Hi, Jerry. Due to unforeseen problems with getting the magazine out earlier, the time period to vote will be a bit shorter than normal. As such, those who have already made up their minds and are voting for their friends or voting "against an enemy" can just go ahead and get it over with. It will ease the burden on Doug Smith to get ballots sooner rather than all at once right before a deadline. In addition, we are trying to make an effort to get more people to vote in general. Offering an easy, clickable, online voting method (google form) is coming, but for now, just giving everyone a ballot that's already known, static, and just waiting to be printed and shipped in a magazine that they HOPEFULLY unwrap in time to vote seems expeditious.

The meet & greet is an opportunity for the members to hear first-hand what the candidates views and intentions are. Some may just repeat what's on their candidate statement. Others may include more ideas they thought about since publishing their statement. Some may not even show up. Who knows? The only way to know is to attend the meet & greet, and if they do, a candidate may very well change their mind on who they vote for, so yes, I agree that it would be prudent to wait to vote for many.

I don't know what the election rules say on this (Doug can chime in if he wants), but I don't see why a member couldn't write to Doug with a revised ballot, letting him know to invalidate the earlier one. There would have to be some validation, which would add a burden to Doug so PLEASE TRY TO REFRAIN FROM EVEN ASKING HIM TO DO IT. Vote once, and only once you're informed enough to make your decision.

Hope to see you (and everyone) there. I've said this before and I'll say it again. It's a very positive sign (to me) to see so many people vying for the limited number of positions available and I hope this trend continues.

-- barry