constitutional amendment were
> > handled at the NABS business meeting. While in the end all procedures
> > were followed according to proper NABS protocol, there was some
> > confusion initially among those running the election about how to
> > handle these issues. I’d like to apologize personally for this and as
> > NABS president I will make every effort to ensure that future
> > elections are followed according to proper procedure. The good thing
> > about making mistakes is that once they are made and recognized, care
> > can be taken to keep them from happening again.
> >
> > It’s important to keep two things in mind when contemplating the
> > elections. The first is that this is not the first time these issues
> > have come up in NABS. For years we have been debating about how to
> > count votes. This is the first time we required voters to display a
> > card proving paid member status when voting. In the past we used
> > standing votes and trusted that all voters were paid members. This
> > policy led to its own set of complaints and chaos which is why we
> > switched to the vote cards. Using the vote cards was an experiment,
> > and if the members feel it was a mistake, we won’t do it again.
> > Similarly, we have frequently had long elections with several people
> > running for each position. There has been much debate about whether or
> > not NABS should appoint a nominating committee. That is still an open
> > question, and one I’d like the membership to think about before we
> > make a decision. So, these are tricky issues with no easy answers and
> > ones we’ve been struggling with for years.
> >
> > The second point I’d like to make is that our constitution is very
> > vague. It doesn’t tell us how to count votes. It only specifies that a
> > candidate needs a majority of the votes to win, and that if no
> > candidate gets a majority, the one with the least votes is dropped.
> > So, again, a lot of this is open to debate and there is no one way to
> > fix it.
> >
> > Before our next election I’d like to have a couple of focus groups
> > with NABS members about the best and fairest way to handle
> > vote-counting, etc. For those of you who were feeling disappointed,
> > I’d ask you to cease “grumbiling” and instead come to me with clear
> > suggestions for improvement. What specifically did you find
> > problematic? If you were the one running things how would you have
> > done it differently? We can’t take everyone’s suggestions, of course,
> > but we need concrete feedback in order to make changes. Though I can’t
> > speak for anyone else, as NABS president I would never want to “quiet
> > dissent”. Those of you who knew me in the early days of my NFB
> > involvement know that I frequently asked questions and expressed
> > opinions contrary to the so-called NFB party line. I do, however, ask
> > that complaints and suggestions be voiced respectfully and that they
> > be specific to what you thought was wrong or unfair. Just saying “it
> > was chaos” doesn’t help us figure out how to make things better in the
> > future. If you were disappointed, I also hope that you can still work
> > with us and move forward. Elections only happen once a year, but the
> > mentoring and collective action that happens in NABS happens all year
> > long.
> >
> > Finally, I will say this: Whatever procedure we decide to use for
> > conducting the election and counting votes, when I run the next NABS
> > election I’ll be sure to spell out the procedures ahead of time before
> > we start the election, and I will also make sure the vote counters
> > have been chosen and instructed prior to the election. I suspect a lot
> > of the trouble came from the fact that people didn’t know what to
> > expect and that some of the rules changed throughout the course of the
> > election. Again, I apologize for this and I can say with certainty
> > that this won’t happen again.
> >
> > P.S. For your reference: The NABS constitution (not yet amended) is
> > attached.
> >
> > On 7/12/09, T. Joseph Carter <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> David,
> >>
> >> I did not. If I had, I'd be in the same position as the incoming
> >> board right now—if they speak on the issue, it looks like they're
> >> trying to quiet dissent. An outsider is the only one who can do it
> >> under the circumstances.
> >>
> >> If anyone ought to be crying foul about the election, it probably
> >> ought to be me, for multiple reasons. And yet that's exactly why I
> >> need to be the first to say that it's time to move on. We have a new
> >> board, and they cannot be faulted.
> >>
> >> The only responsibility the incoming board has is to do better.
> >>
> >> Joseph
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 02:10:04PM -0500, David Dunphy wrote:
> >>> Did you win any board positions Joseph?
> >>>
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> >
> >
> > --
> > Arielle Silverman
> > President, National Association of Blind Students
> > Phone: 602-502-2255
> > Email:
> > nabs.president at gmail.com
> > Website:
> > www.nabslink.org
> >
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
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> >>
> >
> >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Arielle Silverman
> President, National Association of Blind Students
> Phone: 602-502-2255
> Email:
> nabs.president at gmail.com
> Website:
> www.nabslink.org
> 
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