Election Time!
Advisory Board Election
We're about to kick off the election process for the user-representative positions on the Advisory Board. At this time, we'd like to give you the dates and details on how it will work. We will use the communities lj_election_en and lj_election_ru for this process. These communities will be used once a year for elections and nothing else. All happenings will be announced in news so even if you're not watching them you will always be able to participate and know what is going on.
Nominations
We'll open nominations on Monday, May 5, 2008 and they will close nominations on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. We will post again in news so that all users are aware of it. Users may only nominate themselves; no third-party nominations will be accepted. To nominate yourself, you can make a post to the election community any time during the nomination period. You can take a moment to say why you think you would make a good representative or why you'd like to do so. You may link to your journal or a community with your positions or opinions on issues you feel are important. Posts will be moderated, but the only criteria for such moderation will be that the post follows the above guidelines.
Next, any user who puts themselves forward will need to obtain 100 comments of support in order to become a candidate. We ask each user who would like to support a candidate or candidates to comment stating "I support this nomination" or words to that effect. Once a post has comments of support from 100 different users, we will email the nominee a certification form. The form will line out the responsibilities or commitments that the user-representative will likely have and ask the nominee to certify they are willing and able to serve if elected. In order to be included in the election poll, a nominee will need to return this signed form via fax or email scan by May 16, 2008.
Campaigning
We are aware that people may wish to campaign for this election. We are not instituting any rules or restrictions on campaigning, but we do ask that candidates stay within the LiveJournal Terms of Service (i.e. no spamming, no encouraging others to spam other journals on your behalf, and such activities).
Election
The election poll will be posted from May 22, 2008 through May 29, 2008. We will announce it in news and the polls will be posted in lj_election_en and lj_election_ru. Users will be able to select their first, second, and third choice.
Voting in the poll
Users using the Cyrillic-language service may only vote in the lj_election_ru and all other users may only vote in the lj_election_en poll. Additional restrictions are:
-Only accounts created before March 11, 2008 may vote in this year's poll
-Only one account per email address may vote
Tallying the results
After the polls close on May 29th, we will determine the winner of the elections in the following way:
-If a user has 51% of the first-choice vote, that candidate will be declared the winner
-If no user has 51% of the first-choice vote, we will begin using an Instant Runoff process. The user with the lowest tally for first-choice vote will be eliminated, and the second choice candidate on those ballots will be substituted as first choice. This process will continue (drop lowest candidate, reassign to next vote, tally again) until any user has 51% of the vote.
-If all ballots are exhausted and no candidate has 51% of the vote, we will return to the first round and award the election to the candidate with the most 1st choice votes.
New Advisory Board Members
We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on Friday, May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated and begin their terms on June 1, 2008.
We're about to kick off the election process for the user-representative positions on the Advisory Board. At this time, we'd like to give you the dates and details on how it will work. We will use the communities lj_election_en and lj_election_ru for this process. These communities will be used once a year for elections and nothing else. All happenings will be announced in news so even if you're not watching them you will always be able to participate and know what is going on.
Nominations
We'll open nominations on Monday, May 5, 2008 and they will close nominations on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. We will post again in news so that all users are aware of it. Users may only nominate themselves; no third-party nominations will be accepted. To nominate yourself, you can make a post to the election community any time during the nomination period. You can take a moment to say why you think you would make a good representative or why you'd like to do so. You may link to your journal or a community with your positions or opinions on issues you feel are important. Posts will be moderated, but the only criteria for such moderation will be that the post follows the above guidelines.
Next, any user who puts themselves forward will need to obtain 100 comments of support in order to become a candidate. We ask each user who would like to support a candidate or candidates to comment stating "I support this nomination" or words to that effect. Once a post has comments of support from 100 different users, we will email the nominee a certification form. The form will line out the responsibilities or commitments that the user-representative will likely have and ask the nominee to certify they are willing and able to serve if elected. In order to be included in the election poll, a nominee will need to return this signed form via fax or email scan by May 16, 2008.
Campaigning
We are aware that people may wish to campaign for this election. We are not instituting any rules or restrictions on campaigning, but we do ask that candidates stay within the LiveJournal Terms of Service (i.e. no spamming, no encouraging others to spam other journals on your behalf, and such activities).
Election
The election poll will be posted from May 22, 2008 through May 29, 2008. We will announce it in news and the polls will be posted in lj_election_en and lj_election_ru. Users will be able to select their first, second, and third choice.
Voting in the poll
Users using the Cyrillic-language service may only vote in the lj_election_ru and all other users may only vote in the lj_election_en poll. Additional restrictions are:
-Only accounts created before March 11, 2008 may vote in this year's poll
-Only one account per email address may vote
Tallying the results
After the polls close on May 29th, we will determine the winner of the elections in the following way:
-If a user has 51% of the first-choice vote, that candidate will be declared the winner
-If no user has 51% of the first-choice vote, we will begin using an Instant Runoff process. The user with the lowest tally for first-choice vote will be eliminated, and the second choice candidate on those ballots will be substituted as first choice. This process will continue (drop lowest candidate, reassign to next vote, tally again) until any user has 51% of the vote.
-If all ballots are exhausted and no candidate has 51% of the vote, we will return to the first round and award the election to the candidate with the most 1st choice votes.
New Advisory Board Members
We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on Friday, May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated and begin their terms on June 1, 2008.