No BCA ballot signatures required!

[Pete Phillips]

I'm going to give this a little more visibility because there are still phone calls going around alleging that BCA Board of Directors' ballots in the April magazine require a signature. Yes, there is a note that says that, buried on page 10 of the April issue of the Buick Bugle. But it is incorrect. And there is no space set aside on the ballots for a signature anyway. The lack of a signature will NOT prevent a ballot from being counted. And no, it is not a conspiracy to rig the voting.

 

Here is the explanation about how this happened, for those who care:

In past years, we have had a problem with ballots being returned by the post office to the member who sent in the ballot because the member's name and address label are on one side of the ballot. The address for mailing the ballot in to the counters is on the other side. The post office sometimes doesn't take the time to turn over the ballot cards to look at the correct address. So, we considered removing the member's name and address off of the ballots this year, but then no one would know if the ballot was sent in by a current member or if it was a photo copy or where it came from. So, the next idea was to ask the member to sign the ballot, and that's where that sentence came from. This idea was over-ruled (signatures are often illegible, so probably a bad idea anyway), and so we went back to printing the member's name and address on the ballot as before. It has to do with the placement of the address label on the magazine, postal regulations, and where the ballot can be perforated for tearing off. So in the end, we decided not to require a signature, and to encourage members to put the ballot in an envelope to mail it. After all of these changes and different trial versions of the ballot, we forgot about the statement "ballot signature required" that is buried on page 10. It should have been deleted after we settled on the final ballot design. As Editor, I'll take responsibility for the mistake, because I proof-read everything before it goes to print, and I didn't catch that.

It's not a conspiracy as some have alleged. It was just a simple oversight while we tried to design a fool-proof ballot.

 

To be clear: BALLOTS DO NOT HAVE TO BE SIGNED BY THE VOTER. And we strongly suggest that you fold it up and put it in an envelope this year, rather than sending it as a post card.

 

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Buick Bugle Editor

[dei]

[Posted 12 hours ago

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]

 

Thanks Pete for putting forth the effort to clear matters up. 

Putting together an awesome publication can be an unappreciated effort at times and with publication deadlines can only imagine the late night last minute attention to details and or corrections.

 

Thanks to you and THE TEAM for all it takes! 

 

Now, as quoted above, I'm one of the digital Bugle recipients and wondering if that Ballot is going to be mailed to me too?

I wish to participate in voting this year and while early, have not seen it in my Canadian snail mail yet.

 

p.s. REALLY loved this months dedication to '58's Sixtieth Birthday Edition! 

[Joseph P. Indusi]

Thanks Pete for taking the initiative to clear this up.   Also, with the April Bugle you hit another home run; I read it cover to cover in one sitting, could not put it down.

Joe, BCA 33493

[NTX5467]

 Thanks, Pete, for your explanation.

 

In one respect, I don't understand what all of the hoopla about signing ballots is about.  The member's name is already on the ballot, printed, so it can easily be determines who voted for whom, IF anybody would desire to take the time to look . . . IF the ballots are archived for later reference.  Do we have members who are paranoid about people knowing whom they voted for, but only if they signed the ballot?

 

VOTE!  Be proud of whom you voted for!  But please VOTE!

 

Willis Bell  20811

Edited April 9, 2018 by NTX5467 (see edit history)