3.1 Tidying Site Selection

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:

In Section 4.1: replace "Voting shall be by mail or ballot cast at the current Worldcon with run-off ballot as described in Section 3.11" with "Voting shall be by written ballot cast either by mail or at the current Worldcon with tallying as described in Section 3.11".

In Section 4. 1: replace "administer the mail balloting" with "administer the voting".

Replace Section 4.3 with the following new Section:
Section 4.3: Non-natural Persons. Corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities may cast ballots, but only for "No Preference". "Guest of" memberships may only cast "No Preference" ballots. Memberships transferred to individual natural persons may cast preferential ballots, provided that the transfer is accepted by the administering convention.

In Section 4.5.1, replace "with two (2) witnesses from each bidding committee allowed to observe." with ". Each bidding committee should provide at least two (2) tellers."

Delete Subsection 4.5.3, and insert the following new Subsections:
4.5.3: "None of the Above" shall be treated as a bid for tallying, and shall be the equivalent of "No Award" with respect to Section 2.9.
4.5.5: If "None of the Above" wins, the duty of site selection shall devolve on the Business Meeting of the current Worldcon. If the Business Meeting is unable to decide by the end of the Worldcon, the Committee for the following Worldcon shall make the selection without undue delay.
4.5.6: Where a site and Committee are chosen by a Business Meeting or Worldcon Committee, they are not restricted by region or other qualifications, and the choice of an out-of-rotation site shall not affect the regional rotation for subsequent years.

Discussion: This tidies the wording of Article IV. It requires the current committee to administer the whole voting process rather than just the mail balloting, and directs the bidding committees to provide tellers rather than allowing them to provide observers. This changes the Constitution to reflect what actually happens, so there is no actual change in powers.
 

5.3 No-Zone Rotation

Moved: To amend Article IV by:

1. Deleting all of section 4.7 except the last sentence.
2. Replacing "sixty (60)" with "five hundred (500) miles or eight hundred (800) kilometers" in the last sentence of section 4.7
3. Replacing "the North American region eligible" with "North America" in the first sentence of Section 4.9
4. Deleting the first sentence of 4.9.2

Provided that any site which would have been eligible under the old rules will also be eligible in the first three races conducted under these eligibility rules.

Discussion: This replaces the current zone system for site eligibility in North America with an unzoned system, in which a bid from any of the rotation zones is allowed to bid in any year. While the rotation system used to be necessary in order to prevent the Worldcon from staying in one geographic area, the decrease through the years in the number of locations that can hold a Worldcon will accomplish most of these results.

This system will also mean that if a group wishes to bid in a year, and has facilities available for that year, they will generally be eligible. And, if a group has its facility taken away by another group, it doesn't need to wait three years to rebid, but may do so when it is next able.

The exclusion zone is expanded from 60 miles to 500 to ensure that having a large number of local voters won't give one site a large proximity advantage in any race.

Effect - If this amendment is carried the Constitution would read:

Section 4.7: Site Eligibility
A site shall be ineligible if it is within five hundred (500) miles or eight hundred (800) kilometers of the site at which selection occurs.

Section 4.9: NASFiC
If the selected Worldcon site is not in North America, there shall be a NASFiC in North America that year. Selection of the NASFiC shall be by the identical procedure to the Worldcon selection except as provided below or elsewhere in this Constitution:
4.9.1: Voting shall be by written ballot administered by the following year's Worldcon, if there is no NASFiC in that year, or by the following year's NASFiC, if there is one, with ballots cast at the administering convention or by mail, and with only members of the administering convention allowed to vote.
4.9.2: NASFiC Committees shall make all reasonable efforts to avoid conflicts with Worldcon dates.
4.9.3: The proposed NASFiC voting fee supporting membership rate can be set by unanimous agreement of the prospective candidates that file with the administering Committee the administering Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline.
4.9.4: If "None of the Above" wins, or if no eligible bid files by the deadline, then no NASFiC shall be held and all voting fees any supporting membership payments collected for the NASFiC site selection shall be refunded by the administering convention without undue delay.

World Science Fiction Society, WSFS, Worldcon, Science Fiction Achievement Award, Hugo Award and NASFiC are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

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