What is GUFF? Known, depending on the direction in which it's running, as the Get Up-and-over Fan Fund and the Going Under Fan Fund, GUFF was created in 1979 as a means of 'closing the gap' between TAFF, linking Europe and North America, and DUFF, linking North America with Australia. Like them, GUFF exists to provide funds to enable well-known fans from Europe and Australia to visit each other's national (or other) conventions and get to know each other's fandoms better. GUFF operates on a less frequent schedule than TAFF and DUFF, but like them exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates for each trip are voted on by interested fans, and each vote is accompanied by a monetary donation. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make GUFF possible.
Who may Vote? Voting in the 2000 race to send an Australian fan to the 2001 British National Convention is open to anyone who was active in fandom prior to Easter 1999, and who contributes at least £5 or A$10 to the fund. Larger contributions will be gratefully accepted. Voting is by secret ballot; only one vote per person is allowed, and you must sign your ballot.
Deadline Votes must reach the administrators no later than midnight on Monday, 13 November 2000.
Voting Details GUFF uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank your candidates in order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place candidate does not have a majority after the first round of counting, the first-place votes for the lowest-placed candidate are discarded, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as first-place votes for the candidates concerned. This process is repeated until one candidate has a majority of all the votes cast. Votes for second and third place candidates are therefore important; but you may not rank your favoured candidate in more than one position on your ballot.
Hold Over Funds This choice, like 'No Award' in award balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no GUFF trip to the 2001 Eastercon if for any reason the candidates do not appeal. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position on the ballot.
No Preference This is for voters who do not wish the GUFF trip to be held over, but who either cannot or prefer not to decide between the candidates.
Donations GUFF gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction; such generosity has sustained the fund in addition to voting donations. If you're not eligible to vote, or for some reason you don't wish to vote, why not give anyway? (Give early and give often!)
Candidates Each candidate has posted a bond of A$20, sworn an almighty oath that unless struck down by an iceberg, meteorite or other act of a higher power they will travel to the Eastercon in Britain in 2001, if elected; and provided signed nominations and a 100-word platform extolling their many interests and virtues (reprinted overleaf).
Please read both sides of this ballot before voting. Send the entire sheet as your vote.
Name: _____________________________________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Signature: ___________________________________________________________________
Enclosed is ____________ as a contribution to GUFF. Please make £ or US$ cheques or other money orders payable to Paul Kincaid, A$ cheques or money orders payable to GUFF. If you think your name may not be known to the administrators then, to ensure that your vote qualifies to be counted, please give in the space below the name and address of an active fan (not a fan group, a candidate or one of their nominators) to whom you are known and who is known to (one of) the administrators:
Secret masters of getting someone else to run a WorldCon after we've successfully bid for it, Eric (Party Animal) and Jean (Project Manager) want to visit UK and other European fans in their native habitats. Jean has never been to the UK, and Eric hasn't visited since 1972. Now retired from the paid workforce, we have lots of time to travel, party, and produce fanzines and websites, but little income to support our habits. You probably know our fanzines Gegenschein and WeberWoman's Wrevenge. Our sf websites are at http://www.wrevenge.com.au/wrevenge/ and http://www.wrevenge.com.au/psiphi/ and our Australian travel website is at http://www.avalook.com.au/
Nominators: Eve & John Harvey, Irwin Hirsh, Dave Langford, Perry Middlemiss and Lyn McConchie
We've been fans all our adult lives -- even if that is only the last ten years. We've edited fmz, organized relaxacons, run Adelaide's discussion group 'Critical Mass' and have now started the OzMemoryHole. We are eager to expand our fanning interstate and inter-State, strengthening ties within Australia and to Europe. We know that GUFF isn't all real beer and skiffy. We're dead keen to admin -- this is our real chance to make connections. Barring acts of gods, we'll be fun and frolicsome at Paragon and travel hard in search of fans in the UK and on the Continent.
Nominators: Claire Brialey, John Foyster and Yvonne Rousseau, Roman Orszanski, Marc Ortlieb and Gregory Pickersgill
I vote for (enter 1, 2, etc.)
[ __ ] Eric Lindsay & Jean Weber
[ __ ] Damien Warman & Juliette Woods
[ __ ] No Preference
[ __ ] Hold Over Funds
Send completed ballots to either of the following addresses:
UK Agent Paul Kincaid, 60 Bournemouth Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5AZ, UK
Australian Agent Karen Pender-Gunn, P.O. Box 567, Blackburn, Victoria 3130, Australia
This is the official voting form, but copying of this ballot is encouraged provided that the text is reproduced unaltered. Anyone copying this ballot should insert their name in the space below:
Irwin Hirsh