BCA Members time to VOTE for your Board!

[BUICK RACER]

Hello Buick Club of America members,

 

You have or soon will be receiving your April edition of the BUGLE.  This is your opportunity to vote on new members for your board of directors and the future of this club.  A brief bio is included in the BUGLE for each candidate.  

 

Your support will be greatly appreciated.  

Your vote is important so don't throw away this chance to make a difference.

 

Please send in your ballot.  Let's see if we can get more than the usual 10%!

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Done did!

 

  Ben

[dibarlaw]

Several members had called about the Bugle notice (Gray Box) on page 10 indicating the importance of signing the ballot. Yet on the ballot itself there was no place indicated for a signature. The question is now if the ballot is not signed will it be disqualified?

[BUICK RACER]

8 hours ago, dibarlaw said:

Several members had called about the Bugle notice (Gray Box) on page 10 indicating the importance of signing the ballot. Yet on the ballot itself there was no place indicated for a signature. The question is now if the ballot is not signed will it be disqualified?

I did not know that either? So Good question?

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

11 hours ago, dibarlaw said:

Several members had called about the Bugle notice (Gray Box) on page 10 indicating the importance of signing the ballot. Yet on the ballot itself there was no place indicated for a signature. The question is now if the ballot is not signed will it be disqualified?

 

 Not that I care if anyone knows for whom I vote, but signing the ballot sure eliminates any seceresi. Of course the mailing label is on the ballot.

 

  Ben

[Cindy Livingston]

Ooops… I kind of feel like this confusion about the voting instructions in the various boxes of the April issue is my fault so let me explain. First of all – a signature is NOT required on the ballot, so no need to worry that your vote won’t be counted if you didn’t sign it.

 

Our two goals this year were to try and increase the number of members who vote and also to make sure all ballots were properly delivered and counted. In the past we used ballot postcards with the mailing label of BCA member printed on one side and the accountant’s address on the other side. Trouble is, the post office occasionally got confused and mailed the ballot back to the member instead of the accountant. Soooo… this year we worked through several different designs, trying to eliminate the post office confusion. In the end, we decided it was safest to keep the member’s mailing label printed on the ballot so it could be easily read by the accountant, but to have voters send their ballot back in an envelope, rather than a postcard, which could be misread by the post office.

 

I’m sorry for the confusion. The voting instructions appear in several locations in the April Bugle. Before we went to print, we read those instructions  many times over and changed the wording several times, trying to make it clear for everyone. The "signature" wording in the box of instructions on page 10 were just an overzealous attempt to get the ballots delivered to the correct location and have everyone's ballot counted. Again - a signature is NOT required on the ballot. As long as the voting member’s name is somewhere on that ballot, there shouldn’t be a problem.

[NTX5467]

Odds are . . . somebody's going to get elected.  By "how many" is the question.

 

Perhaps, an aging demographic of members can lead to a "What does it matter?" orientation, which results in lower member participation?  So one vote not made can really be MANY not made.    Unless, by observation, a dues increase might be proposed somewhere in the mix.

 

NTX5467

[dship]

2 hours ago, NTX5467 said:

Odds are . . . somebody's going to get elected.  By "how many" is the question.

 

Perhaps, an aging demographic of members can lead to a "What does it matter?" orientation, which results in lower member participation?  So one vote not made can really be MANY not made.    Unless, by observation, a dues increase might be proposed somewhere in the mix.

 

NTX5467

I don't quite get the logic here.  If one does not participate (how ever big or small) in some manner in a particular club, then why bother to join that club?

[BUICK RACER]

15 minutes ago, DShip said:

I don't quite get the logic here.  If one does not participate (how ever big or small) in some manner in a particular club, then why bother to join that club?

 

2 hours ago, NTX5467 said:

Odds are . . . somebody's going to get elected.  By "how many" is the question.

 

Perhaps, an aging demographic of members can lead to a "What does it matter?" orientation, which results in lower member participation?  So one vote not made can really be MANY not made.    Unless, by observation, a dues increase might be proposed somewhere in the mix.

 

NTX5467

It doesn't matter to some people and the demographic doesn't have anything to do with it. People over the last 30+ years haven't voted typically and  it's always   been in the 600-1200 range or 10% of the membership.

[NTX5467]

When I looked at the ballot again, it appeared to me that it was designed to be:  1 -- removed from the magazine's wrap  2 --  vote by marking, as usual    3 --  folding in half at the dotted line    4 -- adding a strip of tape or something else to keep the ballot folded/closed    5 -- the destination address is on the ballot, with the sender's information hidden    6 -- affix postage and mail. 

 

Using an envelope would mean the destination address might be mis-copied or something, possibly.  I'm not sure how much difference in processing by the "reader machines" at USPS how much difference it makes between printed and hand-written addresses?  OR if the barcodes the USPS uses are bi-directional.  Reason I mention that is that if a barcode was used for member ID, if it didn't conform to USPS formats, would it get kicked out of the line for further hand-sorting . . . IF the reader happened to read that barcode rather than the USPS destination barcode?

 

As we need the voting process to be easy and "painless", plus RELIABLE, might the destination address be printed horizontally, as it has been, but put the voting side of the card vertically?  To do that, might cause issues with the placement of the magazine wrap's destination address.  Might work best as an interior insert placed between the pages where the candidates' information article is?  Which would cost a bit to make happen rather than it being a part of the exterior wrap.

 

Just some thoughts,'

NTX5467

[Cindy Livingston]

NTX - We considered that option of designing the ballot to be taped shut. We finally rejected it because unless each ballot is taped perfectly flat, including the sides and edges, there is a good chance it will get caught up in the automatic postal machines, torn apart and thrown out. The truth is – there IS no perfect option. Every single possible design we've came up with over the years has pros and cons. The best and most reliable options are also the most expensive. So we just keep trying and do our best to encourage people to vote and to use some common sense when sending in their ballot = like voting for no more than three candidates, carefully copying the accountant's mailing address, not forgetting the stamp or return address and of course - sending the dang ballot in plenty of time to be received and counted by June 1. I don't know why more people don't vote. I can guess, but I suspect one reason is most members don't really know who to vote for because they don't know any of the candidates personally. That's usually the case with me. So half the time I just take a stab in the dark. This year I've got my ballot sitting on my computer table next to me at this very minute. It's all filled out and in an addressed envelope. All I need is a stamp. But ummm... I don't have any! So that's another problem. I'll go buy some stamps, at some point, but ... well... procrastination is a problem for many people and for one reason or another that stamp doesn't get purchased and suddenly it's June 1. 

[sligermachine]

this is a nice way to do it .OK were do I get my     '' I VOTED '' sticker at -- kyle

[Arland]

This thread was well intended to encourage all members to participate in the voting process. All members would do well not to turn it into a dueling endorsements thread. This has nothing to do with any of the candidates just the main purpose of encouraging participation without getting political.

[midman]

I hope those of us that get the digital Bugle are going to get a ballot card again, or some other way to cast our votes.

Chuck

[ted sweet]

exactly I received nothing

[BUICK RACER]

Important update. There was a personnel change at the printer, ballots for e-bugle members will go out this Thursday!!