Has anyone noticed the voting rules for the USAT board?
To vote you can print out a ballot from the USAT web site, vote, then fold it, staple it and send it in with the prepaid postage. It is addressed to a CPA firm in Colorado Springs who is responsible for counting the votes and verifying that the election is fair. On the ballot it states that you must send in the ballot yourself.
The voting rules on the USAT web site state that it is OK for a candidate to collect ballots themselves but must send them in individually.
Right there I see a problem with the voting controls. It is the responsibilty of the CPA firm to make sure the vote is controled and candidates should not be allowed to handle ballots that have been filled out. They should have informed USAT that they cannot be involved with any election that has a rule allowing candidates to handle the completed ballots. Afterall, the ballots have prepaid postage so there is no need for the candidate to handle them.
The biggest breach of controls is that the candidate has the opportunity to inspect the ballots he or she has collected and there is the possibiliy that the candidate does not send in any ballot that does not have a vote for them. This may not have happened but with this USAT rule there is the possibility and that is where the CPA firm should have stepped in.
Now it has come to my attention that a few members, who have given their ballots to a candidate, have received phone calls from that candidate for various reasons. One was called because the candidate checked and found out that the members membership has expired and informed the member that they could renew their membership online. The only way the candidate could have known this was to inspect their completed ballot.
As bad as it is that the candidates can collect ballots they were doing so under the USAT rules, but for them to collect and inspect the ballots goes beyond the rules and puts the election in question.
I called the CPA firm who is administering the election and their answer was that it is "too late now".
Last year I understand that there were only about 1,000 votes cast out of about 40,000 members. Therefore, even a few votes either way can change the outcome of the election.
I believe the rule of candidates collecting ballots should be changed and perhaps the CPA firm should control this election properly or resign. How can we know this election was conducted fairly? Perhaps they should conduct a new election.
Willy in Pacifica
To vote you can print out a ballot from the USAT web site, vote, then fold it, staple it and send it in with the prepaid postage. It is addressed to a CPA firm in Colorado Springs who is responsible for counting the votes and verifying that the election is fair. On the ballot it states that you must send in the ballot yourself.
The voting rules on the USAT web site state that it is OK for a candidate to collect ballots themselves but must send them in individually.
Right there I see a problem with the voting controls. It is the responsibilty of the CPA firm to make sure the vote is controled and candidates should not be allowed to handle ballots that have been filled out. They should have informed USAT that they cannot be involved with any election that has a rule allowing candidates to handle the completed ballots. Afterall, the ballots have prepaid postage so there is no need for the candidate to handle them.
The biggest breach of controls is that the candidate has the opportunity to inspect the ballots he or she has collected and there is the possibiliy that the candidate does not send in any ballot that does not have a vote for them. This may not have happened but with this USAT rule there is the possibility and that is where the CPA firm should have stepped in.
Now it has come to my attention that a few members, who have given their ballots to a candidate, have received phone calls from that candidate for various reasons. One was called because the candidate checked and found out that the members membership has expired and informed the member that they could renew their membership online. The only way the candidate could have known this was to inspect their completed ballot.
As bad as it is that the candidates can collect ballots they were doing so under the USAT rules, but for them to collect and inspect the ballots goes beyond the rules and puts the election in question.
I called the CPA firm who is administering the election and their answer was that it is "too late now".
Last year I understand that there were only about 1,000 votes cast out of about 40,000 members. Therefore, even a few votes either way can change the outcome of the election.
I believe the rule of candidates collecting ballots should be changed and perhaps the CPA firm should control this election properly or resign. How can we know this election was conducted fairly? Perhaps they should conduct a new election.
Willy in Pacifica