Originally Posted by empedocles
TalkBoard formerly had a policy that 2(?) slots were reserved for non-US members. That's about all I can recall about it at the moment, but I'm sure
Dovster, who is one of the experts in the former policy, will be along shortly to fill in the gaps.
And here I am!
The former policy was that two slots would be reserved for members residing outside of North America. Theoretically, we could have had a TalkBoard completely consisting of people from Andorra but not one composed of US, Canadian, and Mexican residents.
I considered this very unfair -- not so much to the candidates as to the voters. Why should the people they wanted on TB not be allowed to serve?
Let's take a look at the current situation. We have 3 North American and one Australian members that we know will be on TB next year no matter what happens in this election.
Right now, in order for me to win this election, I have to finish among the top five vote-getters. Under the former policy, I would have won either by being among the top five or simply being the highest vote-getter among those living outside of North America.
I could have theoretically wound up in 14th place, with only 10% of the votes that the fifth ranked candidate got, and still won the election.
I made a motion to end the requirement that two places be reserved for non-North American residents. Five TB members voted in favor, two against, and two abstained.
Under today's rules, the vote would have passed but under the rules which were in effect at the time, six votes were needed for any motion to pass. Hence, it failed.
Randy, however, favored the motion that I had made and put it into effect.
The irony in all of this, of course, is that for the past several years at least, there was no need for such a rule.
In the year before I joined TB, there were two non-North Americans on it (
hfly from Turkey and
Kempis from Sweden. During the year that I served, there were three such members (
Kempis,
Attorney28 from Germany, and myself.
Last year,
Kempis did not seek re-election but
OzStamps from Australia joined TB and the membership still had three non-North Americans. I resigned, was replaced by Doc, but that still left two.
FlyerTalkers have repeatedly shown themselves willing to vote for someone no matter where he or she lives. "Affirmative action" is not needed.