January Commons
January Commons will be Friday, January 15, 2016, 7:30 p.m. at the home of John and JoAnna Motylewski, 658 53rd Street, Brooklyn, New York
DIRECTIONS
By subway
R train to 53rd Street station. Walk uphill to #658; use downstairs 1st floor entrance.
By car
From Bronx or Manhattan:
Take Battery Tunnel, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge or Triboro Bridge to BQE (Rt 278) westbound. Exit at 39th Street. At the end of the ramp, turn left, then turn left again at the next corner. You are now heading east on 40th Street. Go 2 blocks to 4th Ave and turn right. At 52nd Street, turn left and go down to 7th Ave. Turn right. Then turn right on 53rd Street. Number 658 will be on the left. You may need to take some time to find parking.
From Queens and Long Island:
Take the LIE or your best route to the BQE (Rt 278) westbound. Proceed as above. Alternately, take the Southern State Pkwy to the Belt Pkwy and proceed as below.
From Southern Brooklyn or from Staten Island:
Take the Belt Pkwy or the Gowanus Expwy to the BQE (Rt 278) eastbound. Exit at 38th Street. At the end of the ramp, turn right onto 4th Ave. Proceed to 52nd Street and turn left. Take this up to 7th Ave and turn right. Then turn right on 53rd Street. Number 658 will be on the left. You may need to take some time to find parking.
Viceregal Succession
As a reminder, the election for Østgarðr’s new Viceroy and Vicereine is coming soon. There is one slate of candidates, Suder Saaren and Lada Monguligan, and a polling ballot will be sent out to all paid members some time in January. Even though there’s only one slate of candidates, we need at least 50% of the ballots to be returned in order for the poll to be considered valid. Ballots of members 14 and up will be tallied toward the outcome. Ballots from those under 14 will be included for determining validity, but not for determining the outcome. The ballots will state a deadline, which will be between 30-45 days from the time they’re mailed.
After that, ballots will be tallied by the Branch Polling Deputy, a Regional Seneschal, and the Kingdom Seneschal (or designate). Talliers must not reside in the branch conducting the polling or have any other conflict of interest regarding the polling. Returned ballots may only be viewed by the talliers, the Kingdom Seneschal and/or the Kingdom Seneschal’s designates, and The Crown. The outcome of the polling will be determined by a simple majority of valid returned ballots. If a polling fails to result in a simple majority, the disposition of the polling falls to The Crown. (Which it technically is anyway….)
(The Østgarðr Bylaws specify a Borda count, not a majority, but when there are fewer than three slates of candidates, they’re equivalent.)
Relevant Law
The Bylaws of the Crown Province of Østgarðr; see section II.C
Current East Kingdom Law; see section VII.C.
The Governing Documents of the SCA; see section V.A.1.