PADA Board 2009 Election Information

Posted July 23rd, 2007 by ichiban
in

 

Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance - 2009 PADA Board Election Material


Where can I find information online about the 2009 PADA board election?

Information concerning the election will be made available on the 2009 PADA board election committee home page.

Who can vote in the 2009 PADA board election?

Any PADA member, in good standing as of August 18, 2008, may vote in the upcoming 2009 PADA board election.


Who can run in the 2009 PADA board election?

Any PADA member, in good standing as of August 1, 2008, may become a candidate for the board if they so choose. It would be good to have the board reflect the diversity of the PADA community.


What is the schedule for the 2009 PADA board elections?

Candidates must inform the election committee of their candidacy no later than 11:59 p.m. July 30, 2008 (see below).

  • Voting will be open from 6 a.m. Friday, August 8, 2008 through midnight, Monday, August 18, 2008.
  • Votes will be tallied and the winners notified by August 25, 2008 - The members of the 2009 board will be announced on the PADA forum and www.pada.org no later than September 1, 2008.

 

How do I become a candidate for the 2009 PADA board election?

If you'd like to run for the PADA board in the upcoming election, you must so inform the election committee no later than 11:59 p.m. July 30, 2008. The preferred method of informing the election committee is to email us at elections@pada.org. If for some reason email is not a feasible option for notifying the election committee of your candidacy, you may also personally contact a member of the election committee on the fields, by phone etc. The members of this year's election committee Can all be reached at

  • Elections AT Pada.org or 215-684-0370
  • They are:
    • Ryan Doherty
    • Andy Johnson
    • Alison Lin
    • Gili Ronen
    • Derek Ziegler

    In order to allow voters to make a more informed decision, we'd like you to forward us a short candidate's statement along with your declaration. This statement should let the voting public know why they should elect you to the PADA board and will be made available to the voting membership in the election update area of the PADA website (http://www.pada.org/election). Some points you may want to address in your statement are:

    • What do you consider the key priorities for PADA?
    • What strengths would you bring to the board?
    • What about PADA do you love?

     

    Your candidate statement may be any length you like. For web-presentation purposes, only the first 200 words of the statement will be presented for each candidate in the overall list of statements. Statements that exceed 200 words will contain a hyper-link just below the abbreviated text that will take the reader to the complete unabridged statement if they choose to follow it.

    Since a lot of PADA members may know you by sight but not by name, we'd also like you to include a headshot photo of yourself to go along with the candidate statement. If you've got an electronic photo you'd like to use, please send that along. If not, please let us know and we'll be happy to arrange for a pic or scan of a pic to be taken.

    Candidate names and pictures will be posted as they are received by the election committee and will be rotated on the website periodically to ensure fairness.


    What is the PADA board and what do they do?
    The board meets on a monthly basis to conduct the business of PADA. The board positions consist of 4 officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary) and 5 at-large positions for a total of 9 positions. The 4 officer positions are selected by a vote of the 2009 board from amongst its 9 members. Of these 9 board positions, 4 will be filled via this year's election. Information regarding the actual number of positions being voted on will be made available in the election update area of the PADA website (http://www.pada.org/election) no later than August 1, 2008. The actual number of positions being elected will also be clearly conveyed during the actual voting process.

     

     

    New! Per by-law changes:

    1. Members of the 2009 PADA board will begin their term of office on October 1, 2008 (versus January 1, 2009).
    2. Board members serve a two year term (versus a one year term).
      • Note A: This only applies to members whom have never served on the board. For example, since Knappy has been on the board in the past, if he were to run and win this year, he would only serve for one year.
      • Note B: If a new board member only wants to serve for 1 year instead of 2, that person can resign after 1 year.

     

    Generally, the board functions as the oversight body for PADA. Its focus tends towards high-level direction of all the elements of PADA, steering our strategic direction and establishing policy for the organization as a whole. The board then relies upon volunteers (league coordinators, party organizers, web team members etc) from inside the PADA community to perform most of the tasks involved in the actual day-to-day activities. As such, serving on the board is just one way members can work to support our organization. The volunteers that take care of all the details of the day-to-day activities are every bit as vital to PADA's success. Please consider how you'd feel most comfortable contributing to the organization before running for the PADA board.

    In concrete terms, the board has the final say on all PADA related issues and controls all budget decisions for the organization. The board is responsible for overseeing all areas that PADA is involved in even though the board may not be directly involved in each event. For a partial list of these areas, see below.


    Other Duties
    • Fields -- Finding and maintaining relationships
    • Insurance
    • Calendar
    • Budget
    • Field Maintenance
    • Use of Edgely
    • Website
    • YO! Youth Outreach
    • Member Updates
    • Holiday Party
    • Skills Clinics
    • Public Relations
    • Juniors
    • Member Conduct
    • Annual Awards
    Leagues
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Women's
    Club Tournaments
    • Bell Crack/Annual spring tournament
    Hat Tournaments
    • Mikey's Spring Thing
    • Various other hat tourneys

    How will the 2009 PADA board election be conducted?
    1. The election will run over 10 days, 6 a.m. August 8, 2008 through midnight, August 18, 2008.
    2. All current PADA members in good standing are eligible to vote.

    Electronic voting will be used this year. Regardless of the platform that is chosen:
    1. Ballots would include the list of candidates' names (for voters to choose none, all, or some), contact info of the voter, and a "signature" to be used for the purposes of confirming voter eligibility.

     

    Please see below for additional details:

    1. Fair and inclusive: The election committee would like this election to be as fair, easy, and inclusive as possible. While no system is perfect, it is our job to minimize problems and voter disenfranchisement. It is also our job, to the best of our abilities, minimize the number of people who are/have opportunities to be fraudulent/have bad spirit. While we count on PADA member's integrity, we have also chosen a voting process that we feel improves the chances of a fair and inclusive election. We hope that this process encourages the greatest participation.
    2. Publicity/voter turnout:
      1. The election announcement will be posted on the PADA website home page, PADA Forum, PADANews, via email to summer league captains, and hard copies posted at the clubhouse.
      2. Paper candidate statements/pictures will be available on the PADA website and hard copies posted at the clubhouse.
      3. The ballots will be available at the clubhouse and on the PADA website for downloading and printing.
    3. Approval voting: approval voting will again be used in this year's election as it has for the past 2 elections. With approval voting, a voter can choose to vote for any number of candidates (none or all or anything in between). This allows the will of the membership to be more accurately represented, more subtlety in a voter's decision, and reduces the "popularity" or "name recognition" effect. The winners in the 2009 PADA board election will be the (see "What is the PADA board" above), candidates with the highest number of votes who accept their elected position. More information about the approval voting model can be found at http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/mathline/concepts/voting/activity4.shtm.

     

    Information and updates regarding the election process, as well as a daily-updated candidate's list, will be made available on the PADA website at http://www.pada.org/election. The committee and the board would also like to encourage open discussion of this year's issues in the election area of the PADA forums at http://www.pada.org/forum.

    The election committee is open to clarifying questions about this process as well as additional committee members. Please contact the committee at elections@pada.org.

    Thanks for reading and happy voting!

     

    The Election Committee

    Gili Ronen, Derek Ziegler, Alison Lin, Andy Johnson, Ryan Doherty