I do want to address both Greg's observation and Bruce's, in turn. 1) An interior envelope is admittedly commonly used in mail-in balloting. It also incrementally increases the cost and complexity of the mailing, and has been abandoned by other organizations in lieu of other measures to maintain secrecy as a result (I actually modeled this process and ballot design--including return envelopes with preprinted addressed for verification and no interior envelope--from a recently concluded and similarly robustly conducted election for the board of the United States Chess Federation, of which I am a member). I will cite this relevant text from my earlier advisory to this reflector: The package is clearly labeled as election-related and contains . . . [a] No 9 return envelope, which bears the address to which ballots should be returned and the member's name and address for verification against the voter list and any replacement ballot requests. Secrecy at the time of counting will be maintained by separating the ballot from the envelope without inspection, placing the ballot in a receptacle, and scrutinizing the ballots after all have been separated from the envelopes. I appreciate the membership's anticipated confidence in my commitment and ability to maintain the bylaws' requirement of a secret ballot through this method. 2) It is not correct that I have been pressured in my conduct of the election. I have made decisions on a number of issues that warranted discussion both before and after the fact, and I believe I've made at least one call with which every candidate would have rather me made another by now. These discussions, even when ending in disagreement, have universally been conducted with professionalism and in the absence of the vigor that one may detect here. 73,Brennan Price, N4QXSecretary, Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Bruce Perens via AMSAT-BB Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2020 4:38 PM To: Gregory Beat w9gb@icloud.com Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT 2020 BoD Ballot Arrived : ??
Hi Gregory,
I believe that Brennan was doing his best to run a fair election, and this is an unintentional mistake. Brennan was under pressure to make things less fair, and did not.
On Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 1:11 PM Gregory Beat via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
I received the 2020 AMSAT BoD ballot via US Postal Service today.
I noticed that the envelope for this ballot is addressed to the AMSAT Secretary, Brennan Price, at a post office box in Vienna, VA. The envelope has my return address pre-printed in the upper left corner.
The standard mail-in ballot practice, is to NOT use an identifiable return address. A separate ballot envelope (sometimes a different, specific color) is provided for the member’s ballot. This assures that the member’s ballot remains Secret and the envelope only Opened during the physical counting process. This minimizes or eliminates Ballot Tampering. == The 2020 mail-in ballot process is different than the 2019 election, when AMSAT used a third-party to assure a secret ballot for BoD election process. I previously worked for Ernst&Young, which handles sensitive and visible balloting for many high-profile organizations (expect the Oscars, that is PwC).
I raise my hand in objection, that this 2020 mail-in balloting method does not assure the line of secrecy from member to the vote counting (tabulation) process.
Greg Beat, w9gb AMSAT-NA life member == ANS-188 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins DATE: 2019 July 7 To All RADIO AMATEURS 2019 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Update
The 2019 AMSAT Board of Directors election will be conducted differently than in past elections. In previous years, the balloting process was handled by multiple vendors. This year, AMSAT has contracted with a single, independent party, ElectionBuddy, to conduct and fully manage the election process. Sincerely, Clayton L. Coleman, W5PFG AMSAT Secretary
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