Please read both sides of this ballot before voting and send the entire sheet as your vote.
The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in the 1950s for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular fans familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time, TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. It exists solely through the support of fandom. Interested fans all over the world vote on the candidates, each vote being accompanied by a small minimum donation. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible.
Who may vote? Voting in the 2013 race is open to anyone active in fandom before April 2011 who donates at least £2.00 (GBP) or $3.00 (USD) to TAFF (larger donations are gratefully accepted). Voting is by secret ballot: only one vote is counted per person, and you must give your name to the administrators. You may change your vote at any time prior to the deadline. Votes in this race must reach the administrators by 23:59 on Friday 19th April 2013 (British Summer Time aka UTC+1).
Donations: TAFF gratefully accepts your freely given money, material for auction and other relevant donations; such generosity has sustained the Fund for more than 50 years. TAFF is fandom's longest-running travel fund, and one of its worthiest causes – give early and often! Please contact your nearest administrator for details.
Candidates: Each candidate has posted a bond of £15, promising – barring unforeseen circumstances – to travel, if elected, to the 2013 Worldcon in San Antonio, Texas, USA (LoneStarCon 3, 29th August to 2nd September, 2013). Each candidate has three nominators on their side of the Atlantic and two on the other, each of whom has personally contacted the administrators with their nomination. Each candidate has also provided a platform of up to 101 words (published overleaf). Anyone active in SF fandom can run for TAFF as long as they fulfil these criteria for the relevant race; contact your administrator about future races!
Voting
System: TAFF uses a preference voting system similar to the system used in voting for the Hugo Awards, for instance. Voters should rank candidates in order of preference (where a rank of 1 is the voter's first preference); where relevant, this allows for the lowest-ranked candidates to be eliminated from the race and those votes redistributed according to the next ranking until one candidate has a clear majority. However, a candidate must receive at least 20% of the #1 rank votes on both sides of the Atlantic to win. Any candidate failing to receive this minimum percentage on either side will be dropped, and the second-place votes on their ballots counted as first-place votes in the next ballot count. Votes will be counted according to a voter's contact address, not where they send their ballot. Votes from fans not resident in either Europe or North America will not count towards either side of the Atlantic for the purpose of this rule.
"Hold Over Funds": This choice, like "No Award" in Hugo balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no TAFF trip this year, should you feel none of the candidates deserve your support. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position, and is exempt from the 20% requirement: if it receives a majority of the votes on the final ballot, no trip will be held this year.
"No Preference": For voters who prefer not to choose between candidates, but don't want the trip held over.
How to Vote: Either send a copy of this form with a cheque, or pay via PayPal. The minimum donation to vote is $3 (USD) or £2 (GBP). Cheques should be made payable to "Jacqueline Monahan" (for checks in USD) or to "TAFF" (for cheques in GBP). PayPal donations should be made to the email addresses below, indicating your contact details and your ranked voting preferences in the comments' section. If you do not fill in the comments section, your vote may not be counted!
Send your signed and completed ballot form and donation to:
Europe
John Coxon (cheques payable to "TAFF")
14 Chapel Lane, Werrington, Peterborough, PE4 6RS, UK
john.coxon [at] gmail.com (for PayPal donations)North America
Jacq Monahan (cheques payable to "Jacqueline Monahan")
2991 El Cajon St, Las Vegas, NV 89169, USA
jaxn8r [at] msn.com (for PayPal donations)
For more information on the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, visit our official unofficial website, http://www.taff.org.uk/
For news, follow on Twitter, @TAFFnews; at http://facebook.com/TAFFnews; or at http://TAFFnews.livejournal.com/
2013 TAFF Ballot
Candidates
Please read both sides of this ballot before voting and send the entire sheet as your vote.
Theresa Derwin:
"Derwin: The Natural Selection.
"Theresa Derwin is standing for TAFF! A regular convention attendee and panel moderator/member, Theresa has been active in fandom since her teen years. She produces fanzine Andromeda's Offspring, which promotes the genre work of female authors. She has also previously written for Critical Wave and writes book reviews on her blog, www.terror-tree.co.uk, whilst writing lots of fiction in a variety of anthologies and in her first book Monsters Anonymous. Theresa wants to attend LoneStarCon3 as a positive ambassador for European/British fandom and female fans and writers in particular. She brings enthusiasm, knowledge and humour to the race!"
Nominated by Anders Bellis, Christopher J. Garcia, Steve Green, John Meaney, and Yvonne Penney
Jim Mowatt:
"Jim Mowatt came of age in the fiery fannishness of Leeds and burst upon the scene as Jim Trash at the Sou'wester Eastercon in 1994. Few noticed. He retreated into the shadows like a bewildered ninja. Since then he has made a number of friends, produced fanzines (e.g. Pips and Beam) and decided that fandom is a wonderful place to be(eblebear). He has produced a prodigious number of podcasts, and has a great face for radio. Jim followed a woman to Cambridge in 2002. She didn't call the police so he moved in. San Antonio needs to know why."
Nominated by Randy Byers, Fran Dowd, Rob Hansen, Curt Phillips and Mark Plummer
Please rank candidates with 1, 2, 3 etc. where 1 is your first preference:
[ ] Theresa Derwin [ ] Jim Mowatt [ ] Hold Over Funds [ ] No Preference Name:
Address:
Email/phone:
TAFF may contact you regarding your ballot or to send out newsletters. We do not publish your data or pass it to any other organisation.
Enclosed is as my contribution to TAFF – minimum $3 (USD) or £2 (GBP)
If you think your name may not be known to the administrators, please provide the name and contact details of an active fan (not a fan group, a candidate, or one of their nominators) who is known to the administrators and who can vouch for you being an active fan, eligible to vote.
Active fan known to an administrator:
Signature:
Reproduction of this form is encouraged. It is the official voting vehicle and must be reproduced verbatim.
Anyone reproducing this form should substitute their name here: John Coxon