BALTCON

БАЛТКОН

Constitution of the Baltic SF Convention Society

(As decided the 14th of August, 1993, on Conscience 93, Stockholm, with changes approved the 22th of September, 2007, on Eurocon 07, Copenhagen. The colored font shows the changes and additions made in 2007.)

Purpose

1. The purpose of the Baltic SF Convention Society is to arrange one science fiction convention in the Baltic area every year.

Selecting Procedures

2. The convention shall be arranged every second year by a country from an East Zone (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Poland), and every second year by a country from a West Zone (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Germany).

2.1. People wanting to arrange a convention shall form a committee and send a bid to the board or a board representative of the society no later than the last day of December one year before the convention year. The bid shall in the English language describe:
  a) name of the convention,
  b) site for the convention,
  c) dates for the convention,   d) names of the chairman, secretary and treasurer of the committee, as well as names the other committee members engaged upon bidding time,
  e) fees for attending membership and supporting membership in the convention.

2.2. No later than the last day of February the board shall announce the contenders for the next Baltic sf convention and issue a ballot in English containing a) to e) in the bid. This ballot is free for any one to reproduce, in any language, and it shall have a voting deadline that is the Saturday of the Baltic sf convention of the year the year the ballot is issued. If there is no bid, rule 2.6 takes over.

2.3. Votes shall be counted according to the Australian system: each voter puts his alternatives in order of preference with numbers 1, 2, 3 and so on. If one alternative gets more than 50% of the votes in the first count it wins. If not, the votes of the least popular alternative are redistributed based on preference 2 among the remaining alternatives and a new count is done. If one alternative now has more than 50% of the votes, it wins. If not, the votes of the least popular alternative remaining are redistributed based on preference 3 among the remaining alternatives and a new count is done. This process is repeated until has more than 50% of the votes.

2.4. Any one who is a attending or supporting member of the convention the year the vote takes place has the right to vote. Votes shall be personally signed, and no proxies are allowed.

2.5. The votes shall be sent to the board or to local representatives of the Baltic SF Convention Society, or collected during the Baltic SF Convention of the year the voting vote takes place. The board shall count the votes, as well as decide any issues concerning the status of votes. Counting shall take place immediately after deadline.

2.6. If there is no bid the board or a board representative shall investigate options for the year’s BALTCON and is empowered to appoint the BALTCON.

The Board

3. The board consists of three people from the Baltic sf convention of the year the voting takes place, and three people from the Baltic sf convention the year before. They are the chairman, secretary, treasurer of the two committees, but both committees may within themselves select other representatives as long as they are no more than three. Each BALTCON business meeting shall also elect a representative to the board, with a mandate of two years.

3.1. The chairman of the Baltic SF Convention the year the voting takes place is also the chairman of the Baltic SF Convention Society, the secretary of the convention the year before is also the secretary of the Baltic SF Convention Society, and the treasurers of the two committees works as East Zone treasurer and West Zone Treasurer. The chairman shall represent the Society and his vote counts as two in the board in case of ties in board voting. The secretary shall keep files of correspondence and all other paper connected with the Society. The treasurer shall deal with economic issues in each Zone. Any single member of the board has the power to take initiative and act for the society as a board representative, provided the board is kept informed, and the board may intervene if needed.

3.2. The board decides its own procedures for how to work, as long as they are democratic. Board meetings and decisions can go through electronic mail, or similar means. All issues not otherwise covered in this constitution may be decided by the board.

3.3. The mandate of the three board members from the previous convention expires as soon as a Baltic convention is over, and three board members from the new Baltic convention being voted winner take place in the board. The mandate for the up to two business meeting board members runs two years for each (counted from their meeting of election until the BALTCON two years hence is over).

Business Meeting, Memberships and Local Representatives

4. On each BALTCON there is a business meeting. It shall: review activities and discuss BALTCON issues, elect a board representative, make and decide upon initiatives (by 2/3 majority if it means overruling a board decision), deal with the constitution (see 5).

4.1. A member of the Baltic SF Convention Society has the right to vote and is one who in the last period has paid the fee for attending or supporting membership for a Baltcon, or who has been a guest at such a convention, or who has had a free membership.

4.2. For cons with no membership fee, e.g. FINNCON, being present on the con and before that having been active in fandom for at least 12 months constitutes membership.

4.3. Anyone approved by the board may become a LOCAL representative for the Baltic sf convention, with the duty to spread information, spread voting ballots and collect votes.

4.4. Each bidding or arranging committee may also appoint one local representative each.

4.5. Local representative should live at least 50 kilometres apart.

4.6. The board also has the right to cancel appointments of local representatives.

Changing the Constitution

5. Anyone who want to change the constitution shall send a letter with the proposition to the board. The proposition shall be published widely in Baltic fandom, as early as possible, and the next business meeting decides with at least 2/3 majority for a change to go through.