If you have questions that are not answered here or in the public chat, you can contact the Chair of the Elections Committee.

Between nine and ten weeks before the election, there will be a public chat, hosted by the Election Committee and the Board, for any members interested in running for the Board of Directors. The date, time, and location of this chat will be announced in advance to all committee members and staffers. Members of the Board and Elections Committee will be available to answer questions. Afterwards, a transcript of the chat will be publicly available online.

No. You may not reassign proxy votes that you have received.

PINs for an upcoming election will be e-mailed about one week after the deadline for proxy assignments. At that point, if you have been assigned a proxy vote, you will be e-mailed that PIN in addition to your own PIN (if applicable), and you may vote each PIN, one at a time.

You may assign a proxy up to two weeks before a given election; the official date will be included on the election timeline for that year. Your proxy assignment will last for six months. Until those six months are up, we cannot revoke or change your proxy assignment. This means that, should there be a run-off for the election, your proxy must also vote for you in the run-off.

No. Elections can verify that we have successfully reassigned your vote, but we cannot verify whether or not your proxy used the vote, or show which candidates she voted for. Because of this, we strongly suggest that you confirm that your proxy received your assignment request and knows your voting preferences.

In general, a proxy can have any conditions a person wants, but only as a contract between the member and her proxy. OTW is not responsible for enforcing any conditions. If the proxy holder votes contrary to your specifications, we will have to follow the proxy, and indeed we won’t even know whether the proxy voter did follow your intentions, since that person will be casting a secret vote (and not even the Elections Committee members will be able to know how a particular person voted).

Proxies are assigned by e-mail. Your e-mailed proxy request must:

• Originate from the e-mail account you’ve registered with OTW.
• Be addressed to both elections-chair@transformativeworks.org AND your proxy.
• Include your legal name.
• Include a declaration that you wish to assign your proxy to the e-mailed recipient.
• Your proxy must reply to this e-mail, acknowledging receipt, and include his/her legal name in the reply. This reply must be received by elections-chair@transformativeworks.org at least two weeks before the Election day.

With extended, electronic voting, most of the normal reasons for voting by proxy (for example, you can’t attend an “in person” meeting to vote) do not apply. However, if you want to give your information to someone else to vote for you, then send a proxy statement to the Elections chair so we know you’re doing it. Otherwise, if you get in a dispute with the person you gave your information to, we have no way to know what’s going on, and we have to go with the first vote we get.

Voting by proxy is a way for you to designate someone else to cast your vote in an election. OTW is required to allow proxy-voting by Delaware law, which specifies: “A stockholder may authorize another person or persons to act for such stockholder as proxy by transmitting or authorizing the transmission of [an] electronic transmission to the person who will be the holder of the proxy.” In corporate elections, a proxy is usually used when a voting member/shareholder can’t attend a meeting in person. Extended, electronic ballots such as those used by the OTW should make proxy voting unnecessary in most cases. Nevertheless, we are still required by Delaware law to allow proxy voting.

Only candidates may request a recount or revote. Any candidate who wishes to do so should send her or his request (with an explanation as to why she or he thinks that a recount or revote is necessary) to the Elections chair within a week of the close of the polls; the Elections Committee will make a ruling within a week of receiving such a request. If a revote is deemed necessary, it will begin within two weeks of said ruling.

If it is proven to the satisfaction of the Elections Committee and the Board that a candidate offered an incentive for a vote, then the candidate will be disqualified from running or voting in that election.

If the person offering the incentive is not a candidate, she or he will be disqualified as a voter for that election.

Donating (e.g., purchasing a membership) under a fraudulent name to a nonprofit organization is not merely against organization rules, but illegal, and grounds for immediate removal from the Board.

Candidates are not allowed to:

• Offer an incentive for a vote (whether monetary or another sort of consideration, including fannish creative works).
• Have access to the voters’ roll, in order to protect the legal identity of members.
• Out another candidate’s pseudonym, or link the legal and fannish names of any OTW member who has not chosen to make that connection public.

These tactics will be grounds for disqualification from candidacy.

However, there are no restrictions on:

• The number of friends who may campaign on your behalf.
• The value of donations of money or labor you can receive for the purpose of campaigning.
• The formation of coalitions between candidates.
• The use of closed discussion forums.

Candidates’ official campaign statements will be posted by Elections on the organization’s website and in a variety of other spaces (e.g., the OTW News on IJ and LJ, twitter, the Yahoo! group and other outlets regularly used by Community Relations) and their statements can include an advertisement for their own campaign website or community. A chat forum will also be provided for the public chat (see "Are there any official campaign activities?").

Candidates are also encouraged to campaign in other forums.

Candidates are required to provide a brief public statement summarizing their philosophy, goals for the organization and their view on future directions for the organization etc.

Candidates are also encouraged (but not required) to participate in a public chat at a mutually agreed time of their own choosing. If the candidates cannot agree upon a time, the Elections Committee will decide on an appropriate time.

Live e-mail support will be provided throughout the voting period. If you have a difficulties casting a vote, or problem that may require you to recast a vote, let the Elections support team know before the polls close by sending a message to Elections.

Send your declaration to the Elections chair. Please include a statement that you are over 18, the committee(s) that you served a total of at least one year on, and your legal name. If you have been serving on that committee under a pseudonym (for example, you did not switch over your name on the committee a few months in advance, as suggested in "Will my real name and fannish identity be connected?"), the chair of Elections will confirm with the chair of Volunteers that you did, in fact, serve for one year on that committee, and will confirm with the chair of Financial that you are a paid member.

You MUST declare candidacy, including verifying your legal name by becoming a paying OTW member, by eight weeks before the election. The only exception is for elections that don’t attract a sufficient number of candidates at eight weeks before the election (see below).

You must provide an official campaign statement at least one month prior to the election.

If you have been serving as a member of a committee under your fannish identity, the Volunteers Committee will need to know the link between your real name and fannish identity in order to confirm for the Elections Committee Chair that you are qualified to run. This information will not be shared, and we will never connect your real name and fannish identity unless you specifically choose to do so.

One option available to you is to ask the Volunteers Committee to switch you over to working under your legal name within OTW a few months before the election. This will allow you to cite your committee experience without making the connection between your fannish identity and real name obvious to those outside your committee.