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.