I'd demand an immediate recount of both legitimate and illegitimate votes.
Fortunately, I'm not a member, so I don't have to worry about who gets to
steal/waste the membership money for the next couple of years.

--
Irvin
-------------------------
http://www.pixel69.com


"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
I have heard that there were some hand-written ballots cast and
counted in the USCF election.

Is this true?

My source does not know how many such ballots there were, but he
believes that there were a few hundred and almost all of them were
cast for the "Success Team".

It these are not counted then I would move up from 8th place to
possibly 5th to 7th.

Does anybody know? Will anybody say anything about this?

Sam Sloan

(Sam Sloan) writes:

Is it or is it not true that there are a number, perhaps several
hundred, questionable or provisional ballots?

I thought you were talking about hand-written ballots? Please define your
terms.
--
Mike Nolan

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 13:32:21 GMT, "irvin" wrote:

I'd demand an immediate recount of both legitimate and illegitimate votes.
Fortunately, I'm not a member, so I don't have to worry about who gets to
steal/waste the membership money for the next couple of years.

--
Irvin
-------------------------
http://www.pixel69.com

Irvin is joking too. Nobody is demanding a recount because the margin
of victory, 1500 votes, is too wide.

I am merely trying to enroll Beatriz Marinello into a governmental
program that will provide her with free accommodations and medical
care after her retirement from being USCF President two weeks from
today, a suitable reward for her two years of dedicated service.

Sam Sloan

On 3 Aug 2005 13:34:02 GMT, (Mike Nolan) wrote:

(Sam Sloan) writes:

Is it or is it not true that there are a number, perhaps several
hundred, questionable or provisional ballots?

I thought you were talking about hand-written ballots? Please define your
terms.
--
Mike Nolan

The term I heard was hand-written ballots. That term may not be
accurate.

I have since heard that after the ballot count was finished, Pete
Tamburo and Roger English spent several hours pulling out and batching
several hundred questionable ballots. I have been told that the
delegates will be called upon to rule on whether these ballots count
or not.

Clearly, the top four places will remain unchanged, but the order of
places 5-9 mught be affected. Since virtually none of these
questionable ballots voted for me, I might move up a few places in the
standings, or so I am told.

In addition, this might help in my plan to enroll Beatriz Marinello
into a governmental program that will provide her with free
accommodations and medical care after her retirement from being USCF
President two weeks from today, a suitable reward for her two years of
dedicated service.

Sam Sloan

I just received a list from Pete Tamburro. Apparently, this was sent
before but I missed it. According to this list, none of the standings
will change. The margins of victory will be slightly narrower. For
example, I will be 12 more votes ahead of George John and 24 less
votes behind Steve Shutt.

Thank you very much, Pete.

Sam Sloan

Sam,

Here are the ballots totals for the non-inked ballots (I hesitate to
use handwritten as the word because the ballot itself was not
handwritten. These uscf members put their ID or name or both (the
general practice used) in the blank left by the printer.

These results were fowarded as part of my report to the delegates as
an appendix for the idly curious:

Bauer 93, Channing 185, Goichberg 196, John 62, Shahade 200,
Shaughnessy 99, Shutt 74, Sloan 50, Tanner 162, writeins 19

Pete Tamburro
Head Teller

Every vote makes its incremental difference, which is by definition next to
nil. The alternative, however, is to have votes of certain people count more
than those of others. Would you prefer that?

Tammany Hall and its successors win by spreading loot among as many people
as they can. In the past they called it "corruption." Today, it's
institutionalized. In my small town of 7,000, all that is needed for some
measure to pass is for all the teachers and town workers, and their
families, to vote.

I prefer the John Birch society's old saw about democracy: Two wolves and a
lamb deciding what's for dinner.


"Jürgen R." wrote in message
...
On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 00:27:25 -0400, "Angelo DePalma"
wrote:

I don't know about hand-written ballots, but I received a ballot directly
from USCF since my membership had temporarily expired (by the way, I have
still not received CL). I believe I was told that my ballot would be
counted
provisionally. That is, if it made a difference (in a tight race) its
validity might be challenged. As you know the race was not close, so the
point was moot.

Finally somebody who understands the Principles of Democracy, by means
of which organizations such as Tammany Hall ran, and run, cities and
States: The simple, single voter and his vote never makes a
difference.




"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
I have heard that there were some hand-written ballots cast and
counted in the USCF election.

Is this true?

My source does not know how many such ballots there were, but he
believes that there were a few hundred and almost all of them were
cast for the "Success Team".

It these are not counted then I would move up from 8th place to
possibly 5th to 7th.

Does anybody know? Will anybody say anything about this?

Sam Sloan

That is not what I was told. I was told they'd be dealt with *only* if it
might affect the result. The result of the election has almost nothing to do
with who finished 5-8. The only thing that matters is who won.

I sincerely hope that nobody -- no volunteer, no paid agent, NOBODY --
wastes even 10 seconds of their time on the "provisional" or "questionable"
ballots with the objective of determining the exact order of the last four
places on the ballot. It is a total, utter waste of time.


"Sam Sloan" wrote

I have since heard that after the ballot count was finished, Pete
Tamburo and Roger English spent several hours pulling out and batching
several hundred questionable ballots. I have been told that the
delegates will be called upon to rule on whether these ballots count
or not.

Sam Sloan wrote:

[SNIP]

Also, one board member, Tim Hanke, has gone missing since February 10
and the delegates could take action such as remove him or even expel
him. Several persons have even suggested that Beatriz Marinello could
be expelled from the USCF by the delegates.

Especially given the fact these two Executive Board members were
elected directly by the USCF membership, the Board of Delegates has no
power of recall, and no power to expel a member (they only handle
appeals), and there is no pending action, SFAIK, against these members
by either the Ethics Committee or the Executive Board, I do not see how
the 2005 Board of Delegates would have the power do this. Nor, do I
think there is any chance they would this even if they were to have the
power, which SFAIK they do not.

[SNIP]

Best regards,

George John

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 10:32:21 -0400, "Angelo DePalma"
wrote:

I prefer the John Birch society's old saw about democracy: Two wolves and a
lamb deciding what's for dinner.

Mencken: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what
they want and deserve to get it good and hard."

On 3 Aug 2005 08:42:30 -0700, "George John"
wrote:

Sam Sloan wrote:

[SNIP]

Also, one board member, Tim Hanke, has gone missing since February 10
and the delegates could take action such as remove him or even expel
him. Several persons have even suggested that Beatriz Marinello could
be expelled from the USCF by the delegates.

Especially given the fact these two Executive Board members were
elected directly by the USCF membership, the Board of Delegates has no
power of recall, and no power to expel a member (they only handle
appeals), and there is no pending action, SFAIK, against these members
by either the Ethics Committee or the Executive Board, I do not see how
the 2005 Board of Delegates would have the power do this. Nor, do I
think there is any chance they would this even if they were to have the
power, which SFAIK they do not.

[SNIP]

Best regards,

George John

I disagree. The USCF Board of Delegates clearly does have the legal
right, power and authority to expel a member. For example, Bobby
Fischer was expelled by "Objections Proceedure" by the Executive
Board. I feel that this was wrong and should not have been done, but
nevertheless nobody has claimed that they did not have the right to do
this.

There have been numerous cases where members have been suspended. Mike
Nolan, Roman Dzindzichashvilli and Stan Vaughan were all suspended I
believe. (Roman might have been expelled). The reasons were relatively
trivial.

I agree that no member should be expelled except for very, very
serious reasons. Whether Beatriz Marinello and Tim Hanke reach that
standard would be something for the delegates to decide.

I would not make the motion but if somebody else made the motion I
would vote to expel them both for the following reasons:

1. Tim Hanke has been missing since February 10, 2005. Hanke is the VP
of Finance. If he was going to be absent for a long time, he should
have resigned. The VP of Finance is supposed to approve any
expenditures by the President. Since Hanke has been absent, we do not
know whether he approved the $13,000 that Beatriz paid herself or not.

2. Beatriz has committed many illegal or improper acts. Among them
a

A) Beatriz had herself appointed Chief Operating Officer, a clear
violation of the by-laws which state that no member of the board can
be an employee or officer of the USCF.

B) Beatriz endorsed Natrol, a drug that claims the ability to speed up
the brain, and she accepted money from Natrol and had their ad put on
the USCF website, all without even notifying the board.

C) After her slate was defeated in the July 27, 2005 election, Beatriz
signed a contract to build an new building against the wishes of the
new board and also in violation of the by-laws under which the
President has no power to sign contracts for the USCF. Only the
Executive Director has that power.

These factors plus the many other misdeeds committed by Hanke and
Marinello are more than enough to require their permanent expulsion
and ban from the USCF, in my opinion.

Sam Sloan