1985 TAFF Ballot

What is TAFF? The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular fans across the Atlantic. Since that time, TAFF has regularly sent North American fans to European conventions and brought European fans to North America. TAFF exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted for by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than 50p or $1.00. These votes, and the continued interest and generosity of fandom, are what makes TAFF possible.

Who may vote? Voting is open to anyone who was active in fandom (clubs, fanzines, conventions, etc) prior to April 1983, and who contributes at least $1.00 or 50p to the Fund. Contributions in excess of the minimum will be gratefully accepted. Only one vote per person is allowed -- no proxy votes -- and you must sign your ballot. Details of voting will be kept secret. 'Write-in' candidates are permitted. Postal orders, money orders, and cheques should be made payable to the appropriate administrator, not to TAFF.

Deadline Votes must reach the administrators by 31 December, 1984.

Voting details: TAFF uses the Australian ballot system, which guarantees an automatic run-off and a majority win. You rank the candidates in the exact order you wish to vote. If the leading first-place candidate does not get a majority, the first-place votes of the lowest ranking candidate are dropped, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted. This process goes on until one candidate has a majority. It is therefore important to vote for second and third place and onwards on your ballot. It is also a waste of time to put any name in more than one place.

Hold Over Funds: This choice, similar to 'No Award' in Hugo balloting, gives the voter the chance to vote for no TAFF trip should the candidates not appeal to her/him, or if she/he feels that TAFF should slow down its trip frequency. 'Hold Over Funds' may be voted for in any position you wish.

Donations: TAFF needs continuous donations of money, and material to be auctioned, in order to exist. If you are ineligible to vote, or do not feel qualified to vote, why not donate anyway? Just as important as donations is publicity -- in fanzines, letters, convention booklets, and by word of mouth -- to increase voter participation.

Candidates: Each candidate has promised -- barring acts of God -- to travel to the 1985 Eastercon in Leeds if elected, and has posted bond and provided signed nominations and a platform, which are reproduced overleaf along with the ballot.

Send ballots and contributions to:

North American Administrator

European Administrator

Avedon Carol
4409 Woodfield Road
Kensington, MD 20895
USA

Rob Hansen
9a Greenleaf Road
East Ham
London E6 1DX
UK

Reproductions of this form are encouraged provided the text is reproduced verbatim. Anyone reproducing it should substitute their own name(s) below.

[HTML conversion by Dave Langford]

side 2:

1983-84 TAFF BALLOT

Rich Coad

Having realised that 9pm the day after a convention seems, some-haw, to be much later than 3am did the previous three nights Rich Coad wants to be able to attend a convention where. six turns out to be nine, eleven gets you seven, and his time sense is as confused as this sentence. Long associated with the highly respected disreputable element of British fandom Coad, worried by creeping respectability, hopes to once again observe the proper way to piss on shoes, vomit, and annoy John Brunner. All this, he says, will be duly reported so that American fans too can learn to be cool, Furthermore, Coad promises to treat all British fans with the same respect D.West gives Americans, eat more beans than Rob Hansen, get drunker than Greg Pickersgill and generally be a blot on the landscape for as long as possible.

NOMINATED BY: Leroy Kettle, Chris Atkinson, Ted White, Terry Carr, and Allyn Cadogan.

Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Given our history of producing fanzines like Telos, Zed, & Izzard under trying and peripatetic circumstances (our motto: "At least we'll get an article out of this....") TAFF holds no terrors, we've been in training for it for years. If elected, we promise to sit up all night talking, sleep on floors, take part in whatever peculiar behaviours that UK fans wish to present as normal, and report it all as sober gospel truth -- in print within the year or your money back. We also promise to neither marry nor inveigle away unattached members of British fandom. Amen.

NOMINATED BY: Malcolm Edwards, Lucy Huntzinger, Jerry Kaufman & Suzanne Tompkins, Dave Langford, and Stu Shiffman.


I vote for (list 1-2-3)

( ___ ) Rich Coad

( ___ ) Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden

( ___ ) Hold Over Funds

Signature

Name & Address:



Enclosed is ______ as a contribution to TAFF -- cheques etc., payable to Rob Hansen or Avedon Carol, please, not to TAFF. If you think your name might not be known to the administrators, then in order to qualify for voting please give the name and address of a fan or fan group to whom you are well known:


PLEASE READ VOTING INFORMATION OVERLEAF......