Baronial Nominations April 4th 2018 - A word from the Election Steward

On April 4th 2018 the Barony continues the process of electing a new Baron and/or Baroness with the call for nominations and the selection of potential candidates. The nomination process will happen at the April Baronial business meeting under the guidance of the Election committee and in accordance with Baronial policy. Her Excellency and I invite the populace to join us in support of the Barony and encourage people new and old to participate in the process. A link to the Baronial policies is provided below and explains the election policy, the nomination process, and the requirements to serve as Baron and/or Baroness. If you have any questions about serving as Baron and Baroness, please ask. We are always willing to discuss the job. Serving as the Baron and Baroness has been a great honor and we look forward to watching the selection of our Heirs. Please join us! 

Several people have asked question about the election and the election process that are not covered in the Baronial policy. Her Excellency Baroness Elisabeth Johanna von Flossenburg was nice enough to answer several of these questions. If you have other questions please direct them to Her Excellency Elisabeth by e-mail at: (bostonhahn at aol dot com)

Can people accept the nomination immediately or are they required to wait 48 hours?  

They can accept verbally immediately if they meet all the requirements outlined in the policy. They must furnish a copy of valid ID and a valid SCA membership card. They can also write an acceptance letter in advance and turn it in at the time they accept the nomination. They can also wait until the last minute. 

Policy says people must accept nominations in writing. Can that be an e-mail, Facebook, etc? Or does it have to be pen and paper?

I personally do not care, but we do need a file copy of the acceptance if asked by the Kingdom Seneschal or the Crown, so I feel it is best to write an acceptance letter in paper and pen/pencil. Again, this can be done in advance if they so choose. 

Who do they send this acceptance letter to? The policy does not specify.   

The acceptance letter should be given to the Seneschal or to any member of the election committee. However, in the end they should be kept by the Seneschal with any other election materials in case they have to be produced if any questions about the election should arise. 

Can people who accept the nomination make it public right away, or should they wait the 48 hours until all the nominees have responded? 

The acceptance can be made public immediately. 

Can people campaign after accepting the nomination? 

I see no reason against campaigning if someone so chooses. There are no restrictions. 

There is a tradition of asking the nominees a series of questions. These questions are then post in the newsletter along with photos. This is not in policy. Do you plan to do this? 

The introduction of the candidates will be left to the Chronicler. This will include a series of set questions given to the candidates to answer. These answers will be published in the newsletter prior to the election. The nature of the questions will be determined by the populace. Prior to the nomination meeting the Chronicler will ask the populace (via Facebook and Yahoo) what questions they would like to ask the Candidates. A selection of these question will be drawn from the populace responses and sent to the candidates to answer. Please watch for more information on this.  

Any additional thoughts? 

I would like very much to add a reminder for everyone to check their membership expiration and to renew if there may be a chance that it will expire or already is expired. Each person must be an active member in order to vote.  This means that they must have an active membership at the time the mailing labels are created or they cannot vote.  I remember that the first time there were elections in the Barony I had just renewed my membership but for some reason my mailing label was not included.  Sir Calidus called Milpitas and checked, I produced my receipt and was able to get it rectified.  But there is never a guarantee that this can be done.  So let's try to avoid this kind of situation!    

Baronial policy:

Link to Baronial Policy