...for the RWA Board of Directors, that is. Did you guys actually think this blog post was about exercise? Ha! You should know better than that. I only run if there's a tiger on the loose and a juicy t-bone tied to my butt.Maybe I got caught up in the excitement of the upcoming presidential election, but at Nationals this year, I decided to throw my hat into the ring and run for the vacant Region 3 Director seat. At the time, I thought no one else was running. I thought it was the right thing to do - give back, support the organization, step up when no one else would, etc. Turns out there were several other people running. That changed things. Now I have to fight for it. My competitive streak emerged. Anyone who's been in a writing challenge with me knows how much I hate to lose.
So here I am, running for the board, and I'm not exactly sure how this process works. My only real experience with the campaigning world included making posters when a friend ran for senior class secretary. We hung flyers, handed out stickers and buttons, made speeches during lunch in the cafeteria... not much of that happens in RWA. Make that more like none of it happens in RWA. I was tempted to start campaigning in San Francisco and hand out "Vote for Andrea - Region 3" stickers, but had flashes of people talking behind my back about how I was being juvenile. I'm not sure how else to do it. How will people know to vote for me if they've never heard of me? I have no delusions of grandeur.
RWA has sent me questionnaires and bios to fill out and they will be posted online somewhere. Hopefully my well-thought out answers will win me some votes. I like to think I'm a solid candidate - intelligent, logical, sensible. I sent in my best picture, so maybe I'll get a few votes just for being cute. I have some good endorsements from various people, but if I tell anyone, it's bragging and not attractive in a candidate. I don't know my opponents, so mudslinging is probably a bad idea. :)
Now what?
I guess this...I'll blog about it. Tell your friends and fellow RWA members to vote for me (I'm listed on the ballot as Andrea Laurence, not Smarty Pants or any of my other fickle pen names) for Region 3 Director! I'll shake your hand and kiss your baby if you really want me to (although it might be difficult). If you don't want to vote for me, that's ok, too. Just vote. It's important to make your voice heard, even if you disagree with me, which is unfortunate. :) Feel free to steal the logo to the left and put it on your blog or website.As I say that, I have to admit I'm lazy about voting. I always hit the presidential years, but very few in between. That's sad, but true. I have a degree in political science, so you'd think I'd get more fired up about this stuff, but the enthusiasm got beat out of me long ago. I am a blue dot in a red state, so that not surprising. What about you? Do you vote regularly? Have you ever run for a position of some kind? How'd that go? Any ideas on how I can campaign (without really campaigning?)
SP
14 comments:
Go Andrea! As a former Region 3 Director I know what's involved and what's needed, and you'd be awesome. Get me a button and I'll wear it. Not that anyone will see me hunched over my computer, but it's the thought that counts, right? :-)
I have my fingers crossed for you. Toes, too.
LJ
You'll make a fabulous Board Member--you have my vote. But, yeah, we need to spread the word.
(Hey, I could've had the buttons at conference--you wouldn't let me.)
I've run for a couple of school offices and lost both times (shrug), but I won the VP of HOD election (no one ran against me).
I'll be running for President of HOD this fall!
You go, girl. I'd tie that T-bone to your butt myself, if I had any idea how that would help in an election :-).
Being a Regional Director is a big job, and you have just the sort of analytical mind it needs.
For what it's worth, the verification word is:
hiypk -- HIGH PICK. This has to be an omen of some kind.
I've not run for any office. However, I do vote whenever I am called to do so whether it's my city, county, state or national elections. People over the years have fought and died for us to have this honor. So yes, I go vote. Good luck and I will go vote for you.
robertsonreads
Go, Andrea!!! You know we'll show up to support you.
I have to admit, I've gotten lazy about voting since I had my children. Dragging kids to the voting poles to stand in line for over an hour (you read that right), one time in the rain, is very discouraging. Luckily, since then they've added another polling place here, so the lines aren't so long. I know that seems like a petty reason not to vote, but there it is...
Often, with the local elections, I have no idea who to vote for. I know none of these people, have no idea how to find out info on them, other than how many signs are posted on the side of the road.
After seeing your level-headed contributions to discussions for HOD board, I have no doubt you'll be a voice of logic during those sticky discussions. Good luck!
Angel
You so have my vote!! Go, Andrea, go!!!
We'll have to mount a nationwide campaign and tell everyone we know to vote for you. I think you'll be a great director for our region.
The only elections I've won are the ones in our chapter and I ran unopposed both times.
I have only missed voting one time since I became old enough to vote (and that was in 1972 - my sister and I both became eligible in the same year because they'd dropped the age from 21 to 18 and in 1972 I was 21 and she was 18). The year I missed was the 1996 presidential elections. My grandfather died just days before the election and I was at a conference in Knoxville over the weekend. I just went from Knoxville straight to North Carolina to meet up with my mother to help arrange and then attend the funeral.
And this past Tuesday the mayoral elections were held. Since I live outside the city limits I couldn't vote. I felt rather disenfranchised. I don't have a mayor now.
Yay, SP! I'll vote for you, of course! Like you, I tend to miss all but the big elections (never missed one yet). This typically had to do with being military and voting absentee. In fact, this November will be the FIRST time I have ever gone to a polling place and pulled a lever (or whatever you do!). I have always voted absentee, which is pretty simple and consists of a pen, a big piece of paper, and an envelope.
I know I should have voted in the mayoral elections, but I didn't know anything about either candidate and didn't feel right just picking one. I'll be better prepared next time. And, truthfully, much of my lethargy and confusion comes from the years of voting absentee. I forget I can vote in these other things! Duh, right?
I have been VP and Pres of the Aloha chapter, running unopposed, and this Nov I'm running for HOD VP. I don't think I'll need a campaign slogan or buttons, though. *g*
You certainly have my vote! And I will be more than happy to campaign for you anyway I can. :D
If one doesn't vote, then one doesn't have the right to complain about the path government takes. SO, VOTE!
Playground Monitor and I had the same type of high school history teacher (at the same hight school) who impressed upon us the importance of our vote. I don't know about PM's teacher, but mine would rise from the grave and haunt me if I did not vote (in any election.)
Good luck with your campaign Andrea/Alexandra!
"If one doesn't vote, then one doesn't have the right to complain about the path government takes."
I'll disagree with that a bit. What if you feel neither candidate is qualified and you cannot in good judgement vote for him or her? Getting the nomination is not the same thing as being qualified. I did not vote for the prez in 2004 because I didn't like either candidate. I think I have every right to complain since neither party put forth a qualified person IMHO.
This year? Eh...I'm still deciding though one person is beginning to stand out more and more.
Wish I belonged to romance writers cuz I'd vote for you.
Alicia
Well if you can't vote for the person, I would hope you could vote for the party of your choice. Although after the last election I said I'd never vote again, I still do because I keep hoping...otherwise "they" win.
I do vote, though sometimes it's hard to make a decision. I've been elected to offices in volunteer organizations, usually without opposition—so I have no clue how to campaign. I'll vote for you even if don't kiss my hand and shake my baby—or was that the other way around?
The only thing I've ever run for is the ball rolling down the street, so I admire the moxie of anyone who runs for anything where people have to pick one or the other.
I vote...mostly. I have withheld my vote because neither candidate represented what I needed/felt/wanted/thought was right. I am a proud registered independent who votes her conscience rather than how a party or peer pressure thinks I should vote. Everyone has different beliefs and if their vote happens to be different from mine, it's not wrong, if they voted what they believed. It's only a wrong vote if you cast for that person/issue because someone tells you that's how you should vote.
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