[Lnc-business] my mistake with Platform Committee election results

[Alicia Mattson]

LNC Colleagues (cc: Debbie Schum),

Below I have copy/pasted the section from the draft minutes regarding the
election of the Platform Committee.

When the tellers handed me the tally sheets, I should have insisted that I
be given a few minutes to copy all the results into my minutes and get them
all sorted in descending order before reading the numbers out loud...but
there were over 30 names for the Platform Committee.  In an attempt to do
things a little more quickly I just read the results directly off the tally
sheets, though they were not sorted by vote totals.  I visually looked for
the top-vote-getter and then continued to just visually scan for the next
ones below that.  Well, I screwed up, as you'll see below.

There were THREE names that I did not initially read aloud during the
results for Platform Committee, though they had non-zero vote totals.  I
caught one of them at the time we had a motion for a runoff between the
remaining candidates with 6 or more votes each, and we added him to the
runoff.  One of the other two I missed also had 6 votes.  Debbie Schum
should have been included in that runoff, but she wasn't because I
overlooked her.

It is not possible to say with certainty where she would have wound up, had
she been included in the runoff.  The relative rankings of others changed
during the runoff.  The other two people who had at least 6 round-one votes
ended up being ranked as alternates.

It could be that had we realized there were three with 6 votes, we might
have made 8 votes the cutoff point and ranked only one alternate.  Or it
could be that we would have kept the process the same and at least ranked
her as an alternate.

Conventions only meet once every two years, so any mistakes in conventions
can't be rectified before the end of the term.  But the LNC is still an
existing body, and if the LNC is inclined to find some sort of remedy, we
can do that.  It would be a little awkward for the others who have already
been notified of their positions if we opted to re-do a vote as the remedy,
and it's a little awkward for Debbie because she didn't get equal
consideration with the others who had 6 votes.

At this point we currently have 5 LNC-filled seats with 3 alternates.  The
chances of needing 3 alternates are slim.  It's a little overkill to name 4
alternates for 5 seats, though one of them has indicated he is likely going
to attempt to secure his state's appointment and move out of an alternate
slot.

Since I'm the one who made the mistake, I'd feel a little better about it
if we at least named Debbie Schum as 4th alternate as a courtesy, even
knowing that the chances of her getting to fill a seat are slim.

I offer my apology to Debbie and to the LNC for my unfortunate mistake and
the resulting awkwardness.  I await feedback from my colleagues for what to
do from here.

-Alicia


----------EXTRACT FROM MINUTES----------

The LNC appoints 5 of the 20 seats on the Platform Committee.  With 16
ballots cast, the results of the balloting were as follows:

Guy McLendon - 12
Alicia Mattson – 11
Hollie Ryan - 10
I. Dean Ahmad - 8
Lynn House – 8
Mike Shipley - 8
Nick Frollini - 6
Andy LeCureaux – 6
Debbie Schum - 6
Michael Schoenike - 5
Chris Colvin – 4
William (Bill) Hajdu – 3
Roland Riemers – 3
Thomas Knapp – 3
Fred Stitt – 3
Starchild – 3
James Felber – 2
Tom Lippman – 2
Alexander Pease – 2
Jerry Sanford – 2
Zachary Yutzy – 2
David Williams - 2
David Demarest - 1
Loren Ameen – 0
Jake Bryan – 0
Gene Chapman – 0
Paul Koksvik – 0
David Overby - 0
Robert Peterson – 0
Donald Reach – 0
Herbert Schoenbohm – 0
Richard Sutherland – 0
Zeb Sutton – 0
Lorence Wenke – 0

Guy McLendon, Alicia Mattson, and Hollie Ryan were elected to the Platform
Committee, each having received a majority.

While reading the results of the ballot vote, Ms. Mattson inadvertently
overlooked announcing the vote totals of Andy LeCureaux, Debbie Schum, and
Michael Schoenike, leaving the impression that they had received zero votes.

Mr. Tomasso moved that we have a runoff ballot using approval voting
between anyone who had at least 6 votes.  Mr. Feldman moved to amend by
substitution to instead do a show of hands using approval voting between
anyone who had at least 6 votes.  Mr. Feldman’s substitute motion was
adopted by a show of hands, with a vote total of 11-2 making it the main
motion.  The Feldman motion as the main motion was adopted without
objection.

Ms. Mattson noticed at this point that Andy LeCureaux had also received 6
votes, so he was included in the runoff, per the conditions of the motion.
The oversight of Debbie Schum and Michael Schoenike’s votes was not caught
until after the end of the session, thus Debbie Schum was mistakenly not
included in the runoff.

The show-of-hands vote totals for the runoff were as follows:

Dean Ahmad - 9
Lynn House - 7
Mike Shipley - 8
Nick Frollini - 5
Andy Lecureaux - 7

Mr. Ahmad was elected to the fourth seat, having received a majority.

Mr. Redpath moved to appoint Mr. Shipley to the fifth position.  Ms.
Mattson moved to amend by substitution that we use a show-of-hands runoff
between Mr. Shipley, Ms. House, and Mr. LeCureaux.  The Mattson amendment
passed on a show of hands with a vote total of 11-3, making it the main
motion.  There was no objection to the Mattson motion as the main motion.

The show-of-hands vote totals for the runoff were as follows:

Mike Shipley – 8
Lynn House – 8
Andy LeCureaux – 5

None had received a majority.  Mr. Redpath moved to conduct a show-of-hands
vote between Mr. Shipley and Ms. House with a plurality electing; there was
no objection.

The show-of-hands vote totals for the runoff were as follows:

Shipley – 7
House – 8

Ms. House was elected to the fifth seat.

Mr. Hagan moved to appoint Mr. Shipley as the 1st alternate.  Mr. Goldstein
moved to amend the Hagan motion to also name Mr. LeCureaux as the 2nd
alternate and Mr. Frollini as the 3rd alternate.  There was no objection to
either the amendment or the main motion.

Ms. Mattson nominated herself for interim chair.  Mr. McLendon nominated
himself, then withdrew, then nominated himself, then withdrew again.
Without objection Ms. Mattson was elected as interim chair of the Platform
Committee.
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