Election Frequently Asked Questions

All members of the OTW Board of Directors are elected by the paying members of the OTW in annual elections. Since the term of service is three years, 1/3 of the board’s seats are up for election in any given year.

Collectively, the Board:

• Carries out strategic planning and decision-making.
• Maintains long-term focus for the organization.
• Monitors progress toward strategic goals.
• Ensures organizational legal compliance.
• Takes responsibility for organizational actions.
• Has legal responsibility for the organization and its finances with the IRS.
• Signs contracts, disburses funds, and transacts business of various kinds. Does strategic planning and decision-making in areas which include OTW’s mission, annual budget, projects, and priorities.

Individual Board members:

• Attend weekly chat-based meetings.
• Keep up to speed with relevant organizational communications and reports.
• Act in good faith, in the best interests of OTW, as detailed in our Conflicts of Interest policy statement.

Most Board members also chair an OTW Committee, or are liaison to one or more Committees. Members of the Board often spend 20 or more hours per week on work for the organization, and a Board role can easily amount to the equivalent of a part-time job.

A candidate must:

• Be a paid member of OTW by eight weeks before the election.
• Be at least 18 years old at the time of the election.
• Be a current member serving as staff on a standing committee and have served for a full term. A current staffer who has been on hiatus for some part of that year's term will still be considered eligible if they also served on a committee during a previous term.
• Provide a brief candidacy statement.
• Run under their legal name.

For more details, please see the elections policies.

Being an OTW Board member is a serious position of stewardship. The requirement of one term's service was written very early on into our bylaws, and it is intended to produce a pool of candidates with a demonstrated commitment to the organization and its values.

Board members must serve under their legal names due to IRS regulations for incorporated nonprofit organizations. Moreover, members of the board sign contracts, disburse funds, make binding commitments, correspond with outside individuals and agencies, and transact business of various kinds. We have to have legal identities in order to do the work of the OTW.

No. We will never connect your real name and fannish identity unless you specifically choose to do so yourself. Moreover, we can help candidates protect their fannish names by helping them to craft bios that explain the qualities they bring to the board without drawing a direct line to their fan names or their work on any particular committee.

No. The elected Board members will choose officers and assign responsibilities among their own numbers.

Send your declaration to the Elections chair. Please include a statement that you are over 18, the committee(s) on which you served a total of at least one term, and your legal name. If you have been serving on that committee under a pseudonym, the chair of Elections will confirm with the chair of Volunteers that you did serve a term with that committee, and will confirm with the chair of Financial that you are a paid member. The chairs will hold your pseudonym in confidence.

If there is only one candidate per open seat by the eight weeks’ deadline, the deadline will be extended by two weeks. If by the six week deadline, the number of declared candidates is still exactly equal to the number of open seats, then no election will be held: the declared candidates will fill the open Board seats.

If there are fewer declared candidates than open seats by the eight weeks’ deadline, the deadline for declaring a candidacy will be extended by two weeks. If a seat still has no candidates six weeks before the election, the Board may appoint members (even if they have less than a year’s committee service) for seats that cannot be filled in any other way. As with an uncontested election, no election will be held in these circumstances.

Yes! However, in order to vote, they must be verified paying members of the OTW a minimum of a month before the election.

Candidates are required to provide a brief public statement summarizing their philosophy, their goals for the organization, and their view on future directions for the organization, among other topics if desired.

Candidates are also encouraged to participate in a public chat at a mutually agreed time. If the candidates are unable to agree upon a time, the Elections Committee will declare one, considering the preferences of all involved parties.

Candidates’ official statements will be posted by Elections on the organization’s website, crossposted to all other sites currently in use by the OTW. Those statements can include links to their own website or community. A chat forum will also be provided for a public chat between candidates and voters.

Yes, whether you win or lose. There are no term limits for Board members.

A screenshot of a sample ballot, and instructions for use, can be found here.

Eligible voters—all paid members in good standing—will be sent instructions, including login details for an individual anonymous voting account, to the e-mail addresses they used to join the organization. Voting account names have no direct association with any identifying information, keeping all votes anonymous.

Votes will be counted using a version of Instant Runoff Voting modified for multi-winner elections. For a full explanation, please see the voting process information page.

Full results will be posted after the polls close: barring unforeseen difficulties, we will announce results no later than three days after the end of balloting. In the case of a delay, Elections will post status updates on the cause and the timeline for resolution.

Live e-mail support will be provided throughout the voting period. If you have any difficulties, let the Elections support team know before the polls close by sending us a message.

Voting by proxy is a way to designate someone else to cast your vote in an election. OTW is required to allow proxy-voting by Delaware law, which specifies: “A stockholder may authorize another person or persons to act for such stockholder as proxy by transmitting or authorizing the transmission of [an] electronic transmission to the person who will be the holder of the proxy.” In corporate elections, a proxy is usually used when a voting member/shareholder can’t attend a meeting in person. Extended, electronic ballots such as those used by the OTW should make proxy voting unnecessary in most cases.

With extended, electronic voting, many of the usual reasons for voting by proxy do not apply. However, the 48-hour voting period may fall during a time when a voting member may not have internet access, or may have other commitments.

Proxies are assigned by e-mail. Your e-mailed proxy request must:

• Originate from the e-mail account you’ve used previously with OTW.
• Be addressed to both elections-chair@transformativeworks.org and your proxy.
• Include your legal name.
• Include a declaration that you wish to assign your proxy to the e-mailed recipient.
• Your proxy must reply to this e-mail, acknowledging receipt, and include their legal name in the reply. This reply must be received by elections-chair@transformativeworks.org at least two weeks before the election.

In general, a proxy can have any conditions a person wants, but only as a contract between the member and her proxy. OTW is not responsible for enforcing any conditions.

No. Elections can verify that we have successfully reassigned your vote, but we cannot verify whether or not your proxy used the vote, or show which candidates she voted for.

You may assign a proxy at any point up to two weeks before a given election; the official deadline for proxy assignment will be included on the election timeline. Your proxy assignment will last for six months. Until those six months are up, we cannot revoke or change your proxy assignment.

Voting usernames and passwords for an upcoming election will be e-mailed about one week prior to the election. If you have been assigned a proxy vote, you will be e-mailed that username in addition to your own username (if applicable), and you may vote each login, one at a time.

No. Proxy votes may not be reassigned.

Approximately ten weeks before the election a public chat will be held to give interested OTW committee members an opportunity to ask questions of the Elections Committee and the current OTW Board. This chat will be announced in advance, and a transcript of the chat will then be made publicly available online.

Please contact the Elections Committee chair with your question and we'll be happy to answer it.