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Website

http://www.davisfood.coop/election.html

Election page is up to date through 6/13/2011

This wiki page will be updated as long as anyone edits it!

The Davis Food Co-op election began April 14, with delivery of Election Materials to mailboxes of some Davis members, and ended on June 10. Lots of information is already available at the Co-op's page about elections. Friday, June 10, 2011 was the last day to vote (see note below about why the last day to vote has changed). In addition to voting for Directors, shareholders in good standing are voting on Proposition 1, Initiatives, as placed on the ballot at the March 11, 2011 Special Board of Directors meeting.

Final Election Results, as of 6/12/11 (will Valid ballots arrived by five days after the election?) We counted 971 ballots, from 8,890 eligible voters: 10.92% turnout

Elected to three-year terms as Directors: Janie Booth, 760 votes Stacie Frerichs, 727 votes Ben Pearl, 572 votes

Elected to one-year terms as Alternate Directors: Franklin D. Fox 1st Alt., 392 votes Travis Breckon 2nd Alt., 41 votes

Not elected: Sarah J Palmer, 32 votes

Prop. 1, Initiatives passes: Yes, 805 votes 92.2% No, 68 votes 7.8%

The Election Materials were taken to the Davis Post Office on April 13, considerably in advance of the scheduled April 21 mailing date (thanks to good work by The Printer and Capital Mailing Services in Sacramento). Below is the 2011 Election Calendar (also available at the Co-op web site):

Election Event

2011 date

Bylaws specify…

Member Initiative Deadline

Tuesday, March 8

45 days before mailing date of an already scheduled regular election ballot

Voters’ Pamphlet Deadline

Friday, April 1 @ 9:55 PM

20 days before mailing date

Voter’s Pamphlet Mailing Date & Notice of Annual Meeting

Thursday, April 21

Between 21 and 90 days before Annual Meeting

Election begins

Monday, April 25

When ballots are received in mail by shareholders

Annual Membership Meeting

Sunday May 22

As called by the Board

Last Day of Election

Friday, June 10

30 days after mailing date or later (as specified by Board)

Ballots counted

Sunday, June 12 after 1:30 PM

(Saturday mail delivery only after 6/10 postmark deadline)

Results available

Wednesday, June 15

5 days after close of election (Prelim. results posted here on or before 6/2)

Results accepted by outgoing Board

Monday, June 20, 6:30PM

Special Meeting, Co-op Teaching Kitchen, 537 G St.

Last day to vote has been extended until June 10, 2011

The Davis Food Co-op in downtown Davis, has announced that the deadline for voting in the annual election has been extended until June 10, 2011.

General Manager Eric Stromberg announced the extension, saying it was authorized by a unanimous resolution of the Co-op Board of Directors, in response to a typographical error in the materials sent to shareholders in good standing. The error is in line 15 of Section B of the proposed amendment to the Co-op's Bylaws that is being voted on as Proposition 1.

The Pamphlet reads in part, "...by special election within six 12 months..." The correct language should read, "...by special election within 12 months."

Making the announcement of the extension, Stromberg said, "the error is a result of having many drafts before the language became final, and we regret that we didn't catch it. In case anyone became confused by the error," he continued, "we want to make sure members understand that they can change their vote, and they have two more weeks to do so."

If the correction causes a shareholder to reconsider their vote, Stromberg said they may cast a replacement ballot by filling out a new ballot, writing the date on the ballot envelope, and noting on the envelope that it supersedes the previous vote. Ballots and complete voting instructions are available online, and in the store (at the Ballot Box). Ballots for the Co-op election must be now be received by close of business – 10 PM – or postmarked on or before June 10, 2011.

Declared Candidates for Director

Shareholders in good standing on 6/10/11 may vote for up to three candidates. There are three three-year terms open on the Board of Directors. In addition, two Alternate Directors will be seated for one year, to vote if a Director is absent. The Candidates with the three highest vote totals will fill the three-year terms, and the fourth and fifth will fill terms as First and Second Alternate. As of 4/12/11, six Co-op members have declared their Candidacy; see below for details on how to declare candidacy.

On 4/2/11, three Co-op employees conducted a random drawing (with a hat!) to place the Candidates in a random order on the Spring Election ballot. Write-in candidates are added at the bottom of the ballot as they declare candidacy.

Janie Booth

Janie Booth [email protected] 760 votes, 3 year term as Director

Stacie Frerichs

Stacie Frerichs [email protected] 727 votes, 3 year term as Director

Franklin D. Fox

Franklin D. Fox [email protected] 392 votes, 1 year term as First Alternate Director

Ben Pearl

Ben Pearl [email protected] 572 votes, 3 year term as Director

Travis Breckon

(write-in) [email protected] 41 votes, 1 year term as Second Alternate Director

Sarah J. Palmer

(write-in) Sarah Palmer [email protected] 32 votes

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See below for information about becoming a write-in candidate.

Running for the Board

You must be a Co-op shareholder in good standing to serve on the Board. If you're a member of a shareholder's household now, but don't own shares, you can run. If you're elected, you must purchase your own shares in order to serve.

For more information on eligibility, or on becoming a write-in candidate, please read the Candidate's Packet (a PDF file), "Yes, I want to be a Candidate..." (a PDF file). You will need to fill out a Declaration of Candidacy form (a PDF file) to run. Candidates can declare up to the last day of the election, June 10.

Voter's Pamphlet

The Voter's Pamphlet deadline was 4/1/11; it is available (as a PDF file), although all the information in it is available on the Co-op web site when you follow all the links. You will find extensive voting information in it on pages 1 and 2 (although there's more to read if you want it). You'll also find information about the Ballot Proposition and the statements of the Candidates.

Democratic Engagement

Sometimes members wonder about how a DFC election is run. There's a lot of information available on line (as indicated by all the above links), but many of the "nuts and bolts" are described in the Election Policy adopted by the Co-op Board in March 2008, and revised a little in October 2010. Most of the text of the Policy is quite a bit older, dating in many parts to the 1980s.

Endorsements have been a feature of many past Co-op elections. At least one shareholder has posted her preferences on the Election display in the Co-op for the past nine years, although an anonymous correspondent thought this was a "possible irregularity". Reading the Election Policy, you will see references to providing space for endorsements in Sections 2.1, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7.

Several candidates for Director used the 2010 page to post information for voters. The wiki was heavily used in the 2008 and 2009 elections as a public forum by the candidates and general public. The Co-op Election "Central" page links to this page, so this can be used the same way this year. You are encouraged to submit questions below, and perhaps candidates will respond. Please contact the elections committee through the Co-op Election "Central" page if you need help editing or posting to this page.

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2011-04-16 09:58:08   Not wanting to start controversy... genuinely seeking information... is the Palestine/Israel debate a factor in this year's election? —CovertProfessor

• There is no explicit mention of it in any published statement by any of the six candidates. You're free to attend the Annual Meeting on 5/22 (although tickets are required for dinner), and you could ask them about their feelings. Or they may edit their entries here on this wiki page. Two Directors (J. Booth and S. Frerichs) who are running for re-election both were part of the unanimous decisions in February and March 2010 to keep a boycott initiative off the ballot (the third incumbent, F. Fox, is an Alternate Director, and wasn't on the Board until July 2010, but his past position was also pretty clearly against a boycott). —DougWalter
• Thank you — that's helpful, and I'll continue to listen to see how things develop. —CovertProfessor

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2011-06-13 09:39:25   Now that the election is done (except for the 6/20 Board meeting where results are accepted), I have magically regained opinions (this is an attempt at humor). In the store, on the Election bulletin board, someone wrote a comment saying Proposition 1 seemed to have something to do with the 2010 Palestine/Israel debate (referenced at Davis Food Co-op/Boycott, Divestment, And Sanctions) — but they couldn't tell "which side" it was from.

The Proposition was fashioned by a lawyer working at the direction of the Board; my observation is that they were hoping for a proposal that wasn't "for" either "side," but "for" the Co-op. I believe they hope this proposal will make future debates more structured by Bylaws, and so subject future initiative proposals to more structure, both technical (dates, procedures for submitting signatures) and "strategic." Time will tell, but I think all that language will provide more framework for the exercise of discretion and judgement by future Directors. That's in contrast to Spring 2010, where (IMO) they were bound, guided, and inspired only by the twin concepts of "legal and proper" — which leaves a lot of discretion and judgement to exercise! —DougWalter