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Ballot forms and upcoming election.

I received my Partner yesterday with the ballot for the upcoming election. I would like to comment on the upcoming election. First I think that club officers should not so emphatically state in print who they are endorsing. For those who do not follow the membership nor care about the politics, this could unfairly sway the uninformed members. Secondly I see no reason to require a signature on the ballot except to be able to account for who is voting for who. There is a reason that our National elections do not require a signature on the ballet. That is the democratic way. I also think an independant person should count the ballots to make sure there is a fair and impartial count. What do think?

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

I want to see my copy of the partner first but I expect an unsigned vote which is counted by a limited group of people who are not officers of the club nor entered in this election.
When will we see a profile of those running for office?----before the votes are sent in I hope.

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

MIKE
I AGREE WITH YOU TOTALLY.

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Keep in mind that this is the first time that the election process for the officers of the DMAC has been conducted by a mail ballot. In the past, the election process has occurred at the annual meeting by those in attendance. If there were both husband and wife present, there were two votes cast. Using the letter ballot, each "couple" is entitled to one vote. Not that I am questioning that, rather just stating facts.

Many of the issues that have been raised should have been raised prior to the decision to use a letter ballot. Since the request for ballots have been sent to the members, and I for one returned mine today, it is very late in the process to change where they are to be sent. It is also late in the process to suggest that someone other than Mike Larsen tally the votes.

Charlie

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Hello everyone. I apologize for any disappointments with our voting methods and process. I have a pretty serious medical condition (advanced atrial fibrillation of my heart) that takes away a lot of my ability to work very much. I tried to get Mike Larsen to do this ballot but he did not want to. He is not going to open any of the ballots with out one of the Oregon members present to observe and validate the count. Actually all of us US voters do have to sign up for a numbered ballot that would be ideal if we had enough volunteers to put a national system together and run it. You could have ballot box stuffing with out accountability. I do know for a fact that Mike Larsen is a very fair and hard working honest Christian fellow that would never share any information about a vote. That is out. Anyway I totally take any blame for anything that was not done to your expectations. Very sorry. I think the best thing now is to be nice to each other as we are all unpaid volunteers and really do work hard for our old car club. Faithfully Lance Haynes

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Well said Mr. President! I (being a recently new member) will be mailing my ballot in within the week just as requested. After all.... if you don't have faith in a Durantian, well... you just don't have faith !

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Here is the opportunity for all members to vote for the officers of our great club. The other way of taking a vote at an annual meeting will just not work.
As Jim said, we have to have faith in our club as a whole.
The logistics of having 3 chapters that are seperated by many miles has it's problems but lets somehow make that a PLUS!
Even if I am from the Pacific Northwest, I have many club contacts East of the Mississippi. (ops, did I spell it right?) Canada to!
Go Durants..and DeVaux's to. Sincerely! Gary

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Gary

yes you did spell EAST correctly!

charlie

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Hello All,
We too just recieved our Copy, and will send it out ASAP, It would have been nice to know more about the candidates, and all I can say is that I am lucky to know most of them, which is far more than I can say for other members. Hopefully people will vote.
I will call around and make sure that the eastern group is notified as to who I am voting for!!
We are a great group, and I do not want any hard feelings. I love this club, and now I have more time to spend enjoying it.
Lance I am sorry to hear of your health problems, and wish you nothing but all the best.

Where Are You From? users.adelphia.net/~catart/DurantHome.html

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

I agree that any voting system should be fair and impartial. I am also sure that the current executive members meant for this to occur and would urge all members to still submit their votes, preferably signed to avoid duplications, as if any of you would be so unfair. (Dont leave the running of the club to the same old faithfuls). Everyone should have a go at an executive position at some time in their life as new ideas issue from change as is evidenced with the current set up of our great club. Locally the club (CACMC) with which I am a member goes through the same kind of recruitment for new executive each September but somehow seems to survive and grow with new exec members each year. (Not all change but President and other key positions usually do).
Lance I wish you well and hope that medical attention can alleviate your symtoms so that you can enjoy many more years of being associated with the Durantonians.
If any other Australian members read this they may like to contact me re a gathering associated with the "Bay to Birdwood Rally" in September. I met some South Australian Owners in 2004 and will be attending with David Cornell from Albury this year.
Phone 02 62584608 or email donoghoe38@bigpond.com.au

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Hi All

Please remember to VOTE

You have the chance to make this Club better and stronger. But if you don't exercise your right to vote then you will not be heard.

This election could have been handled much better. There should have been a profile of each canidate included with the ballot. But you can still contact any of these people and find out where they stand on the important issues. VOTE for the direction you want this Club to take.

Do you think it was OK for our President to use the Club magazine to promote his hand picked canidates? Or was this an abuse of the power and a violation of the trust that you placed in him? There is no reason to accept this behavior, it's just an attempt to retain control,not some medical reason or being an unpaid volunteer.

Why and who put the ballot together and showed favoritism by adding qualifications and existing positions to certain canidates?

Who decided to break up the secratary/treasure position, and then gave no instructions for the voting on this issue.

Why must a ballot be signed? Why is there no deadline for the ballots to be sent in?

How is the voting being tabulated and by whom?

When will the results be made public?

If all this is acceptable to you then don't VOTE If you want this to change then please remember to vote. It's your CLUB.

If you want to contact me about any issue, my email and phone number are on the website and in the Partner

Together we can make this Club stronger and serve all the members.

THANK YOU.........Frank Witkowski

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

As Founder and First President of the DMAC, I feel this situation could have been avoided, but at times it is necessary to face things head on.

First the statement that the elections were all held at the Annual Meet. This is incorrect. In the August 2001 issue of the Durant Partner, there was a ballot listing the candidates for office and on the reverse side of that form was a short biography of each candidate. This was the only election where all the membership of the DMAC had a chance to vote by ballot. A Nominating Committee was formed and David Boone of Virginia was Chairman. Those serving on that committee were from Mass, Mich, Calif, Ontario, Canada and Virginia.

With perhaps over 50% of our members not owning or using a computer their only communication is via the Durant Partner. How can they honestly vote without knowing through a short biography about each candidate, or know them personally. I remember asking both Lance Haynes and Ralph Woodard to send in a short biography to David Boone for the then upcoming election. Officers should be elected on their own merit. Our communications with the membership should be such that no endorsement of a candidate is necessary. Hopefully we have learned from this entire situation and it will benefit our great organization.

Having served as President in many organizations, this is the first time I have ever had to sign a ballot. Guess I will now. I still oppose signing as I think who I vote for is my business. The ballots could have been numbered.....

We sometimes hate to give up what we really love and I feel that this is the case of our President. BOTH Lance and myself need to step aside and give up trying to control or influence the membership. New leaders mean fresh blood and new ideas. I think most of all we need to keep a level playing field We still have the greatest group of automotive enthusiast that I have seen in my 55 years in the hobby.....

BE SURE TO VOTE YOUR CHOICE.......



Yates Milton
Founder, DMAC

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Hello Everyone. I really am not in favor of us getting on our dearly beloved club forum and attacking other members but I now must reply to clear up some untruths here. OK Frank you accused me of hand picking candidates for our club when in fact I did not nominate Rick Botti or Bob Smith or Bill Hoaglan. I do know that Rick and Bob Smith volunteered to serve in those jobs and I don’t even know who nominated Bill Hoaglan as Mike Larsen received the nominations. I did nominate Mike Linthicum a fairly new member down in Florida and one of the movers in the new East Coast Chapter and has shown a lot of interest in our club. I have never even meant the guy but figured we should try and get some new blood in the club. I could not even get him to call me back to ask if he would accept the nomination. Matter of fact I called Mike last night and he was at Home Depot his wife said but now I get a E-mail that he is just to busy to call me back. I want to go over some of these ideas of his for his club constitution he has made up! So I wait. Concerning me stating I was going to vote for the two volunteers and Bill and my guy Mike there was no other members running at the time of my putting together my presidential letter and so all I was doing was stating I supported all these fellows that so graciously volunteered to serve our club. Sorry if that offended you. The votes will remain in there sealed envelopes and taken by our faithful secretary Mike Larsen down to a Oregon club member and opened and counted and kept confidential just before our next magazine printing so everyone will know who won and can plan on attending our next annual meeting this Sept. in Canada. I would hope if anyone has a question about anything I have done for our great Durant club they would E-mail or call me. I am always home and have call waiting on my phone line and answer all E-mails almost minutes after I get them. To me our club comes first before anything else. Please forgive for any disappointments I may have caused. I am only human and one old person and try the best I can. Faithfully. Lance Haynes

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Here! Here! Lance, You've done an outstanding job as Prez, better than anthing I could do...now if I can get this Durant motor to run on grass clippings everything will be cool.....Keith

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

While I am no longer a member of DMAC, I believe a lot of the problems and concens could have been avoided if the the set of By Laws I prepared for Yates two years ago had been adopted as written or modified. They spelled out the procedure for the nominations and election of officers. Nominees were selected by a nominating committee. It also provided for term limits. Adoption of By Laws should be the first order of business of a new administration.

Even though I am no longer an active DMAC member, I believe if the DMAC is going to be a creditable marque club it needs to encourage authentic restorations that will have some historical value.

Bob

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

I am sorry to see all the hullaballoo about the elections. We never had that problem in the first Durant club. I did everything and that was all. But of course...this DMAC is better by 10,000% than the club as it began....soooooo.....I have sent my vote in...signed and all....and I am glad to have this great club of which to be a part (remember the famous quote..."up with which we cannot put").... I recommend that everyone send their ballot in immediately...and after the election we can fix the system for the future.
Regards, Gary K

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

I agree with Bob Porter and I think we need his input as a part of our club again.

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

For all you members on the forum. This week there is a great set of Club documents a Constitution and a set of By-laws that have been sent to the Directors and Club Officers for their approval, that I wrote and a group of the California members including our Vice President Bert Babbick looked over, disected and re-worded. If the Board approves these documents then we will have the strong structure that will eliminate any future problems with running the club. We all agree that Lance has done a fine job in running the club. He stepped up when no one else really wanted it, and had moved it forward while trying to build the club better and bigger. But the communication between the club officers and directors have been limited and their imput not acted on and many have been alienated from the club because of various reasons. We need to keep the politics down and just fix the small problems that have been pointed out. It's not a he's better than you argument, just lets make the DMAC a better club. We now have the chance. Contact a Board Member or Officer and tell them you want the Constitution and By-Laws approved.

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Hello again. Well here we go again. I sure wish who ever these disgruntled people are they would contact me. I have run the most open friendly administration that is humanly possible. I copy all my Durant club members with a E-mail address into all my club communication to share with all. I have no secrets and am always open to any and all ideas and changes. I personally really am offended by these attacks especially considering they are untrue. As an example now I the sitting president and have never been consulted about one single word or idea in any of these new bylaws or this constitution by Mike or anyone else nor has many of the recipients of these documents. There is many things in these documents that many of us don’t like and believe they are not in the best interest of our club. For instance making our Mother of two children club magazine editor pay dues into our club! Also requiring any officer or board member to own and operated a computer to qualify. Actually could possibly be sued over this one.There is no mention anywhere that we must carry club insurance to protect us. We have had full coverage club insurance in force for many years now. The sitting president is excluded from running the board of directors meetings! Why? That is disrespectful and un-classy. The whole club voted over two years ago to change the term of office from two years to 3 years because we are so spread out all over the world. Mike just ignores the club action. Course he was not even a member then. Now states a quorum is now a simple majority in these documents! I have never been in any kind of club that excludes the total membership from taking part in a discussion and implementing club by-laws or a brand new never have had constitution. Why not due process? We need full representation. Not a small isolated group somewhere. Mike I ask again can you please call me? Lance Haynes

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Far away and many many miles from the US, as owner of a Durant product and a club member, all these noise about the new authorities election sound very odd for me.

I think that we should re-read Club pupose in Home page and see how much of all this noise is aligned with it.

Ricardo

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Yikes! I think we all need to stop for a few moments of silence. I think this whole thing is a giant mis-understanding. We all have different ideas on how to make an already great club better!! This should be a positive thing not a negative.
Our Past Officers have all done a great job expanding our club to the far reaches of the earth, the strength and size attest to it.
Lets get together and make the by laws agreeable to everyone, not just a few. It will be difficult to do, but a very important part of our future.
As far as the voting... it is already in motion. Send in your ballots, and lets forge ahead!!

Where Are You From? users.adelphia.net/~catart/DurantHome.html

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

The ballot!

Yates, I agree why is it necessary to sign a ballot? Until I read that on the forum, I was so quick to return my ballot that I forgot to sign it. Actually, I did not even see that it was necessary to sign the ballot.

I vote in for the officers in many of the organization to which I belong, I have never signed the ballot, but the ballot must be returned in a special envelope.

charlie

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

This sure is getting out of control.Yes we need by-laws but we don't need just one person writing them and then getting mad becouse we don't put them into play and then want to be president what would you do to and with the club if you where president makes one wonder.we should unite the club members not devide them and the Editor should not have to be a member after all the time Jacki puts into Editing the club paper we should think about giving here a free membership.these are just my thoughts.

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Mike
First of all I volunteered to do something no one else except Bob Porter had done. Bob wrote the By-laws when the club was re-formed. Not one member has chosen to have those By-laws adopted by the club so we have no By-laws to govern what and how the club is run. It can be run anyway one or several individuals want to run it. Secondly the set of By-laws that have been sent to the Board of Directors and the Officers were mailed to them in December via Email. Not one of them except Vice President Bert Babbick even chose to read them. No feedback, no suggestions, nothing. Vp Babbick and members from California took it upon themselves to at least read it and make suggestions. They then gave it to me to type since I have the Master disk, and at a cost of $18.00 out of my pocket I mailed these out to all the Officers and Directors. Yes I did write the majority of the first set, but they were changed and reviewed. I was only trying to help the club so we can get the non-profit status. I also chose to move forward and spearhead the incorporation status for the DMAC in December. Prior individuals had let the corporation lapse. To act without the corporation status would make the club Officers and Board of Directors liable for any action. Many members sit by and never get actively involved in their club, but want to jump in when they perceive a personal attack. I say if you don't know the real story, then don't say anything at all. The information that has been put on this forum are valid issues and I'm the only one that has had the gumption to say what I've heard from many many members. They do not like the way things are being run now, and only want to make the club better. The upcoming election will and I say will change that for sure. I have sent my vote in since I am a paying club member, and you can be sure I voted opposite of the President. If he suggested someone, I voted the opposite. I don't want the future of our club to be stacked and an extension of what we've had I want it even better. Yes I am just one person, but when someone sees something that is wrong, it's better to speak out then sit by and do nothing. Many of you that have spoken out in defense have sat on the sidelines and have not taken the time to find out what's going on, nor obviosly spoke with many of the old time founding members. Before you take a defensive posture, make some phone calls and find out like I did. I did not agree with how this election was handled and I wanted to post the idea so I could see how the other members felt about something that bothered me. I am a dues paying member and have the right to say what I want. And yes Lance your right I have not called you back nor will I. I don't want to hear your BS. I will not say anything more on this matter obviously my postings and thoughts are not welcome with this club.

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

Again I will post that this is hurting us rather than helping.
Let us put this awful discussion to bed. It is leading no where.
When members who infrequently browse this board, who do not know us face to face, read these goings on, they will post their opinion based only upon what they read here. Try not to let it bother you, or be enraged at their judgements. There is no question that Mike, Lance, Rick, Bert, and all the other officers, perspective candidates, and Board Members, have done their best for us. Otherwise we would not be where we are today. I know that most members will agree.
Lets keep a good thing going, improve it , but dont wreck it.
How about we remove this from the website, and let the voting continue?
Once the new regime is in force, speak out and forge ahead!! I plan to do so, and I hope rest of you will too. Good Communication is the key.

Where Are You From? www.enquip.com/Timeline.html

Re: Ballot forms and upcoming election.

I'm not saying things don't need changing but lets not act like little children about things I'm not ever calling you back baby games will not get anything done.I don't want to hold any office ever but the people I want in office have to be more grown up then what I see from some.just my thought.

 

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