Doesn't this approach cause confusion at the time of the elections, since you effectively wind up with both voting and non-voting members?
Good question.
 
It doesn't cause confusion because our balloting is done by postal mail or online.  Only people who are paid up for the current year by mid-April get ballots in the mail and access to online voting. (For those of you who think like Chicago politicians: No, they can't vote both ways.  If they try, the ballot they cast first locks out the other option.) 
 
Those who join after mid-April get all the other benefits of membership (primarily discounts on classes and publications) but they don't get snal mail ballots nor access to online ballots.  

Date: Mon, 9 May 2011 07:00:36 -0400
From: kirill.lokshin@gmail.com
To: wikimedia-dc@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-DC] Details on membership

2011/5/9 David Itkin <dhitkin@hotmail.com>
  • Full year dues cover the full fiscal year. If I pay $10.00 by June 30th of a 200x, my membership runs from July 1 201x to June 30, 201y.
 
  • Dues through June 30, 200y remain $10.00 until around Thanksgiving. 
 
  • From Thanksgiving through Tax Day, I can pay half-year dues that run from the day I pay $5.00 through June 30, 200y. As a courtesy, if I pay between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, I'm considered a member from the day I pay through June 30, 200y
 
  • After Tax Day, we start accepting dues for 200y - 200z. If I pay $10.00 after Tax day, I'm paying for July 1, 200y - June 30, 200z. As a courtesy, I'm considered a member from the day I pay, but I can't vote in the end-of-year elections. 

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