Earlier, Ken Sletten came out with a clarification on the voting procedure
regarding the SIGIMAGE ballot.

We indeed, did have a loophole.  Fortunately, only a handful of people took
advantage of it, and most have replied to our request to void their existing
ballots so that they can be re-entered.  Those not replying to our request
will have their ballots voided with no further notice.

Here is a simple clarification:  Each voter has 10 votes (consider them any
currency value, if you will), and there are 60 items one can cast those
votes on.

After the ballot is shown, the user (that would be you) enters a numerical
value representing the number of votes for various ballot items.  You may
enter negative numbers, but these do not offset the positives (the
loophole).  For example, if a user enters their votes for three ballot items
as follows:

  Item 1     7 votes
  Item 2     5 votes
  Item 3    -4 votes

The loophole saw this as 8 votes, when in actuality, it would be 16 votes,
and thus an invalid ballot.  We take the absolute value of each item, and
then total it up - we do not take the absolute value of the total.  This
means that we take the absolute value of the three items above individually,
coming up with 7+5+4=16.

Likewise, if a user were to enter their votes as follows:

  Item 1     -6 votes
  Item 2     -7 votes
  Item 3     23 votes

This would also show as 36 (6+7+23=36), not 10 - and again, an invalid
ballot.

So the upshot is, that if you vote, the absolute sum total of votes (taking
the absolute value of each item voted on) must be less than or equal to 10,
and in no event be zero or less.

The ballot has been updated with edits to ensure this policy.  After
entering your ballot, you will be shown the number of votes cast.  If you
cast more than 10, you will be required to go back (with the BACK button on
your browser) and fix your ballot. (You will not be given the opportunity to
submit it).  If the number of votes falls within the acceptable range of 1
to 10, then you can either go back and work on the ballot some more, or
submit your ballot as it is.

We hope that this clears things up a bit.

Best Regards,
Joe Geiser

====================================================
Joe Geiser, President and Senior Partner
CSI Business Solutions, LLC
Phone: +1(215) 945.8100   Fax: +1(215) 943.8408
Toll Free (US/Canada): (877) 945.8100
====================================================