<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Arne Klempert <wikipedia@klempert.de></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<P class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">On Wednesday, June 16, 2004 5:03 AM<BR>Angela <BEESLEY@GMAIL.COM>wrote:<BR><BR>> Delirium wrote:<BR>>> I'd personally prefer if important things, like votes for<BR>>> foundations, not take place at "in-person" meetings, because not all<BR>>> of us have sufficient funds to attend such meetings. Internet<BR>>> elections are much more inclusive.<BR><BR>German law requires "in-person" meetings for the setup of a "Verein".<BR><BR><BR>> I don't believe on-line voting is legal in all countries, so it may<BR>> not be possible for all of the Wikimedia chapters to do this. I do<BR>> think that postal voting should usually be made available though, and<BR>> the recently formed German Wikimedia Association certainly allows for<BR>> this. § 8.2 of the Verein's bylaws<BR>> (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vereinssatzung) state that<BR>> when elections
are taking place, the possibility of voting remotely<BR>> must be given to the members (by post or fax as far as I could tell).<BR><BR>On-line voting is possible in theory but up to now it's extremely<BR>difficult to do this legally effective. Afaik there is only *one* german<BR>"Verein" who did this - and there are a great many of such associations<BR>in Germany. I'm sure this becomes more easier in the future but until<BR>then we have to do absentee votes (as stated in the bylaws this is<BR>necessary for board elections and changing the bylaws) by snail mail, at<BR>least for those members who are not able or willing to come to the<BR>annual meetings.<BR><BR><BR>> Congratulations again to everyone elected, and to all those who worked<BR>> so hard in getting this set up.<BR><BR>Thank you, Angela. It was a great pleasure to have you with us in<BR>Berlin.<BR><BR><BR>-akl</P>
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<P class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><BR><BR>I concur with Mark wish for online voting, but I know it is not always possible. <BR><BR>We were wondering as well if it was possible for the french wikipedia local chapter, and indeed e-vote is legally acceptable now. However, it is still very recent, so little use. I hope it becomes widely legal soon.</P>
<P class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Anyway, I am real glad that the german association was finally founded. I would be happy to discuss a bit its organisation and the roles it intends to hold with anyone involved in it. I would be like to do so, both as an interesting reference to be used for next local-chapter-to-be, and of course, to see how the Wikimedia Foundation and the local chapter could be related in the best way.</P>
<P class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I regret I was not among you, it would have been nice to meet german wikipedians...</P>
<P class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Florence/Anthere</P></BLOCKQUOTE><p>
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