No, wait, why not set up an electoral college. Allow proportional voting based on the most popular areas of FT. The UA and AA boards each get 35 electoral votes, while the new Independence forum gets 1 (until they go under), etc. Proportional representation from within the forums would be based on the number of votes with each voter counting as:

1 vote x the number of posts by that voter in that forum x (.4 x number of months registered) divided by number of moderator warnings divided by (2 x timeouts).

Each forum is all or nothing for 4 candidates and let the electoral college sort it out.

Either that or just go back to the orignial intentions of the American Founding Fathers and limit voting to white male property owners!

OR...just relax and let Randy's staff monitor for voting irregularities?

[I kid because I love, Madame President, please don't ship me off to Guantanimo!!!!]

if you REALLY loved .. kokomuffin o mine .. you would get thee to Seattle for a visit.

I've been in touch with Randy, and he already has a plan of action which will be announced in tomorrows Talkmail.

We have the capability to filter out ballots cast by members who registered after an arbitrary date, so we'll be able to limit actual results based on a date criteria.

Also, if you've registered after the election starts (midnight tonight), the form shouldn't allow you cast a ballot regardless.

Thanks, Dan. From what I have read on this thread I think it is pretty well agreed that the arbitrary date should be the day that the elections were announced.

I'm TRYING! Stupid General Counsel keeps killing my Olympia proposals!!!!

We've got set now to not accept ballots from members registered on/after October 11th.

If I recall correctly the elections were announced on the 8th, but hopefully no ringers signed up in the following three days.

Just like the national elections. Changing the rules and figuring the procedures out right up until election day. Now lets see if we can do it after the elections also.

Gang, not to be the sole dissenting - but I think you all are taking this WAY too seriously.

Trust me - NEWBIES haven't even discovered Talkboard, much less are gonna vote. Heck, I've been away for a bit but right now I'm thanking my stars that newbies haven't discovered ORP or Talkboard in the last sev days or they'd never come back to FT. Good grief.

And yes, Dovster could get his family to vote & I suppose if one considered this up there w/ national politics that might make sense, but not to denigrate a great BB or a forum, most folk don't think about TB. Much less to the point of trying to rig the vote.

Cheers. Sharon

You are not sole. But you have to admit, it's kinda funny!

Actually, I personally think that if someone wants to be on TB so badly that they are willing to go to all the trouble of rigging the election, well, that's EXACTLY the sort of dedication and outside-the-box thinking that I like to see in my "leaders!"

Gentlemen, that's enough.

This thread is to discuss voting requirements, not individuals running for TalkBoard.

Thank you.

Spiff, the major voting requirement is knowing where to vote. That information has disappeared from the top of each forum, but I have posted a request on ORP to have it returned.

Anyone who wants to vote can do so at http://www.flyertalk.com/talkthevote/ and the polls are now open.

I have also placed a sticky at the top of this Forum.

Thanks, Spiff.

I believe that opening the voting to as many newbies and encouraging as many lurkers to register and vote is in the best interest of FT. FT has changed greatly from when I registered four years ago. I had a hard time excepting this as many of us have. The idea of packing votes for FT is about as believable as down rating threads or giving out negative reputation points to members solely because they are not liked. Oh, I guess some maybe their could be a problem? What has this really great frequent flyer bulleting board come to? We really need a "Children at Play" sign.