Direct Members’ Representatives election

[John Reyes]

John Reyes

Tim Wall has been effusive in his praise for you. Is this mutual and/or an election pact? I agree that you have taken your role seriously. Thank you.

I’m in no election pact and Mick Norris has sum it up for me

I am happy to work with any of the candidates but it is the membership that will decided who are the two best rep for there membership

I have seen Charles Higgie membership speech on Facebook and I hope that he is selected but I don’t have a say as I’m
an silver member.

I hope everyone who read these posts, have a look on the ecf website and vote

I do take the role very seriously and you will see that on my election speech.

[Roger de Coverly]

I have seen Charles Higgie membership speech on Facebook and I hope that he is selected but I don’t have a say as I’m
an silver member.

If you look him up on the ECF grading database, he's under the name of Lowick Higgie, but Higgie on the FIDE site. Registered with Wales for FIDE purposes.

[Andrew Zigmond]

John's very independent minded, so he's not part of an election pact

It would appear, however, that Tim is in his own words trying exactly that

Together, if we are elected, Aga, Chris, John, myself, Rob and Lorin plan to work together as a team to promote an ECF membership drive that will reach out to OTB and online players alike.

Whether you think this is ok, should be encouraged, or not, is up to you; just like whether silver members prefer to be represented by another silver member I guess

Anyway, Tim won't be debating on here, and the decision is ultimately up to the members to vote for who they want

Surely the role of direct members representatives is to canvas the views of those members they represent, ensure their voice is heard at council and cast their votes appropriately. They should not be using it as a platform for any other agenda.

[Michael Farthing]

Election addresses have now been published:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/members ... tion-2020/

[Roger de Coverly]

Surely the role of direct members representatives is to canvas the views of those members they represent, ensure their voice is heard at council and cast their votes appropriately. They should not be using it as a platform for any other agenda.

Having quickly read through the statements, many of the candidates have ignored this in favour of promoting pet ideas. One idea that didn't seem to get any promotion was the notion that perhaps more of Council and the ECF Board should be directly elected.

[Angus French]

Election addresses have now been published:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/members ... tion-2020/

Is there no election address for Bronze candidate Paul Bignall?

[Mick Norris]

Surely the role of direct members representatives is to canvas the views of those members they represent, ensure their voice is heard at council and cast their votes appropriately. They should not be using it as a platform for any other agenda.

Having quickly read through the statements, many of the candidates have ignored this in favour of promoting pet ideas. One idea that didn't seem to get any promotion was the notion that perhaps more of Council and the ECF Board should be directly elected.

Not only that, but having 2 reps for each category, when there are many more members in some categories than others, doesn't seem equitable

You can see a lot of collaboration in the statements e.g. Lorin

Voting for Rob and myself would ensure Gold Members are well represented

and Rob not quite getting the copy, paste and edit right

Voting for Rob and myself would ensure Gold Members are well represented

[Roger de Coverly]

Not only that, but having 2 reps for each category, when there are many more members in some categories than others, doesn't seem equitable

Making the number of reps proportionate to the headcount in membership categories would be possible, provided that the current interest from individuals in becoming members of Council continues.

With the entitlement to votes being a function of the number of games played, there's a creeping crisis for the ECF Council, as the inability to organise over the board chess would disenfranchise various organisations unless the usual rules are cooked in some manner.

[Angus French]

You can see a lot of collaboration in the statements e.g. Lorin

Voting for Rob and myself would ensure Gold Members are well represented

and Rob not quite getting the copy, paste and edit right

Voting for Rob and myself would ensure Gold Members are well represented

Hmm (well spotted, Mick).

Where a candidate is standing for re-election, I think it's worth looking at his or her record while in post. I don't believe either Lorin or Rob consulted Gold members about the recent Finance Council meeting (certainly, as a Gold member, I wasn't consulted). Further, according to draft minutes sent to Council members, Lorin didn't attend the meeting and didn't (according to the voting register) appoint a proxy (not even Rob!). He also (again according to meeting minutes) didn't attend the 2019 Finance Council meeting - I make it that's two of three meetings he's missed as a Gold members' rep.

[Mick Norris]

I thought it was quite funny

I don't at all mind the 2 reps for a category working together to consult their membership (Michael Farthing & John Reyes seemed a good combination as silver reps, and I do hope John gets re-elected despite being endorsed by Tim ), but part of the point of voting for 2 candidates would be the differing viewpoints they would bring

I don't think I know any of the 5 gold candidates, so will have to read their election addresses and make a decision

In the meantime, I note from the website

Please note [10/8/20] – regrettably, Paul Bignall, standing for bronze, has found it necessary to withdraw through changes in personal circumstances.

[NickFaulks]

Having quickly read through the statements, many of the candidates have ignored this in favour of promoting pet ideas. One idea that didn't seem to get any promotion was the notion that perhaps more of Council and the ECF Board should be directly elected.

Yes, I noticed that too. To be fair, the idea did have the support of the Board, although the method of voting on it was a bit obtuse. I think it's time for another go.

I hope none of the candidates intends to apply their votes using some internal Proportional Representation method. This reduces their effect from small to negligible.

[Angus French]

I've just received my email invitation to vote. At the end it says:

Standing for election does take some nerve, and not many people are ready to put themselves forward, so to minimise any embarrassment it has been decided not to publish the number of votes given to individual candidates. We were in two minds about this but decided on balance that the interests of the ECF were best served by doing what we could to encourage participation.

I think that's the wrong decision. How can you have an election and not publish the vote counts?

[Mick Norris]

That doesn't sit right with me either, although I do trust Michael so that's not the issue; would hope at least to discover the total number of members voting in each category, and ideally the totals for the 2 successful candidates

[J T Melsom]

I have been a defeated candidate in an election, though I did finish above the candidate for 'cheaper Guinness on campus'. Is there a precedent for this approach in other organisations? I too hope total votes cast, and the share of the successful candidates might be notified. I'm not sure the candidates themselves have put themselves forward expecting anything other than the result to be announced normally, so its not clear that its a factor in opting to stand (hence my query about precedent from elsewhere).

[Andrew Zigmond]

Reflecting on it now I didn't receive anything from the gold representatives prior to the Finance Council Meeting either (I wasn't really tuned to chess matters at the time). I feel strongly that the main role of direct membership representatives should be to ballot the members they represent on any elections or motions and cast those votes accordingly. It should not be used as a means to gain votes on council to use for their own purposes and if they intend to pursue a specific agenda this should be declared transparently.

I can't see any objection to the voting numbers being published.I think this is needed for transparency.