CONSTITUTION
of the World Science Fiction Society,
August
2009
Article
1 - Name, Objectives, Membership, and Organization
Section 1.1: Name. The name of this organization
shall be the World Science Fiction Society, hereinafter referred to as WSFS or
the Society.
Section 1.2: Objectives. WSFS is an unincorporated
literary society whose functions are:
(1) To choose the recipients of the annual Hugo Awards
(Science Fiction Achievement Awards).
(2) To choose the locations and Committees for the
annual World Science Fiction Conventions (hereinafter referred to as
Worldcons).
(3) To attend those Worldcons.
(4) To choose the locations and Committees for the
occasional North American Science Fiction Conventions (hereinafter referred to
as NASFiCs).
(5) To perform such other activities as may be
necessary or incidental to the above purposes.
Section 1.3: Restrictions. No part of the Society’s net
earnings shall be paid to its members, officers, or other private persons
except in furtherance of the Society’s purposes. The Society shall not attempt
to influence legislation or any political campaign for public office. Should
the Society dissolve, its assets shall be distributed by the current Worldcon
Committee or the appropriate court having jurisdiction, exclusively for
charitable purposes. In this section, references to the Society include the
Mark Protection Committee and all other agencies of the Society but not
convention bidding or operating committees.
Section 1.4: Membership. The Membership of WSFS shall
consist of all people who have paid membership dues to the Committee of the
current Worldcon.
Section
1.5: Memberships.
1.5.1: Each Worldcon
shall offer supporting and attending memberships.
1.5.2: The rights of
supporting members of a Worldcon include the right to receive all of its
generally distributed publications.
1.5.3: The rights of
attending members of a Worldcon include the rights of supporting members plus
the right of general attendance at said Worldcon and at the WSFS Business
Meeting held thereat.
1.5.4: Members of
WSFS who cast a site-selection ballot with the required fee shall be supporting
members of the selected Worldcon.
1.5.5: Voters have
the right to convert to attending membership in the selected Worldcon within
ninety (90) days of its selection, for an additional fee set by its committee.
This fee must not exceed two (2) times the site-selection fee and must not
exceed the difference between the site-selection fee and the fee for new
attending members.
1.5.6: The Worldcon
Committee shall make provision for persons to become supporting members for no
more than one hundred and twenty-five percent (125%) of the site-selection fee,
or such higher amount as has been approved by the Business Meeting, until a
cutoff date no earlier than ninety (90) days before their Worldcon.
1.5.7: Other
memberships and fees shall be at the discretion of the Worldcon Committee.
Section 1.6: Authority. Authority and responsibility
for all matters concerning the Worldcon, except those reserved herein to WSFS,
shall rest with the Worldcon Committee, which shall act in its own name and not
in that of WSFS.
Section
1.7: The Mark Protection Committee.
1.7.1: There shall be
a Mark Protection Committee of WSFS, which shall be responsible for
registration and protection of the marks used by or under the authority of
WSFS.
1.7.2: The Mark
Protection Committee shall submit to the Business Meeting at each Worldcon a
report of its activities since the previous Worldcon, including a statement of
income and expense.
1.7.3: The Mark
Protection Committee shall hold a meeting at each Worldcon after the end of the
Business Meeting, at a time and place announced at the Business Meeting.
1.7.4: The Mark
Protection Committee shall determine and elect its own officers.
Section
1.8: Membership of the Mark Protection Committee.
1.8.1: The Mark
Protection Committee shall consist of:
(1) One (1) member appointed to
serve at the pleasure of each future selected Worldcon Committee and each of
the two (2) immediately preceding Worldcon Committees
(2) One (1) member appointed to
serve at the pleasure of each future selected NASFiC Committee and for each
Committee of a NASFIC held in the previous two years, and
(3) Nine (9) members elected
three (3) each year to staggered three-year terms by the Business Meeting.
1.8.2: No more than
three elected members may represent any single North American region, as
defined in Section 1.8.5. Each elected member shall represent the region (if
any) in which the member resided at the time they were elected.
1.8.3: Newly elected
members take their seats, and the term of office ends for elected and appointed
members whose terms expire that year, at the end of the Business Meeting.
1.8.4: If vacancies
occur in elected memberships in the Committee, the remainder of the position's
term may be filled by the Business Meeting, and until then temporarily filled
by the Committee.
1.8.5: To ensure
equitable distribution of representation,
(1) Western:
(2) Central: Central America, the islands of the
Caribbean,
(3) Eastern: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Quebec, and all
states, provinces, and territories eastward including the District of Columbia,
St. Pierre et Miquelon, Bermuda, and the Bahamas.
Article
2 - Powers and Duties of Worldcon Committees
Section 2.1: Duties. Each
Worldcon Committee shall, in accordance with this Constitution, provide for
(1) administering the Hugo
Awards,
(2) administering any future
Worldcon or NASFIC site selection required, and
(3) holding a WSFS Business
Meeting.
Section 2.2: Marks. Every Worldcon and NASFIC Committee shall
include the following notice in each of its publications:
"World Science Fiction Society",
"WSFS", "World Science Fiction Convention",
"Worldcon", "NASFiC", and "Hugo Award" are
service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary
society.
Section 2.3: Official
Representative. Each future selected Worldcon
Committee shall designate an official representative to the Business Meeting to
answer questions about their Worldcon.
Section 2.4: Distribution of
Rules. The current Worldcon Committee
shall print copies of the WSFS Constitution, together with an explanation of
proposed changes approved but not yet ratified, and copies of the Standing
Rules. The Committee shall distribute
these documents to all WSFS members at a point between nine and three months
prior to the Worldcon, and shall also distribute them to all WSFS members in
attendance at the Worldcon upon registration.
Section 2.5: Bid
Presentations. Each Worldcon Committee shall
provide a reasonable opportunity for bona fide bidding committees for
the Worldcon to be selected the following year to make presentations.
Section 2.6: Incapacity of
Committees. With sites being selected two
(2) years in advance, there are at least two selected current or future
Worldcon Committees at all times. If one
of these should be unable to perform its duties, the other selected current or
future Worldcon Committee shall determine what action to take, by consulting
the Business Meeting or by mail poll of WSFS if there is sufficient time, or by
decision of the Committee if there is not sufficient time. Where a site and Committee are chosen by a Business
Meeting or Worldcon Committee pursuant to this section, they are not restricted
by exclusion zone or other qualifications.
Section 2.7: Membership
Pass-along. Within ninety (90) days after a Worldcon, the
administering Committee shall, except where prohibited by local law, forward
its best information as to the names and postal addresses of all of its
Worldcon members to the Committee of the next Worldcon.
Section 2.8: Financial Openness. Any member of WSFS shall have the right,
under reasonable conditions, to examine the financial records and books of
account of the current Worldcon or NASFiC Committee, all future selected
Worldcon or NASFiC Committees, the two immediately preceding Worldcon
Committees, and the Committees of any NASFiCs held in the previous two years.
Section
2.9: Financial Reports.
2.9.1: Each future
selected Worldcon or NASFiC Committee shall
submit an annual financial report, including a statement of income and expenses,
to each WSFS Business Meeting after the Committee's selection.
2.9.2: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee shall submit a report on its
cumulative surplus/loss at the next Business Meeting after its convention.
2.9.3: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee should dispose of surplus funds
remaining after accounts are settled for its convention for the benefit of WSFS
as a whole.
2.9.4: In the event
of a surplus, the Worldcon or NASFiC
Committee, or any alternative organizational entity established to oversee and
disburse that surplus, shall file annual financial reports regarding the
disbursement of that surplus at each year's Business Meeting, until the surplus
is totally expended or an amount equal to the original surplus has been
disbursed.
Article
3 - Hugo Awards
Section 3.1:
Introduction. Selection of the Hugo Awards shall be made as provided
in this Article.
Section
3.2: General.
3.2.1: Unless
otherwise specified, Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science
fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar
year.
3.2.2: A work
originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible
for the year in which it is first issued in English translation.
3.2.3: The Business
Meeting may by a 3/4 vote provide that works originally published outside the
United States of America and first published in the United States of America in
the current year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards given in the following
year.
3.2.4: A work shall
not be eligible if in a prior year it received sufficient nominations to appear
on the final award ballot.
3.2.5: Publication
date, or cover date in the case of a dated periodical, takes precedence over
copyright date.
3.2.6: Works
appearing in a series are eligible as individual works, but the series as a
whole is not eligible. However, a work appearing in a number of parts shall be
eligible for the year of the final part.
3.2.7: In the written
fiction categories, an author may withdraw a version of a work from consideration
if the author feels that the version is not representative of what that author
wrote.
3.2.8: The Worldcon
Committee shall not consider previews, promotional trailers, commercials,
public service announcements, or other extraneous material when determining the
length of a work. Running times of dramatic presentations shall be based on
their first general release.
3.2.9: The Worldcon
Committee may relocate a story into a more appropriate category if it feels
that it is necessary, provided that the length of the story is within the
lesser of five thousand (5,000) words or twenty percent (20%) of the new
category limits.
3.2.10: The Worldcon
Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate
category if it feels that it is necessary, provided that the length of the work
is within twenty percent (20%) of the new category boundary.
3.2.11: The Worldcon
Committee is responsible for all matters concerning the Awards.
Section
3.3: Categories.
3.3.1: Best
Novel. A science fiction or fantasy story of forty thousand (40,000) words or
more.
3.3.2: Best
Novella. A science fiction or fantasy story of between seventeen thousand
five hundred (17,500) and forty thousand (40,000) words.
3.3.3: Best
Novelette. A science fiction or fantasy story of between seven
thousand five hundred (7,500) and seventeen thousand five hundred (1 7,500)
words.
3.3.4: Best
Short Story. A science fiction or fantasy story of less than seven
thousand five hundred (7,500) words.
3.3.5: Best
Related Work. Any work whose subject is related to the field of science
fiction, fantasy, or fandom, appearing for the first time in book form during the previous calendar year or which has been substantially modified during the previous
calendar year, and which is either non-fiction or, if fictional, is
noteworthy primarily for aspects other than the fictional text, and which is not eligible in any other category.
3.3.6. Best Graphic Story. Any science fiction
or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in the
previous calendar year.
Provided
that this category shall be automatically repealed unless ratified by the 2012
Business Meeting.
3.3.7: Best
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Any theatrical
feature or other production,
with a complete running time of more than 90 minutes, in any medium of
dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects that has been publicly
presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous
calendar year.
3.3.8: Best
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Any television program or other production, with a complete running
time of 90 minutes or less, in any medium of dramatized science fiction,
fantasy or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time
in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.
3.3.9: Best
Editor Short Form. The editor of at least four (4) anthologies, collections or magazine
issues (or their equivalent in other media) primarily
devoted to science fiction and / or fantasy, at least one of which was
published in the previous calendar year.
3.3.10: Best
Editor Long Form. The editor of at least four (4) novel-length works primarily devoted
to science fiction and / or fantasy published in the previous calendar year
that do not qualify as works under 3.3.8.
[A Constitutional Amendment which created Sections
3.3.8 and 3.3.9 adopted at L.A.con IV included the
following proviso, which could effectively repeal Sections 3.3.8 and 3.3.9:
Provided that this amendment
may be repealed by a simple majority vote at either the 2009 or 2010 Main
Business Meeting.
If this amendment is repealed
in this way, the following amendments will be made to the Constitution:
1. Section 3.3.9 will revert
to:
3.3.9: Best Professional Editor. The editor of any professional publication devoted primarily to science
fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year. A professional publication is one which had
an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.
2. Section 3.3.10 will be
removed.
3. Sections 3.3.11 to 3.3.16 will
be renumbered to 3.3.10 to 3.3.15, unless other changes have been made in the
interim which would affect these numbers.]
3.3.11: Best
Professional Artist. An illustrator whose work has appeared in a
professional publication in the field of science fiction or fantasy during the
previous calendar year.
3.3.12: Best
Semiprozine. Any
generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction or
fantasy which by the close of the previous calendar year has published four (4)
or more issues (or the equivalent in other media),
at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, and which in
the previous calendar year met at least two (2) of the following criteria:
(1) had an average press run
of at least one thousand (1000) copies per issue,
(2) paid its contributors
and/or staff in other than copies of the publication,
(3) provided at least half
the income of any one person,
(4) had at least fifteen percent (15%) of its total
space occupied by advertising,
(5) announced itself to be a
semiprozine.
3.3.13: Best
Fanzine. Any
generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction,
fantasy, or related subjects which by the close of the previous calendar year
has published four (4) or more issues (or the
equivalent in other media), at least one (1) of which appeared in
the previous calendar year, and which does not qualify as a semiprozine.
3.3.14: Best Fan
Writer. Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines or fanzines or in
generally available electronic media during the previous calendar year.
3.3.15: Best Fan
Artist. An artist or cartoonist whose work has appeared through publication in
semiprozines or fanzines or through other public display during the previous
calendar year.
3.3.16: Additional
Category. Not
more than one special category may be created by the current Worldcon Committee
with nomination and voting to be the same as for the permanent categories. The Worldcon Committee is not required to
create any such category; such action by a Worldcon Committee should be under
exceptional circumstances only; and the special category created by one
Worldcon Committee shall not be binding on following Committees. Awards created under this paragraph shall be
considered to be Hugo Awards.
Section 3.4: Extended
Eligibility. In the event that a potential
Hugo Award nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its
first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an
additional year by a three fourths (3/4) vote of the intervening Business
Meeting of WSFS.
Section 3.5: Name and
Design. The Hugo Award shall continue
to be standardized on the rocket ship design of Jack McKnight and Ben Jason as refined by
Peter Weston. Each Worldcon Committee may select its own
choice of base design. The name (Hugo Award) and the design shall not be
extended to any other award.
Section 3.6: "No
Award". At the discretion of an
individual Worldcon Committee, if the lack of nominations or final votes in a
specific category shows a marked lack of interest in that category on the part
of the voters, the Award in that category shall be canceled for that year.
Section
3.7: Nominations.
3.7.1: The Worldcon
Committee shall conduct a poll to select the nominees for the final Award
voting. Each member of either the
administering or the immediately preceding Worldcon as of January 31 of the
current calendar year shall be allowed to make up to five (5) equally weighted
nominations in every category.
3.7.2: The Committee
shall include with each nomination ballot a copy of Article 3 of the WSFS
Constitution and any applicable extensions of eligibility under Sections 3.2.3
or 3.4.
3.7.3: Nominations
shall be solicited only for the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for
Best New Writer.
Section
3.8: Tallying of Nominations.
3.8.1: Except as
provided below, the final Award ballots shall list in each category the five
eligible nominees receiving the most nominations. If there is a tie including fifth place, all
the tied eligible nominees shall be listed.
3.8.2: The Worldcon
Committee shall determine the eligibility of nominees and assignment to the
proper category of works nominated in more
than one category.
3.8.3: Any
nominations for "No Award" shall be disregarded.
3.8.4: If a nominee
appears on a nomination ballot more than once in any one category, only one
nomination shall be counted in that category.
3.8.5: No nominee
shall appear on the final Award ballot if it received fewer nominations than
five percent (5%) of the number of ballots listing one or more nominations in
that category, except that the first three eligible nominees, including any
ties, shall always be listed.
3.8.6: The Committee shall move a nomination from another
category to the work’s default category only if the member has made fewer than
five (5) nominations in the default category.
3.8.7: If a work receives a nomination in its default
category, and if the Committee relocates the work under its authority under
subsection 3.2.9 or 3.2.10, the Committee shall count the nomination even if
the member already has made five (5) nominations in the more-appropriate
category.
Section 3.9: Notification and
Acceptance. Worldcon Committees shall use
reasonable efforts to notify the nominees, or in the case of deceased or
incapacitated persons, their heirs, assigns, or legal guardians, in each
category prior to the release of such information. Each nominee shall be asked at that time to
either accept or decline the nomination.
If the nominee declines nomination, that nominee shall not appear on the
final ballot. In addition, in the Best Professional Artist category, the
acceptance should include citations of at least three (3) works first published
in the eligible year.
Section
3.10: Voting.
3.10.1: Final Award
voting shall be by balloting in advance of the
Worldcon. Postal mail shall always be acceptable. Only WSFS members may
vote. Final Award ballots shall include name, signature, address, and
membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter.
3.10.2: Final Award
ballots shall list only the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best
New Writer.
3.10.3: "No
Award" shall be listed in each category of Hugo Award on the final ballot.
3.10.4: The Committee
shall, on or with the final ballot, designate, for each nominee in the printed
fiction categories, one or more books, anthologies, or magazines in which the
nominee appeared (including the book publisher or magazine issue date(s)).
3.10.5: Voters shall
indicate the order of their preference for the nominees in each category.
Section
3.11: Tallying of Votes.
3.11.1: In each category, tallying shall be as described in
Section 6.3. ‘No Award’ shall be treated as a nominee. If all remaining
nominees are tied, no tie-breaking shall be done and the nominees excluding No
Award shall be declared joint winners.
3.11.2: No Award shall
be given whenever the total number of valid ballots cast for a specific
category (excluding those cast for "No Award" in first place) is less
than twenty-five percent (25%) of the total number of final Award ballots
received.
3.11.3: “No Award" shall be the run-off candidate.
3.11.4: The complete
numerical vote totals, including all preliminary tallies for first, second, ...
places, shall be made public by the Worldcon Committee within ninety (90) days after
the Worldcon. During the same period the
nomination voting totals shall also be published, including in each category
the vote counts for at least the fifteen highest vote-getters and any other
candidate receiving a number of votes equal to at least five percent (5%) of
the nomination ballots cast in that category, but not including any candidate
receiving fewer than five votes.
Section 3.12: Exclusions. No member of the current Worldcon Committee or any
publications closely connected with a member of the Committee shall be eligible
for an Award. However, should the
Committee delegate all authority under this Article to a Subcommittee whose
decisions are irrevocable by the Worldcon Committee, then this exclusion shall
apply to members of the Subcommittee only.
Section 3.13: Retrospective
Hugos. A Worldcon held 50, 75, or 100
years after a Worldcon at which no Hugos were presented may conduct nominations
and elections for Hugos which would have been presented at that previous
Worldcon. Procedures shall be as for the
current Hugos. Categories receiving
insufficient numbers of nominations may be dropped. Once retrospective Hugos have been awarded
for a Worldcon, no other Worldcon shall present retrospective Hugos for that
Worldcon.
Article
4 - Future Worldcon Selection
Section
4.1: Voting.
4.1.1: WSFS shall
choose the location and Committee of the Worldcon to be held two (2) years from
the date of the current Worldcon.
4.1.2: Voting shall
be by written ballot cast either by mail or at the current Worldcon with
tallying as described in Section 6.3.
4.1.3: The current
Worldcon Committee shall administer the voting, collect the advance membership
fees, and turn over those funds to the winning Committee before the end of the
current Worldcon.
4.1.4: The
site-selection voting totals shall be announced at the Business Meeting and
published in the first or second Progress Report of the winning Committee, with
the by-mail and at-convention votes distinguished.
Section
4.2: Voter Eligibility.
4.2.1: Voting shall
be limited to WSFS members who have purchased at least a supporting membership
in the Worldcon whose site is being selected.
4.2.2: The supporting
membership rate shall be set by unanimous agreement of the current Worldcon
Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline.
If agreement is not reached, the default fee shall be the median (middle value)
of the US dollar fees used in the previous three (3) Worldcon site selections.
Section 4.3:
Non-Natural Persons. Corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities
may cast ballots, but only for "No Preference". "Guest of" memberships may only
cast "No Preference" ballots.
Memberships transferred to individual natural persons may cast
preferential ballots, provided that the transfer is accepted by the
administering convention.
Section 4.4:
Ballots. Site-selection ballots shall include name, signature, address, and
membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter. Each site-selection
ballot shall list the options "None of the Above"
and "No Preference" and provide for write-in votes, after the bidders
and with equal prominence. The supporting membership rate shall be listed on
all site-selection ballots.
Section 4.5: Tallying.
4.5.1: The name and address
information shall be separated from the ballots and the ballots counted only at
the Worldcon. Each bidding committee should provide at least two (2) tellers.
Each bidding committee may make a record of the name and address of every
voter.
4.5.2: A ballot voted with first or
only choice for "No Preference" shall be ignored for site selection.
A ballot voted with lower than first choice for "No Preference" shall
be ignored if all higher choices on the ballot have been eliminated in
preferential tallying.
4.5.3: "None of
the Above" shall be treated as a bid for
tallying, and shall be the run-off candidate.
4.5.4: All ballots
shall be initially tallied by their first preferences, even if cast for a bid
that the administering Committee has ruled ineligible. If no eligible bid
achieves a majority on the first round of tallying, then on the second round
all ballots for ineligible bids shall be redistributed to their first eligible
choices, and tallying shall proceed according to Section 6.3.
4.5.5: If "None
of the Above" wins, or if two or more bids are tied for first place at the
end of tallying, the duty of site selection shall devolve on the Business
Meeting of the current Worldcon. If the
Business Meeting is unable to decide by the end of the Worldcon, the Committee
for the following Worldcon shall make the selection without undue delay.
4.5.6: Where a site
and Committee are chosen by a Business Meeting or Worldcon Committee following
a win by ‘None of the Above’, they are not restricted
by exclusion zone or other qualifications.
4.5.7: Where a site and Committee are
chosen by a Business Meeting or Worldcon Committee following a tie in tallying,
they must select one of the tied bids.
Section
4.6: Bid Eligibility.
4.6.1: To be eligible
for site selection, a bidding committee must file the
following documents with the Committee that will administer the voting:
(1) an announcement of intent
to bid;
(2) adequate evidence of an
agreement with its proposed site's facilities, such as a conditional contract
or a letter of agreement;
(3) the rules under which the
Worldcon Committee will operate, including a specification of the term of
office of their chief executive officer or officers and the conditions and
procedures for the selection and replacement of such officer or officers.
4.6.2: The bidding
committee must supply written copies of these documents to any member of WSFS
on request.
4.6.3: For a bid to
be allowed on the printed ballot, the bidding committee must file the documents
specified above no later than 180 days prior to the official opening of the
administering convention.
4.6.4: To be eligible as a write-in, the bidding committee
must file the documents specified above by the close of the voting.
4.6.5: If no bids
meet these qualifications, the selection shall proceed as though "None of
the Above" had won.
Section 4.7: Site
Eligibility. A site shall be
ineligible if it is within five hundred (500) miles or eight hundred (800) kilometres of the site at which selection occurs.
Section
4.8: NASFiC
If the selected Worldcon site is not in North America,
there shall be a NASFiC in
4.8.1: Voting shall
be by written ballot administered by the following year’s Worldcon, if there is
no NASFiC in that year, or by the following year’s NASFiC, if there is one,
with ballots cast at the administering convention or by mail, and with only
members of the administering convention allowed to vote.
4.8.2: NASFiC
Committees shall make all reasonable efforts to avoid conflicts with Worldcon
dates.
4.8.3: The proposed
NASFiC supporting membership rate can be set by unanimous agreement of the
administering Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the
ballot deadline. If agreement is not reached, the default fee shall be the
median (middle value) of the US dollar fees used in the previous three (3)
Worldcon site selections.
4.8.4: If "None
of the Above" wins, or if no eligible bid files by the deadline, then no
NASFiC shall be held and any supporting membership payments collected for the
NASFiC site selection shall be refunded by the administering convention without
undue delay.
Article
5 - Powers of the Business Meeting
Section
5.1: WSFS Business Meetings.
5.1.1: Business
Meetings of WSFS shall be held at advertised times at each Worldcon.
5.1.2: The current
Worldcon Committee shall provide the Presiding Officer and Staff for each
Meeting.
5.1.3: Standing Rules
for the Governance of the Business Meeting and related activities may be
adopted or amended by a majority vote at any Business Meeting. Amendments to
Standing Rules shall take effect at the close of the Worldcon where they are
adopted; this rule may be suspended by a two-thirds (2/3) vote.
5.1.4: Meetings shall
be conducted in accordance with the provisions of (in descending order of
precedence) the WSFS Constitution; the Standing Rules; such other rules as may
be published in advance by the current Committee (which rules may be suspended
by the Business Meeting by the same procedure as a Standing Rule); the customs
and usages of WSFS (including the resolutions and rulings of continuing
effect); and the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised.
5.1.5: The quorum for
the Business Meeting shall be twelve members of the Society physically present.
Section 5.2: Continuation of
Committees. Except as
otherwise provided in this Constitution, any committee or other position created
by a Business Meeting shall lapse at the end of the next following Business
Meeting that does not vote to continue it.
Section 5.3: Constitutional
Pass-along. Within
two (2) months after the end of each Worldcon, the Business Meeting staff shall
send a copy of all changes to the Constitution and Standing Rules, and all
items awaiting ratification, to the next Worldcon Committee
Article
6 - Constitution
Section 6.1: Conduct. The conduct of the affairs of
WSFS shall be determined by this Constitution together with all ratified
amendments hereto and such Standing Rules as the Business Meeting shall adopt
for its own governance.
Section 6.2: Natural Persons. In all matters arising under
this Constitution, only natural persons may introduce business, nominate, or
vote, except as specifically provided otherwise in this Constitution. No person
may cast more than one vote on any issue or more than one ballot in any
election. This shall not be interpreted to prohibit delivery of ballots cast by
other eligible voters.
Section 6.3: Tallying
of Votes. Votes shall first be tallied by the
voter's first choices. If no majority is then obtained, the candidate who
places last in the initial tallying shall be eliminated and the ballots listing
it as first choice shall be redistributed on the basis of those ballots' second
choices. This process shall be repeated until a majority-vote winner is
obtained. If two or more candidates are tied for elimination during this
process, the candidate that received fewer first-place votes shall be
eliminated. If they are still tied, all the tied candidates shall be eliminated
together.
Section 6.4: Run-off.
After a tentative winner is determined, then unless the run-off candidate shall
be the sole winner, the following additional test shall be made. If the number
of ballots preferring the run-off candidate to the tentative winner is greater
than the number of ballots preferring the tentative winner to the run-off
candidate, then the run-off candidate shall be declared the winner of the
election.
Section 6.5: Amendment. The WSFS Constitution may be
amended by a motion passed by a simple majority at any Business Meeting but
only to the extent that such motion is ratified by a simple majority at the
Business Meeting of the subsequent Worldcon.
Section 6.6: Commencement. Any change to the Constitution
of WSFS shall take effect at the end of the Worldcon at which such change is
ratified, except that no change imposing additional costs or financial
obligations upon Worldcon Committees shall be binding upon any Committee
already selected at the time when it takes effect.
The
above copy of the World Science Fiction Society’s Constitution is hereby Certified to be True, Correct, and Complete:
Kevin Standlee, Chair
Linda
Deneroff, Secretary
2009 Business Meeting