Replies from DFCSS
hammy-My question would be who worded the ballot papers?
That is what seemed to cause most of the confusion!
The letter and ballot paper wording was approved by the entire Society Board (after something like the eleventh draft), and the lesson to learn here is perhaps we were all too close to the subject to appreciate the potential for confusion – even wording “for” and “against” might have helped. However, things were undoubtedly not helped by a poster asking a question worded directly opposite how the ballot was worded, and most posters replying to that question instead of the one on the ballot paper – something which prompted us to issue a clarifying statement.
dgc-What was the composition of the Election Management Group and how were they selected.
I find it disappointing that any aspect of the future running of the football club I support was decided on the counting of some 200 late votes.
The EMG was the same as for previous elections, having accepted the Society board’s invitation to oversee the process (although the low number of nominees meant a ballot had not been required ahead of previous AGMs). Stuart Galloway of Dundee City Council has considerable professional experience as a returning officer in elections and has done the same job for ArabTrust, and acted as independent returning officer, joined by Nicky Robb and Stuart Nicoll.
dayzo-Votes must be received between 9am Monday 15th August and 4pm Wednesday 31st August.
Nevermind the late votes, the box should have been checked for ballot papers at 4pm on Wednesday 31st August not on Friday 2nd September. Some of the votes originally cast may have also been received after the deadline of 4pm Wednesday. The whole vote has been an absolute shambles from start to finish regardless of your own personal opinion on the resolution surely you can see the vote has been a total farce?
Also, given that you were only allowed to complain to the EMG up to three days after the voting closed I presume you can still complain now anyway? If you're quite happy to pick up votes NINE days after the polls closed then we should be able to complain for a extended period of time thereafter.
The process certainly leaves us with lessons to be learned for the future, and in particular: the rules did not state the location where the ballot papers had to be received; a PO box is not actually a physical location but a service provided by the Royal Mail; the EMG should arrange collection/delivery of ballot papers themselves; and the transition of the collection point from one sorting office to another caused a major problem. The EMG will need to answer any questions regarding the complaints procedure.
g brymer iv paricipated in dozens of union ballots and what happened with our ballot re late votes has me bamboozeled,i have never ever encountered a scenario like this.
what experience does EMG actually have in dealing with ballots????? as counting late votes in a ballot has always been a no no as far as im aware.
For almost 40% of the votes cast to be found late due to logistical errors is an extremely unusual scenario, and we will seek further clarification from Royal Mail on how it occurred. See question one for the EMG’s experience.
dayzo-"There were a total of 214 ballot papers, some envelopes containing more than one ballot paper."
Since when in any election of ballot would you be permitted to put more than one vote in the same envelope? This is another 'no-no' in the running of a ballot. Each vote is individual, private and there each ballot paper should be posted individually and privately.
There was nothing in the rules to prevent this, and since the member details on each form were checked against the database by the EMG, whether they were in separate envelopes would seem irrelevant. The rules were available for inspection online before the ballot began, and we are not aware of anyone querying these rules until after the result was declared.