2012 TAFF Ballot
Eastbound – North America to Europe

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 small minimum donation. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible.

Who may vote? Voting in the 2012 race is open to anyone active in fandom prior to December 2010, and who donates at least UK£2.00 or US$3.00 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 at any time prior to the deadline. Votes in this race must reach the administrators by 23:59 on December 9th 2011 (GMT in Europe, MST in North America).

Donations: TAFF gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction; such generosity has sustained the Fund for more than 50 years. TAFF is fandom's longest-running 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 unforeseen, unavoidable circumstances – to travel, if elected, to the 2012 Eastercon in Heathrow, London (Olympus, April 6-9, 2012). They have also provided a platform (published overleaf), and all of their nominators have personally contacted the administrators to submit their nomination. Please read both sides of this ballot before voting and send the entire sheet as your vote.

Voting

System: TAFF uses Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), also known as the Alternative Vote (AV) system – the same as the system used in voting for the Hugo Awards at Worldcons. Candidates are ranked in order of preference (where a rank of 1 is the voter's first preference); as candidates are eliminated from the race, the next ranked votes are applied in a runoff. However, a candidate must receive at least 20% of the #1 rank votes on both sides of the Atlantic to win. 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. Your vote will be counted according to your contact address. Votes from fans not resident in either Europe or North America will not count towards either 20% minimum.

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.

How to Vote: Votes may be sent to the administrators in two ways: either by sending a copy of this form with a check to the administrators, or via PayPal. The minimum donation to vote is $3 (USD) or £2 (GBP). Checks should be made payable either to "Anne Gray" or "Brian Gray" (for checks in USD) or to "TAFF" (for cheques in GBP). PayPal donations should be made to the email addresses below, indicating your contact details and ranked voting preferences in the comments' section. If you do not fill in the comments section, your vote may not be counted!

Send your signed and completed ballot form and donation to:

North America

Anne Gray or Brian Gray (checks payable to "Anne Gray" or "Brian Gray")
5006 Royene Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA
akg.netmouse [at] gmail.com (for PayPal donations)

Europe

John Coxon (cheques payable to "TAFF")
14 Chapel Lane, Werrington, Peterborough, PE4 6RS, UK
john.coxon [at] gmail.com (for PayPal donations)

For more information on the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, visit our official unofficial website, http://www.taff.org.uk/

For news of the ongoing race and opportunities to learn more about the candidates, follow along:

On Twitter, @TAFFnews; at http://facebook.com/TAFFnews; or at http://TAFFnews.livejournal.com/


2012 TAFF Ballot

2012 TAFF Candidates

Warren Buff: "I came to fandom from an odd angle, but since I got here, I've been exploring its varieties.  I got into conrunning enough to chair the 2010 NASFiC, I edit a clubzine for the Southern Fandom Confederation and write the occasional LoC or article for others, and generally expanded my knowledge of SF by asking older fans for reading suggestions.  All of this is a blast, but so far, I've only done it in North America.  I plan to come to Olympus, win or lose, but winning would fund a further week traveling around the UK visiting even more fans."

Nominated by James Bacon, Paul Cornell, Chris Garcia, Tim Illingworth and Lloyd Penney

Kim G. Kofmel: "I discovered fandom in Ottawa, Canada in the 1970s. I've pubbed perzines, worked on conventions, costumed, written short stories & poetry, and learned smooothing from Tucker himself. I live now in Houston, Texas but still have strong ties to Ottawa, Toronto, & Detroit fandom. I'm overly active in the Houston Science Fiction Association (ApolloCon! Great con! Come see!!). Since I'm working the North American side of the London in 2014 Worldcon bid I'm excited about this opportunity to experience UK & European fandom at Eastercon. I promise to bring the hat – AND I PROMISE TO PUBLISH A TRIP REPORT."

Nominated by Flick, Brad Foster, Jeanne Gomoll, Alice Lawson, and Pat Virzi/Mueller

Jacqueline Monahan: "This flagrant Vegrant (Chicago native) is intrigued by fanhistory and its documentation.  I am rarely at a loss for words, either verbally or in print. I am the co-OE for SNAPS (60th issue just out, 17 JM contributions to date) with articles in Beam, Further Ado, and Small & Far Away, among others.  Named Best New Fanzine Fan (2010 FAAN Awards); Editor of Alan White's new e-book, The Zombie Effect.

I promise NOT to try to make a Buckingham Palace guard laugh; I WILL produce a fantastic TAFF report, naming names and exposing social gaffes at my own expense.  Just wait."

Nominated by Sandra Bond, Nic Farey, Steve Green, Curt Phillips and John Purcell

Please rank candidates with 1, 2, 3 etc. where 1 is your first preference:

[    ]  Warren Buff [    ]  Kim Kofmel [    ]  Jacq Monahan
[    ]  Hold Over Funds [    ]  No Preference

Name:

Address:


Email/phone:

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

Enclosed is                                                                            as my contribution to TAFF – minimum $3 (USD) or £2 (GBP)

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

Active fan known to an administrator:

Signature:

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

Anyone reproducing this form should substitute his or her name here: John Coxon