IACR 2001 Election Deadline Extended to 14 December

IMPORTANT

Because of postal delays, the Election Committee has extended the deadline for returning your ballot in the IACR 2001 election by one month. THE NEW DEADLINE IS 14 DECEMBER.

• If you have received your ballot, vote now. Do not delay.
• If you have not received your ballot, vote as soon as it arrives.

BACKGROUND

Ballots were mailed to more than 1000 members from Santa Barbara on 2 and 3 October. First Class and Drop Ship Air Mail was used. It was clear to the Election Committee almost immediately that there are problems with the mails. We believe that the September and ongoing anthrax attacks have perturbed the world's postal systems. Some outgoing mail was delayed, and we expect that the return of some ballots will also be delayed.

After consultation with the Board of Directors we have decided to extend the election by four weeks. We believe that this extension will allow many ballots to be counted which otherwise would have been late. We know that this is an extraordinary measure, but we feel that it is better to adapt to extraordinary circumstances than to be inflexible about schedule. The election will be completed and the results announced before 31 December so that the newly elected officers can take their positions effective 1 January 2002. We are committed to running an election which is fair, representative, orderly, and responsive to the needs of IACR members.

To help us measure the problem, members whose ballots have not yet arrived are invited to send an email to iacr@cs.fsu.edu with the subject "Ballot not received".

Sincerely yours,
--IACR Election Committee
Tom Berson (Chair)
Yvo Desmedt (Returning Officer)
Rebecca Wright