Having made several attempts to find out why I -- and others -- have not received any ballots yet, even though the Ex. Director stated that all ballots would be in the mail by Sep. 20. I have received some interesting information.
I knew the final ballot mail-in / mail back date was Nov.15. I wanted to know when the auditor would say, "That is long enough, it's over." I have not received any really good info.
FYI here are several communications:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
In a message dated 9/12/2002 7:40:43 PM Central Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:

Since it is postmark date, It would be safe to say they will continue to accept ballots for about 4 days after the 15th,
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


I answered:
OK, so you have nothing pre arranged, and it is safe to say that no one really covers this item specifically. In addition, *about* 4 days could be Tuesday the 19th, or 4 business days being Thursday the 21st, or about what may be needed at the time to support some agenda.
IMO, this is not a loophole, more so a big sliding door way.
Looking forward to assisting in locking up that door.

Horrace Cain


>>>>>>>>>
The Ex Director responded:

Subj: RE: Election Dates
Date: 9/13/2002 6:43:26 AM Central Standard Time
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]

I am sure if you feel that this is such a loop hole you are welcome to spend this time at the auditors to make sure they do it right
<<<<<<<<<<<<

>>>>>>>>>
More response:
In a message dated 9/25/2002 10:27:23 AM Central Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:

-----Original Message-----
From: Joyce Hager
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 10:19 AM
To: Horrace Cain (E-mail); Red Scholefield (E-mail)
Cc: Dave Brown; Colleen Pierce; Sandy Frank; Doug Holland; Bob Reynolds
(E-mail); Joyce Hager
Subject: Ballot Counting

1) Postmark date of November 15th for a ballot to be valid
2) Bob Reynolds, of Brady Ware has informed me that most ballots will be received by November 13th, Brady Ware will continue to check the PO Box daily after that and handle manually any additional ballots received. The final date they will check the PO Box will be November 21st (ballots still
have to have to have a postmark date of November 15th to be valid). However if they find that they are still receiving ballots on that day that are postmarked the 15th or prior, they would contact AMA to explain the situation and hold off for the final results. They anticipate to have the results faxed to us by Tuesday November 26th.

If you have any further questions concerning the validity of the process we use, I will be glad to put anyone in touch with the auditors and they can ask questions directly.

At the time I originally answered Horrace I was not in the office and only assumed they counted 4 days past the deadline (which is the typical time frame for mail delivery), sorry.

Joyce Hager
AMA Executive Director
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I responded:

Thank you for the information. I am very happy that Mr. Reynolds has a crystal ball that tells him when all the ballots will arrive. Could that Crystal Ball also inform us just when the ballots will arrive among the membership?

Your AMA office informed me that all ballots would be in the mail by 9/20, yet in my meager research, no one has yet received one and that is FIVE days after your designated final mailing date. In reality a delay for two more weeks would coincide very well with my political calendar. Thanks for your help.

It is very interesting that the "Brady Ware" makes the decisions. IMO, AMA should designate the timetable in specific terms, such as final postmark, Nov. 15, final acceptance for count, 10 business days later, which would be Dec. 1st, with the holiday. Then all these hocus pocus estimations and "about" and/or maybe, etc., would not be there to debate.

Looking forward to the future, and seeing a more business like approach with AMA being in the lead position.

Horrace Cain


Now here comes another response from AMA:

>>>>>>>>>
Subj: 2003 renewal notice
Date: 9/26/2002 11:13:59 AM Central Standard Time
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected].,
[email protected]

It was originally estimated that the printers would receive the information
for the 2003 renewal notices during the week of September 16 through 20th.
However, due to the recent changes by the Executive Council in regards to the
earned memberships, Greg Minch and I had several categories to verify and
extended the processing until September 20th. We were confident by that time
that all members were placed in the appropriate categories. They (the
printers) have began printing and will be placing the notices in the mail
today, tomorrow and Saturday with the exception of the life members that are
returned here to HQ to have their invoices inserted.

Colleen Pierce
Membership Supervisor
Academy of Model Aeronautics
765-287-1256 ext. 290
<<<<<<<<<

OK, so delays happen. No Big Deal -- HOWEVER -- notice that an important event, an AMA election for one National and some Districts, is managed with maybes, assumptions, probablys, and simply, IMO, WAGs (wild a-- guesses). In addition the Ex. Director appears to not be aware of what the staff is doing.

Does the current AMA Financial Officer spend any time monitoring the headquarters operation, or is the time all spent with just the *investments*?

When you read all those financial qualifications of the expert financial personalities, maybe one should think: "The TITANIC was built by professional EXPERTS. The ARK was built by an AMATEUR."

Horrace Cain
Candidate, AMA, Ex. VP, Financial Officer.