Please scroll down to view the ballot, the proposed changes to the ByLaws, and the candidates' bios.

Your ballot will be emailed to you no later than June 21st. Please check your mail and contact us if you do not receive it. Voting ends midnight Hawaii time on June 25, 2018.

Ballot:

We are asking for your vote on TWO open positions within the Coffee Party Board of Directors as well as a change to the ByLaws. Please vote yes, no or abstain for each one.

1. Werner Hager, Director
2. Vince Lamb, Director
3. Amendment to the Coffee Party USA Bylaws Article III Section 6: In any election year, if there is only one qualified Director candidate recommended for a Board position, the Board of Directors may appoint rather than exercise the election process. When there are two or more qualified candidates recommended for a position, the Board will exercise the membership election process.

(end ballot)
-------

Proposed Bylaws changes to take effect

July 1, 2018

Changes are in italics.

Article III: Members

Section 6. Annual Membership Vote. Matters required by law, by the Articles of Incorporation, or by these Bylaws, to be put to the membership for decision, and other matters which the Board of Directors determines should be put to the membership for decision, shall be considered by the membership by means of a vote over the Internet in May or June of each year. Notice stating the matters to be considered and method of voting will be sent to all members via the email address on file with the Organization at least fifteen (15) calendar days prior to the final date on which votes will be accepted. Only those individuals who are current members as of March 31st and continue in good standing as of the date of the membership vote shall be entitled to vote.

Proposed addition:

In any election year, if there is only one qualified Director candidate recommended for a Board position, the Board of Directors may appoint rather than exercise the election process. When there are two or more qualified candidates recommended for a position, the Board will exercise the membership election process.

Article IV: Board of Directors

Section 4. (e)

Proposed: ADD as first sentence: If the Organization receives more than one qualified candidate for a position, an election will be scheduled accordingly:

On or before June 10 of each year, candidates will be presented for each position, in such form as shall be approved by the Leadership Development Work Group. The candidate presentations shall be posted online. On or before a date to be determined by the Board between June 10 and the first date for voting, the Organization shall send an e-mail to all members of the Organization in good standing with instructions as to how they may cast their votes electronically for candidates of Board positions. All electronic votes must be cast by 11:59 pm Hawaii Time on the third Tuesday of June.

-------

Candidates

Werner Hager

Werner lives south of Pittsburgh, PA where he works as a scientist supporting the

Department of Energy and U.S. Navy. He and his wife homeschool their three kids, ages nine, fourteen, and seventeen. A strong advocate on expanding STEM based educational options for young students in southwestern Pennsylvania, Werner is an active volunteer, mentor, and coach to FIRST Lego League, FIRST Robotics, and SeaPerch programs.

Werner is a strong advocate of civic empowerment - where the best results of government occur when all people are informed and actively engaged. Werner has enjoyed working on numerous diverse groups within the Coffee Party, contributing to development of several position papers in Strategy and Implementation, helping to test and launch the VoterBuddy campaign, and serving as the Work Group Chair for Public Relations.

Outside of his volunteer efforts, Werner is an avid writer, hiker, and freelance barista to his family.

Vince Lamb

Vince has been involved with the Coffee Party since its beginning. He first became involved with the Coffee Party in February 2010, when his wife introduced him to the viral video introducing the movement and the Join the Coffee Party Movement Facebook page. He and his wife led the first face-to-face meeting of the Ann Arbor Coffee Party on March 13, 2010. By the end of the year, Vince joined national leadership as a social media expert. In 2011, he was appointed to the Transition Team, where he served as Secretary while helping the Coffee Party prepare for its first elected Board of Directors. He left leadership in 2012 while maintaining his involvement as a volunteer, serving as a member of the Board Development Work Group and moderating the Coffee Party's Michigan pages and groups on Facebook during 2012 and 2013.

Vince joined the Board of Directors in 2014 when he was appointed as Secretary. He became Director of Partnerships in 2015, overseeing relationships between the Coffee Party and other non-profit organizations that shared the Coffee Party's goals. He returned to being Secretary in 2017 while still serving as Director of Partnerships.

He is a full-time faculty member at Oakland Community College in Michigan, where he teaches Environmental Science, Geology, Biology, and Human Structure and Function. He has also served as Department Chair, Campus Senate Chair, and College Senate Secretary as well as a member of several committees. He won Outstanding Faculty Member for his campus in 2014, which required a nomination from his students and a vote of his peers.

In addition to teaching and the Coffee Party, Vince has been a precinct delegate for the Michigan Democratic Party since 2010 and has volunteered for a political campaign in every even-numbered year since 2008. He writes a blog, Crazy Eddie's Motie News, where he discusses politics, science, technology, the environment, education, and entertainment.

He and his wife love their three dachshunds, Cletus, Peanut, and Oscar.