> -----Original Message-----
> But the text of the ballot is clear, and after the election is already under way,
> it cannot be changed or explained or reinterpreted to mean anything but
> what it explicitly says.

That's just not true, Tapani.
When you make a mistake, you fix it. You made a mistake.
It has been done before. We had to withdraw a ballot some years ago
Indeed, on all of our ballots we have allowed people to alter their vote before the deadline.
Please send out a properly designed ballot.
Otherwise the election shall be contested and we will go before the ombudsman and the whole thing will be delated. 

--MM


> 
> So the rules are simple:
> 
> If you want to vote for any candidates for council you cannot simultaneously
> vote for NOTA. If you do, your ballot will be considered invalid.
> 
> Likewise, you cannot both vote for a Chair candidate and NOTA for Chair at
> the same time.
> 
> So: if you have already voted and marked both NOTA and some candidates,
> please vote again lest your ballot be considered invalid.
> 
> There's nothing in the charter that precludes this, even if other, arguably
> better alternatives exist. But we cannot change rules when the election has
> already began.
> 
> As for what voting NOTA would mean: absent anything in the charter or any
> predetermined rule, it can only mean same as abstaining, in the sense that it
> would not affect the election outcome.
> 
> NOTA votes would be counted and counts published, just like blank votes are
> counted separately from invalid votes in many national elections, nothing
> more.
> 
> Anything else would be changing the rules mid-election, and we can't do
> that.
> 
> I agree that the procedure could be better and it definitely should have been
> made clear in advance. It should also have been explicitly codified by the EC,
> and I will take it upon myself to do that before next election.
> 
> But now, let's vote.
> 
> --
> Tapani Tarvainen