TonyR wrote:The vacancies on Council are advertised in Cycle and you have a month to get together the five member signatures to qualify to go on the election list.
Other than the retired and unemployed who can go to CTC group rides held during the working week, how many people here meet five full members in a winter month? (I'm assuming that CTC's standing orders still haven't been updated to recognise digital signatures in line with the 1999 Regulations and that the vote is held in winter because new councillor terms start 1 Jan.)
Also, the last time I stood for election to a body with a multi-billion pound turnover, I only had to obtain two member signatures. Even that was fairly restrictive because one of its twice-yearly member meetings was held after you needed to get the signatures, so you needed to remember where people worked or lived from six months earlier and/or sign up some of your relatives or friends as members (I'm sure I wasn't the only one who did that - there was a participation threshold for candidates, but not for signatories).
So there is no reason the membership should not be aware of the vote and who the candidates are. If they choose not to vote that is exercising a democratic right that should be respected. What is not acceptable is not voting and then complaining about the outcome.
I disagree - there seems no deliberate attempt by any part of CTC I've seen to explain its democracy and develop its membership. It's probably not a choice by most members not to vote but a feeling that they don't understand what they'd be voting for, that they don't know the candidates from Adam and Eve and that they feel disempowered in general. It's perfectly acceptable if they want to complain about the democratic deficit IMO. Voting turnouts below 100 in regions with thousands of members is a sign of something seriously unhealthy.
Psamathe wrote:Funny how this forum could be a fantastic source of information as to what is happening in the real world. Most people participating here get out on their bikes surprisingly often so as they post their experiences it could really help the organisation ... which must be why they ... pretty well ignore it.
The forum's on the front page of their website now (twice, I think) so we'll see if that changes. Hopefully this forum will remain open to all people who get out on their bikes and not be clamped down to official policy somehow.