July 11, 2013 – Voting members of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) have chosen three new candidates and six incumbents to the ANA Board of Governors for the 2013-15 election term.
New members Ralph Ross, Jeff Swindling and Laura Sperber will join Gary Adkins, Scott Rottinghaus, Mike Ellis and Greg Lyon on the Board of Governors along with President-elect Walter Ostromecki and Vice President-elect Jeff Garrett. Both Ostromecki and Garrett ran unopposed. In accordance with ANA bylaws, ballots for uncontested offices are not tabulated. Only the first vote is counted in both of those races.
For President, votes
Walter Ostromecki, 1 (Encino, CA)
For Vice President, votes
Jeff Garrett, 1 (Lexington, KY)
Successful Candidates for Governor, votes
Gary Adkins, 3,220 (Minneapolis, MN)
Scott T. Rottinghaus, 2,859 (New London, CT)
Dr. Ralph W. Ross, 2,797 (Sugar Land, TX)
Mike Ellis, 2,782 (Camilla, GA)
Greg Lyon, 2,723 (St. Louis, MO)
Jeff Swindling, 2,591 (Jacksonville, FL)
Laura Sperber, 2,569 (Lincroft, NJ)
Unsuccessful Candidates for Governor Votes
Tom Mulvaney, 2,389 (Lexington, KY)
William D. Hyder, 2,095 (Scotts Valley, CA)
Oded Paz, 1,916 (Arco, ID)
Scott Barman, 1,891 (Rockville, MD)
Steve D’Ippolito, 1,862 (Peyton, CO)
Jeff Wuller, 1,786 (Glendale, AZ)
Richard Jozefiak, 1,543 (Madison, AL)
In the event that any of the new board members cannot serve, the next-highest vote-getter will fill that seat for the rest of the two-year term.
The new board members will be sworn-in at the annual ANA Banquet on Aug. 16 at the World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Ill. Ostromecki will become the Association’s 58th president, succeeding current President Tom Hallenbeck.
This election marks the first time that ANA members were given the option to vote by either electronic or paper ballot. Out of 5,542 total votes, 5,037 were cast by paper ballot while another 505 members voted electronically. A total of 5,041 paper ballots were returned, but four of those were invalid ballots and thus not counted. In 2011, 23 ballots were deemed invalid; in 2009, 44 ballots were declared invalid.
Members who voted electronically were also asked to rate the online voting system; 446 members, representing 88.3 percent of the online voters, rated online voting with the top two ratings.
Comparatively, there were 5,850 ballots returned in the 2011 election. The 2009 election saw 8,479 ballots returned. In those elections, one ballot was mailed to every Association member who was eligible to vote. In the 2013 election, members had the option to sign-up for electronic voting; members who did not sign up for electronic voting were sent a paper ballot.
Overall, 20,723 ANA members were eligible to vote in this election; 26.74 percent of eligible voters participated. To be eligible to vote, members have to be at least 13 years old and a member of the Association for at least one year as of March 31 of the election year.
The election was conducted and tabulated by Survey & Ballot Systems of Eden Prairie, Minn. Results of the election were announced via an online broadcast on the ANA’s YouTube page and on Money.org.
For more information on the ANA please visit its website.