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In an effort to internationalise the game, a group of nutcases periodically revise the allowed vocabulary. Scrabble vocabulary developed into a bizarre jargon claimed to cover words from other languages. If you only play with friends, use any dictionary without the word "Scrabble" on its cover. This blog is primarily concerned with competitive Scrabble and the incompetence of some of its custodians..

Friday, May 29, 2015

A GLIMPSE OF ASPA ( VIC) 2014 AGM ELECTIONS

In video clip 1 below, you can hear the chairperson announcing the number of people involved in the elections of committee members as follows:

66 players

  5 non-players

18 proxies

 Video Clip 1

This makes a total of 89, which is the maximum number of possible voters. Players are members attending the main function of the day, which is a tournament named “The AGM Tournament”. The AGM of this organisation has traditionally been a few-minute affair intentionally squeezed as a quicky between two tournament games, where members usually rubber stamped, with a quick show of hands, all what would had been offered for them to accept. No business was allowed to arise on the day, and discussion was curtailed or gagged.

Non-players came specifically for the AGM. They did not take part in the free tournament.

As to proxies, I am not aware of any system that could have made them foolproof, out of the hands of vested interest.

Video Clip 2 

Video Clip 2 shows, among other things, a reluctance to declare the numbers of the secret-ballot vote for president. But under pressure those numbers were declared as:

79 for first candidate
  9 votes for second candidate
  2 abstentions

This makes a total of 90 voters, which is one voter more than the ultimate possible maximum. Forget about members who could have wandered off the scene. Just assume that EVERYBODY cast a vote. We still have a discrepancy of one extra vote. It might be a trivial number, but it is symbolic of a shabby affair.

Some might argue that I was one of the scrutineers. This is true, but my role was to count pieces of paper. I had no idea about how they were collected, or the remote possibility of tampering with them before they reached me.


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