English Chess Forum

I will be representing the Southern Counties Chess Union at the ECF Annual Council Meeting and will be voting for CJ de Mooi as President and Adam Raoof as Director of Home Chess (who were nominated by the SCCU). (And also Sean Hewitt, John Wickham and Nigel Short in the contested elections.)

I would be happy to act as your proxy if your organisation's representative is not attending, and I'm particularly making this offer if your organisation is supporting CJ de Mooi and Adam Raoof. (I will of course vote for any candidates according to your instructions.) You will need to send your representative's green form appointing me as your proxy to the ECF Office by October 14th. You can contact me to let me know your wishes either via the message facility on this site, via my email address mikewxyz(AT)googlemail(DOT)com. Other contact details for me can be found on the SCCU or SCCA (Surrey) websites.

I would like to thank the SCCU for deciding to support me. I hope that members of the SCCU committee report this back to their respective counties and that they too support my candidacy.

If figures that I have heard recently for projected losses this financial year are true, the ECF are going to need some new blood with business experience as a matter of urgency.

Just bumping this to the top of "active topics".

Does anyone know how many possible votes there are in total? It lists all the different categories on the ECF website but it doesn't give a full list of all votes held.

michele clack wrote:Does anyone know how many possible votes there are in total? It lists all the different categories on the ECF website but it doesn't give a full list of all votes held.

This was posted by John Philpott about 6 weeks ago

A new voting register will be issued with the papers for the October 2009 AGM, reflecting changes in activity, new events and any events losing their votes as a result of non-payment of Game Fee. The register for last October showed a breakdown of votes as follows (the second number, in brackets, indicates the multiple voting entitlement, based on Game Fee, on a poll).

Constituent Units 7 (18)
County Associations 38 (77)
Leagues 45 (87)
Congresses 53 (67)
Other organisations 10 (10)
Direct members representatives 8(8)
President 1(1)
Trustees of Permanent Invested Fund 3(3)
Past Chief Executive 1(1)
Elected Officers 12 (12)
Total 178 (284)

I personally exercise 3(3) votes by virtue of being an elected Officer (Chairman of the Governance Committee) and being the representative member of the Friends of Chess (classified as an other organisation) and Insurance Chess Club (classified as a League).

The disposition of voting power on the day is influenced by proxies. At last October's meeting I believe that the individual exercising the greatest voting power was John Turnock, who held a large number of proxies from organisations in the NCCU.

_________________
Chairman of the ECF Governance Committee

The updated voting register shows some decline in the number of votes after allowing for lapsed leagues and congresses. Adjusting the figures provided to take account of the lack of a Finance Director and the fact that Gerry Walsh only gets one vote despite being both President and FIDE Delegate, I make the total votes available to be 159 members exercising 267 votes on a card vote. There is normally some movement prior to the Council meeting as a result of queries raised on the register.

Thanks for that. That's more votes than I thought. It will be interesting to see who wins. If the professional players are represented at FIDE by the ECF representative, why don't they have some votes? Do they perhaps have an association that gets some votes under other organisations? If not it seems something of an omission to me.

I received a communication from Peter Wilson and he says I can publish this (I have corrected a couple of typos as he wrote it just before dashing off somewhere).

"I have asked for a card vote to be taken for each and every position which comes up for election at the Oct. 2009 ECF Council Meeting.

I am holding 4 proxy votes for one organisation - who have given me very clear instructions as to how to vote, one vote as an ECF Director - which I shall use to reflect what I believe is best for the ECF and ECF Members, and 1 vote as Representative of Direct Members (I have had some representations made to me which will influence how I shall cast that vote).

There are 2-candidate cases this time where I shall wish to cast 4 votes for one candidate, 1 vote for another candidate and 1 vote for 'none of the above'. Others where there is 1 candidate where I shall wish to vote 5 votes for none of the above and one vote in favour.

Other similar situations will arise depending on number of candidates and on who they are !!

I need a card vote in the interests of democracy to vote the way I have been instructed/advised!

John Philpott tells me that the Chairman (which I understand will be Gerry Walsh) on the day can direct that all votes will be on a card-vote basis. Or if he does not, then for each position up for election it needs 20 delegates (with how many votes between them I wonder ?) to ask for a card vote. Otherwise it will be on a show of hands! Ye Gods !!

In the case where the Chairman (and I do not know what he is planning to do regarding card votes) does not indicate a card vote for each election (a card vote was held, I believe for all elections, in 2006) I shall stand and ask for a card vote - for each end every election as they come up and shall hope for the necessary 20 votes for a card vote each time !!

I believe democracy is of paramount importance this time around."

Gerry decided last night that all elections (Directors, FIDE Delegate, Chairmen of members of Standing Committees) should be conducted on the basis of a card vote. I have now designed the voting form.

Thanks John (sorry for the extra work!)

John Philpott wrote:Gerry decided last night that all elections (Directors, FIDE Delegate, Chairmen of members of Standing Committees) should be conducted on the basis of a card vote. I have now designed the voting form.

It is important to know (not only the counts...) but who voted for who, will this be published John?

Kevin Thurlow wrote

Thanks John (sorry for the extra work!)

It is the tellers that you should be sorry for. Given that the Chairman of the Governance Committee is normally one of the tellers when he attends, my plan to spend the afternoon at the Britannia Stadium is looking like an even better idea.

Carl Hibbard wrote

It is important to know (not only the counts...) but who voted for who, will this be published John?

No.

Carl Hibbard wrote: It is important to know (not only the counts...) but who voted for who, will this be published John?

I know of one Midlands County Captain who couldn't believe the changes that were made to the County Championships grading limits this season. I told him that he couldn't really complain too much as his own county delegate voted for the changes! He was amazed as this same delegate told his counties AGM that he had voted against the changes!!

John Philpott wrote:Carl Hibbard wrote

It is important to know (not only the counts...) but who voted for who, will this be published John?

No.

A shame, I don't see why not but fair enough...

Carl Hibbard wrote

A shame, I don't see why not but fair enough...

Ernie Lazenby wrote

To me it all sems a very secret way of conducting business (much like the old labour party conferences with the union block vote system)

It is secret for the simple reason that the Procedural Bye laws state

If the Chairman is unable to establish that any candidate has a clear majority over any other candidate, or is in doubt as to whether the number of Members wishing that none of the candidates be elected is higher than the greater or greatest number of Members voting for any of the candidates, then the election shall be determined by a secret ballot and the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected, unless votes for “none of the candidates” exceed that number, in which case the Chairman shall declare that “this post remains vacant” and the matter shall be referred to the Board as at 12.9.2 above.

If there is a widely held view that the "secret ballot" approach is inappropriate, the correct way of proceeding would be for members qualifying as the Requisitionists to make a proposal to amend the Bye Laws. Until such a proposal is approved, the ballot will remain secret!

Ernie Lazenby wrote

Coming back to the question that has been raised before; On a card vote do we actually know if the proxy vote holders and others are actually voting for the people they were directed to vote for or said they were supporting?

Sean Hewitt wrote

I know of one Midlands County Captain who couldn't believe the changes that were made to the County Championships grading limits this season. I told him that he couldn't really complain too much as his own county delegate voted for the changes! He was amazed as this same delegate told his counties AGM that he had voted against the changes!!

It is surely a matter between a representative and the organisation that he represents as to how he votes, and it is perhaps unreasonable to expect the ECF to police this. If the facts that Sean has alluded to are correct, it would appear that the representative in question has told a direct lie to the AGM, for which one assumes he will ultimately be held to account. An appointed proxy ignoring instructions is a breach of personal trust: I would only give a proxy to somebody in whom I had absolute confidence in the way that they would act.

Ernie Lazenby wrote

I would like someone to explain to me the possible reason why Gerry Walsh has directed a card vote.

I understand that arguments similar to those posted on Peter Wilson's behalf earlier on this thread by Kevin Thurlow were made directly to Gerry, and in the light of these he decided to proceed directly to a card vote for all elections. I agree that all the contested elections should be contested on this basis: I am neutral as to whether the uncontested elections should follow suit. The elections at the 2006 AGM were conducted on the basis of a card vote for all Directors and the FIDE Delegate.