2010 TAFF Ballot
North America to Europe

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 familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time, TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. It exists solely through the support of fandom. Interested fans all over the world vote on the candidates, each vote being accompanied by a donation of not less than US$3 or UK£2. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible.

Who may vote? Voting in the 2010 race is open to anyone active in fandom prior to April 2008, and who donates at least US$3.00 or UK£2.00 to TAFF. Larger contributions will be gratefully accepted. Voting is by secret ballot: only one vote per person, and you must sign your ballot. You may change your vote any time prior to the deadline.

Deadline: Votes in this race must reach the administrators by midnight PST, 22 December 2009. This is 8am GMT, 23 December 2009.

Voting details: TAFF uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank the candidates in the exact order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place candidate does not get a majority, the first-place votes for the lowest-ranking candidate are dropped, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as first-place votes. This process repeats itself until one candidate has a majority. Your votes for second and third place are important, but you may give your candidate only one ranking on your ballot. In order to win, a candidate must receive at least 20% of the first-ballot first-place votes on either side of the Atlantic. Any candidate failing to receive this minimum percentage on either side will be dropped, and the second-place votes on their ballots counted as first-place votes in the next ballot count. Candidates and their supporters will thus need to canvass fans on both sides of the Pond. You may send your ballot to either administrator, but it will be tabulated with the other votes from the side of the ocean where you reside. Votes from fans not resident in either Europe or North America will not count towards either 20% minimum, but are important to the outcome of the race.

Hold Over Funds: This choice, like "No Award" in Hugo balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no TAFF trip this year, should you feel none of the candidates deserve your support. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position, and is exempt from the 20% requirement; thus, if it receives a majority of the votes on the final ballot, no trip will be held this year regardless of how many votes that option received on the first ballot.

No Preference: For voters who prefer not to choose between candidates, but don't want the trip held over.

Donations: TAFF gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction; such generosity has sustained the Fund for over 50 years. TAFF is fandom's oldest travel fund, and one of its worthiest causes -- give early and often! Please contact your nearest administrator for details.

Candidates: Each candidate has posted a bond, promising -- barring "acts of God" -- to travel, if elected, to the 2010 Eastercon (Odyssey, April 2nd -- 5th 2010). They have also provided signed nominations and a platform (published overleaf).

Please read both sides of this ballot before voting. Send entire sheet as your vote.

Name & address:

 

Telephone number or e-mail address:

(We need your full contact details. TAFF may need to contact you regarding your ballot or to send out newsletters. We do not publish this data or pass it to any other organisation.)

Signature:

Enclosed is ____________ as my contribution to TAFF (minimum US$3.00 or UK£2.00)

Please make checks/cheques, etc., payable to either: "Chris Garcia" for US dollar checks mailed to Chris Garcia, or
"TAFF" for all UK (sterling) cheques mailed to Steve Green

We can also accept Paypal (see below for details)

If you think your name may not be known to the administrators, please provide the name and contact details of an active fan who is known to them and is willing to vouch for you (not a fan group, a candidate, or one of their nominators):

Active fan known to an administrator:


2009 TAFF Candidates

Brian Gray & Anne KG Murphy

He's a microbiologist. She's an engineer. Together they run cons, playtest games, sing and dance, concoct gustatory delights, write zines and blogs, perform sketch comedy, and generally have a good time doing anything from reading sf to chopping wood. (We didn't say they aren't weird. Oh YES, they're weird.) They promise to use their powers only for good, and not run scientific experiments upon unsuspecting international fandom... however tempting that might be. But as trained observers, they look forward to documenting cultural differences across the Atlantic divide in a trip report. An eeeeeevil trip report. With photographic evidence. And tissue samples...

Nominated by: John Scalzi, Steven H Silver, Geri Sullivan (North America), Paul Cornell, Cheryl Morgan (Europe)

Frank Wu

I'm best known for my art, which has appeared in numerous magazines and fanzines and has won me four Hugos. But I'm also a costumer -- my wife and fellow artist Brianna Spacekat Wu and I were Barbarella and Pygar at Denvention. And I've written for fanzines about politics, baseball, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, killer space germs, etc. And I'm a filmmaker, working on a film about a giant space chicken making a film about a giant space chicken. If elected, I promise to illustrate my TAFF trip report with drawings of giant monsters destroying London.

Nominated by: Guy Lillian III, John Purcell, Kevin Roche (North America), James Bacon, Michael Rennie (Europe)

Please read and fill out both sides of this sheet. Send in entire sheet as your vote. Do not detach this portion!

I vote for (rank 1, 2, 3, etc.):

[__] Anne KG Murphy & Brian Gray

[__] Hold Over Funds

[__] Frank Wu

[__] No Preference

Send ballot and donation to:

North America: Chris Garcia, 962 West Weddell Dr. #15, Sunnyvale, CA 94089, USA (garcia [at] computerhistory.org)
Europe: Steve Green, 33 Scott Road, Solihull, B92 7LQ, UK (stevegreen [at] livejournal.com]
PayPal: Payments to garcia [at] computerhistory.org, and should include all the information asked for on this ballot: ranked list of votes; voter's name and contact details; active fan who can vouch (if necessary).

An additional small donation is appreciated to cover the PayPal's fees (UK pounds sterling is preferred).

For more information on the TransAtlantic Fan Fund, visit taff.org.uk

Reproduction of this form is encouraged. It is the official voting vehicle and must be reproduced verbatim.

Anyone doing so should substitute his or her name here: Chris Garcia & Steve Green.