If you are a member of Aussiecon 4 (even if you are only a Supporting Member with no intention of going to Melbourne) then you are entitled to vote in Site Selection for 2012 — that is you get to choose where Worldcon will be in 2012. There isn’t actually much choice: Chicago is the only candidate (though you can write in a candidate if you want). However, voting is still worth doing if you are a Worldcon regular. Voting in Site Selection costs more money, but for it you get a Supporting Membership in whichever site wins (Chicago), and that gets you your Hugo voting rights for 2012. It is very useful for a newly seated Worldcon to have the pile of money from Site Selection in the bank when they get elected, so us regulars help them out by voting, even in unopposed elections. And of course if you are going to Melbourne then voting now means you don’t have to remember to vote during the convention.

So, PDF ballots are available from the Aussiecon 4 web site. You can print one out and mail it in.

Wait, sorry, what did you say? Why can’t you vote online? Well, that’s a long story. Bear with me.

The whole idea of the Secret Masters of Fandom is supposed to be a joke, in that they are not actually in charge of anything and they are not secret. Unfortunately that doesn’t stop people getting carried away with the idea. Issues affecting the way that Worldcon is run are discussed on a mailing list called SMOFs. You can’t just join it, you have to be approved. And the people who are on it absolutely hate having what they say there quoted publicly, because what goes on there is supposed to be secret and private. So much so that it is often referred to as “The List That Must Not Be Named”, because it is so secret that no one is supposed to know it exists.

I’m not on the list, I gave up on it years ago, but Kevin is and occasionally I provide a friendly ear when he needs to vent about the stupidity that is sometimes exhibited there. Very rarely, however, does he get so frustrated that he has to vent to the world. This is one of those rare occasions.

For those who don’t want to click through, the relevant portion of the WSFS Constitution is as follows:

Voting shall be by written ballot cast either by mail or at the current Worldcon with tallying as described in Section 6.3.

The reason that you can’t vote in Site Selection online is because, although Worldcons have for many years considered “mail” to include faxing and private delivery by an authorized representative of the voter, it is being argued that it explicitly excludes the use of email or online voting.

We have been here before, haven’t we? It is the same argument that held that a fanzine had to be printed on paper and delivered through the mail in order to be eligible for the Hugos. It is the same argument that held that the word “published” meant printed on paper in a book or magazine, not put on a web site. And it is the same people making the argument.

So, in order to allow online voting in Site Selection we need to pass a Constitutional Amendment that will explicitly allow online Site Selection voting. Kevin has a draft amendment posted to his LiveJournal. He would appreciate expressions of support (and, of course, actual votes in Melbourne and Reno). I’ve closed comments here. Please comment on Kevin’s post.