Another sucky election
True, it wasn’t Bush-Kerry 2004, but…the results for the US Chess Federation executive board voting are in.
I did not bother to vote, and I wasn’t alone. Only two good things happened here:
1. If I were forced to vote for one person, it would have been Randy Bauer, and he did get elected.
2. Sam Sloan did not get re-elected. (Here’s my short blurb on him.)
It was difficult to know who to vote for because, well, of politics. Not knowing which rumors and accusations are right and wrong, and who has hidden agendas.
Susan Polgar easily led all candidates in the voting, and any other result would have been a surprise. It’s like an Arnold Schwarznegger running for office: when you’re famous, you get more votes. (The Polgar sisters are very famous in the world of chess.) To me, this is not a problem; it’s not like she can help being well-known, it’s good to have a female presence on the board, and she’ll likely do a decent job.
I was disappointed, however, to see that both Polgar and Truong were elected, and to four-year terms at that. They had a recent, low-key marriage which should have been better publicized, and they will essentially be voting as a block for four years. It’s not too hard to see a link between limited publicizing of the marriage and making sure both of them get elected.
funny thing, just yesterday i was cleaning some stuff out, and found my ballot, all filled out, and not mailed. it’s no surprise polgar won. part of me thinks its a good thing, she is really promoting chess to kids, especially young women. the other part of me thinks “so what? how does it affect me?”
i don’t really understand what the elections mean. no matter who is in charge, i’m still gonna play the game, show up at tournaments, etc. at my level, its all transparent to me.
Reply to chessloserI guess the USCF needs people to figure out the finances, hopefully improve PR, and that kind of thing. Not sure exactly the board’s power and role is in this.
We need more females. Something like 4% of USCF members are women. If people didn’t know better, they’d assume the USCF is misogynist.
Reply to Donnie Briggs