AU Election Update November 22, 2022

AU Election Update - Tuesday, November 22, 2022

AU Membership,

Our target date for starting the rerun of the 2022 election was originally December 1, although I noted in my last update that the date could slip as we work out logistical issues. Indeed, we have had a surprise logistical issue come up, which is that the election services company we planned to use first said that it could run an all-mail ballot election, and then backtracked and said it only did all-internet or hybrid elections. Internet and hybrid elections are much cheaper-many companies only do them-but in my prior discussions with AU members the general sentiment was to run an all-mail ballot election and not to use the internet.

We lost some time, but have identified another election services company that will do an all-mail ballot and are reviewing its proposal. To make sure that everyone is comfortable with the election process to the maximum extent possible, I plan to hold a call with those members who challenged the original election as soon as that can be set. Then we will be ready to move forward.

It is quite complicated to run an election with standard security measures in place, but we are getting there and I still anticipate the ballots going out in December, and that members will have 45 days to respond.

Thank you for your patience as we work very hard to get this right.

Greg Smith