A message from APNA Vice President Liz Burden:

Dear Armory Parkers,

Apologies for the long post. If you are APNA member, please read the post in its entirety. (If you are not an APNA member but are interested in how we will be conducting the upcoming elections, please feel free to read.

Regards,

Liz Burden

Information About Upcoming Annual Meeting and Board Election

Forced by the pandemic, our neighborhood association is moving further into the realm of the internet.  Our annual meeting on November 9 will be on Zoom (agenda and link coming soon).  Since we do our board elections as part of the annual meeting, this year we will have to have a new way of voting.  In a nutshell, we will be voting using an online, secure, user-friendly program called Election Buddy that allows for anonymous voting with a record of the vote. 

By November 4, voting APNA members will receive an email with voting instructions, their unique voter ID and access key, and individualized voting link.  In summary, the election process will be as follows:

1. At the annual meeting, per our bylaws, the Elections Committee will present a slate of candidates for the four officers of the Board. 
2. Nominations from the floor will be called for and accepted. After a motion to close nominations is passed and floor nominations are added, the Election Buddy ballot will be opened, and voting will begin. 
3. Using the emailed link, members will be able to complete the ballot, review their selections, and then submit their vote. The submitted ballots are automatically counted, and an email is sent to notify that the vote was received. 
4. An email reminder will be sent to all eligible members notifying them that voting is underway.  with  the individualized link to the online ballot on Election Buddy. 
5. Voting members will have three days to vote. The election will close on Friday, November 12 at 11:59 pm.
6. Election results will be emailed directly from Election Buddy to voting members.  It will also be posted for the neighborhood on the APNA Google Group.

The system is designed so the site administrators will see grand totals of the vote and who voted. Each individual vote is anonymous;  the system does not allow the administrators to see the completed individual ballots,  and email address privacy is preserved throughout.  

Election Buddy also has provisions for those who do not have an email address or online access. For those voting members, a printed letter with voting instructions along with a paper ballot will be delivered to their address. 

All systems have potential glitches,  so if you have any problems, please contact Ken Taylor at tech@armoryparktucson.org.  In particular, if you as an eligible voter do not receive your email notice about the election from Election Buddy by November 4, please email tech@armoryparktucson.org so we can straighten it out and get you the ballot to which you are entitled.

A key issue:  If you have signed up for membership as a couple with only one email address, we will need a separate email address for each person. The program’s protection against individuals voting more than once is that each email is restricted to one ballot.  We can’t change that.  So we need to have one email address for each voter.

This process differs from how we have done elections in the past. It was developed to reflect our continuing use of virtual meetings to safeguard everyones’ health. In some ways, it is an improvement of the election process:  Rather than only those present at the meeting being able to vote, all voting members will have  a chance to participate in the vote. As noted above, in the tradition of all well run elections, it is a secret ballot. 
To restate:  Online ballots will open on November 9 after nominations close. Voting members will have three days to vote. The election will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, November 12. The results will then be announced to members via email from Election Buddy and on the APNA Google Group.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Burden, Vice President and Ken Taylor, APNA Technical Support
The Elections Technical Committee

Hi Armory Parkers! It is time to step up and take a leadership role in your Armory Park Neighborhood Association. We will be holding elections for 2022-23 directors (members) of the Board on Tuesday, November 9th as part of the APNA Annual Meeting. Residents of the neighborhood and property owners are eligible to serve on the Board.

The basic commitment is for 1.5 hours once a month to attend the APNA Board meeting, (currently on Zoom). The meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. We are looking for people who love this neighborhood and have fresh ideas for improving and maintaining our neighborhood. The term of office is 2 years. We are establishing a culture where one can be part of the leadership for their 2 year term and feel okay to let someone else take a turn. It is a great way to share ideas and work on projects.

Two of the six positions open to election on the board are to fill out the final year of directors who had to resign. This gives an ideal way to test the waters for new candidates. The commitment would be for one year, not two. If you like it you would then run again in November ’22 for a full two year term. If not, you will have contributed one year of service (12 meetings) to your neighborhood.

Please let David Bachman-Williams know if you are willing to be a director on the board at president@armoryparktucson.org.

A message from APNA President David Bachmann-Williams:

Our annual elections for the board of directors are next month and we’re looking for four people who are willing to help keep the neighborhood a great place to live.  Plan on allowing about two hours for the monthly meetings, plus whatever additional time you’re willing to spend on areas of interest to you.  Officer positions do require more of a commitment.  There’s always a need for help with special projects such as helping neighbors maintain a safe walkway, occasional neighborhood clean-ups, and, when life returns to whatever the new normal will be, planning social events which draw neighbors together.  
Please let me know if you are interested, or if you would like more information by emailing me at davidbedub@gmail.com.