An election process, should be free, fair and transparent. Rules should be published well in advance, and only tinpot dictators ad the incompetant change the rules part way through.
Instead we have an example of how not to run an election.
In regard to the late change to who went to Iceland, after candidates were called for is bad. One candidate pulled out, claiming this as a reason. While I agree that the number of votes gained during an election is a poor guide to who works hard, decide the rules (further) ahead of time.
I did like that CSM released the code for tallying the elections. Delaying the start of the elections due to a lack of necessary website changes, ... well we know where the QA team efforts were not allocated.
Telling candidates that they are not eligible, when they in fact are, is less than ideal. Either that or CCP is changing the rules mid election again (which is also less than ideal).
Telling candidates that they qualified, then deciding they had not yet is potentially disastrous. Were any candidates told they qualified, then missed out by a few votes to get to the threshold? This is on top of the earlier confusion about the start dates.
There was the unfortunate position of a CSM candidate being disqualified due to publicly expressed beliefs. While I find the beliefs being attributed to the candidate abhorrent, disqualifying him after they knew the qualifying round votes was manipulative.
Next time
If CCP or even the incoming CSM wonders what can be done to increase participation.First, update the rules so that they are clear, specifying who is eligible and who is not.
Have an internal dry run of the election before the due date so that any problems can be identified and preferably fixed ahead of time.
If problems happen, and they sometimes do, have contingency plans in place ahead of time. If there is a delay to the start, then just shift everything back.
Double check before you tell candidates they have made it to the next round. Once you have told
them, stick to what you said.
To CCP : If the CSM is not important, repeat the mistakes of this year. If the CSM is important, then get it right. Say what you will do. Do what you said.
Maybe I am being snarky, and just had a bad time in first life. This post should be rightfully buried under the excitement of fanfest and before the announcement of the successful candidates, to be brought out again shortly before next CSM voting season. I really hope not to see these issues next time around.
Regarding Fon I suspect it was a question of parallel processes. In one room they were pushing ahead with the pre-election process. In another room they were arguing about free speech.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they deliberately let him run hoping he'd fail to get the 200 votes (which would be a dumb way to try to get rid of extremist candidates, only the boring ones wouldn't get past that stage).
I also think they made the right choice. At some point they would have to discriminate against him. Imagine if he ended up as CSM chair, or giving interviews telling BBC and New York Times what the Eve community is like. Can you imagine the damage if he said something like "play Eve, we don't have any black people."