Post by Poor Richard on Oct 2, 2023 6:45:33 GMT -7
Votes for Unpopular GLA Candidates Will Be Tossed
The Glastonbury Landowners Association (GLA) recently voted for a rule that would discard landowner votes for candidates who receive less than 20 votes. The rule sets a minimum threshold of 20 votes before a candidate can qualify for a seat on the GLA Board of Directors. Any candidate who receives less than 20 votes will not qualify for a seat. Previous to the 2023 Annual Election winners were picked according to the number of open seats and who garnered the most votes. If three seats were open then the three candidates who received the greatest number of votes each, qualified for those seats.
In theory, a write-in candidate could win a seat with just one vote. That would be possible if the number of candidates was less than the number of open seats. In practice, the number of candidates always exceeded the number of open seats.
In 2023 the GLA Board failed to attract enough candidates for the nine available seats. Usually, just six seats are open but the flood of resignations created nine open seats. Current Election Committee Chair Andrea Sedlak carefully explained to Charlegne Murphy, a long-term previous Election Committee Chair, at the October 1st, 2023 Candidate Forum that candidates with unpopular views were not desired on the GLA Board. Murphy nodded her head in agreement and did not offer any rebuttal. Sedlak went on to state that she carefully analyzed 10 years' worth of election results and saw that most candidates received greater than 10 votes. Therefore Sedlak reasoned that if a 20-vote threshold was instituted only candidates with broad-based support would be allowed on the GLA Board. The current GLA Board agreed with her and voted to approve the 20-vote threshold. No public input was sought. Indeed the first many voters heard of the 20 vote minimum was when they read it on their current Annual Election ballot.
In between elections, GLA Board vacancies are filled by a majority board vote. That can require as few as three or as many as seven yes votes. The total yes votes needed depends upon the number of directors present when the vote is taken. Board business can be legally conducted with as few as four directors present.
A common tactic used previously to keep undesirable candidates off the board was to place a well-known but unwilling-to-serve, individual on the ballot as a straw candidate. The straw candidate was always elected and then quietly resigned after the first or second board meeting. The GLA Board would then handpick a lesser-known and more pliable individual to fill out the remainder of the straw candidate's term.
Currently, there are only four official candidates and two declared write-in candidates, Claudette Dirkers and Doug Gill, for nine open board seats. If any of the candidates fails to secure 20 votes the seat they were campaigning for would most likely be filled by a GLA Board simple majority vote.
In theory, a write-in candidate could win a seat with just one vote. That would be possible if the number of candidates was less than the number of open seats. In practice, the number of candidates always exceeded the number of open seats.
In 2023 the GLA Board failed to attract enough candidates for the nine available seats. Usually, just six seats are open but the flood of resignations created nine open seats. Current Election Committee Chair Andrea Sedlak carefully explained to Charlegne Murphy, a long-term previous Election Committee Chair, at the October 1st, 2023 Candidate Forum that candidates with unpopular views were not desired on the GLA Board. Murphy nodded her head in agreement and did not offer any rebuttal. Sedlak went on to state that she carefully analyzed 10 years' worth of election results and saw that most candidates received greater than 10 votes. Therefore Sedlak reasoned that if a 20-vote threshold was instituted only candidates with broad-based support would be allowed on the GLA Board. The current GLA Board agreed with her and voted to approve the 20-vote threshold. No public input was sought. Indeed the first many voters heard of the 20 vote minimum was when they read it on their current Annual Election ballot.
In between elections, GLA Board vacancies are filled by a majority board vote. That can require as few as three or as many as seven yes votes. The total yes votes needed depends upon the number of directors present when the vote is taken. Board business can be legally conducted with as few as four directors present.
A common tactic used previously to keep undesirable candidates off the board was to place a well-known but unwilling-to-serve, individual on the ballot as a straw candidate. The straw candidate was always elected and then quietly resigned after the first or second board meeting. The GLA Board would then handpick a lesser-known and more pliable individual to fill out the remainder of the straw candidate's term.
Currently, there are only four official candidates and two declared write-in candidates, Claudette Dirkers and Doug Gill, for nine open board seats. If any of the candidates fails to secure 20 votes the seat they were campaigning for would most likely be filled by a GLA Board simple majority vote.