Revision as of 17:59, 31 May 2015

In 2015, NASPA will hold an election to replace three members of its Advisory Board (AB). For additional details about serving on the Advisory Board, see the official election announcement

Electoral Districts

This year’s election will elect members in:

• US West: AZ, CO, NM, ID, UT, WY, CA, WA, OR, MT, AK, HI, NV
• US South: OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, TN, AL, FL, GA, WV, NC, SC, VA
• At-Large: Any NASPA member in good standing

Nominations

An electoral candidate must meet all of the following criteria:

• They must be a NASPA member in good standing.
• They must accept the nomination during the nomination period.
• They must be at least 21 years of age.
• They must be prepared to comply with the obligations of NASPA committee members.
• They must submit a brief statement describing their qualifications, background, platform, and any other information that might be of use to voters, for posting to this webpage.

They do not need to be a certified director, have a high tournament rating or serve on another committee, but neither do these qualifications exclude them. Incumbent members may stand for reelection.

“Good Standing”

For the purposes of this election, a NASPA member is considered to be in good standing if

• their membership has been valid since the beginning of the 2013 National SCRABBLE Championship;
• their membership will be valid at least through the end of the 2015 National SCRABBLE Championship; and
• they have not been under suspension at any time since the beginning of the 2013 National SCRABBLE Championship

Nominees

US West

• Leah Kruley has been playing competitive Scrabble since 2008 and was certified as a director in 2010. She is co-director of Redwood Coast Scrabble Club in Arcata, California and has been involved in organizing and directing several one- and two-day tournaments. She sees the most urgent issues needing to be resolved as 1) increasing participation in clubs and tournaments and 2) devising a system for future word list updates which will keep maximum control of the end product in NASPA's hands.

• Sandy Nang became interested in Scrabble in 2002 when she realized the Nationals were going to be in San Diego, only a 3-hour drive away from her home in West Los Angeles. She got her qualification rating from Club #195 run by Bruce D’Ambrosia and honed her amateur skills at Club #350 run by Gary Moss. Drawn first to Scrabble because of the different playing venues and love of travel, she has since expanded her horizons when she started to play Collins in international tournaments in Malaysia, England, Czech Republic, Thailand, and Malta. Sandy is a NASPA tournament director who is apprenticing under David Whitley and Mark Milan and has run a few Collins tournaments out of her Malibu home. She is interested in serving on the Advisory Board to understand the workings of NASPA better and to contribute by helping to grow the organization and represent its players.

US South

• Matt Bernardina has been an active player for 5 years, with a long history in other word games before coming to Scrabble. He feels he'd be an asset to the AB as his problem-solving style is to build consensus towards progress, and he’s a patient listener. As he came to tournament Scrabble long after the Word Freak boom, he will provide a fresh set of eyes and ears to the AB.

• Mina Le is a 33-year-old surgeon in West Palm Beach, Florida. She has played NASPA tournaments in 12 different states; started Facebook pages for the Minneapolis and NYC Scrabble communities; and co-organized and co-directed the inaugural Virtuals tournament for 80 players from 6 continents on ISC. As an Advisory Board member she would address the underrepresentation of women, and particularly young women, in organized Scrabble. Given that Florida has overtaken New York as the third most populous state, the relative Scrabble drought in Florida and more generally throughout the South will also be her concern. She would heartily advocate for players of the Collins lexicon, and finally, she would work toward creating avenues to play sanctioned Scrabble online.

• Mike Willis has been actively involved in organized SCRABBLE since 1980. He has seen and talked to players all across the country, and have seen many ups and downs and turns in the road. Until April 1, he was a member of the DuPont Company Center of Excellence, during which time they handled many issues to advance the well being of the organization, and being actively involved in conference calls to do so was certainly a given. Mike may not always aligned with everything the Executive Committee has done, but nor is he often opposed. He does hear folks’ concerns, and hopes, and feel that he can certainly articulate those well. Now that he is retired from my work, he feels he can do a good job of supporting the advancement of SCRABBLE through efforts such as being on the AB.

At Large

• Scott Appel
• Paul Avrin
• Iliana Filby
• Mike Gincel
• Cheryl Melvin
• Puneet Sharma
• Betsey Wood

Voting

Voting will take place from June 1 – June 30 inclusive, Eastern time. Votes will be accepted by paper or electronically. Each voter is entitled to vote for one candidate.

Paper votes may be sent to NASPA by postal mail, and must arrive during the voting period to be accepted. Paper votes are not anonymous, and must identify the voter and their vote.

Electronic votes should be made through the Member Services link at the NASPA website. Electronic votes will be anonymous, except inasmuch as a skilled person with access to the NASPA server could eventually reconstruct voting information.

The winner of each election will be determined by plurality. If an election ends in a tie, a lottery or coin toss will be used to break the tie.

Any disputes about the elections process will be decided by the AB, excluding those members running for reelection.