..... "How is the vote conducted. Mail in ballots or proxies, At the Convention etc. Does a member have to be present to vote in an election. I am just curious regarding any reasons that a member may not voice their choices. Is it lazyness or inconvenience or inability to attend a convention etc."

William; Your questions are valid ones and I will do my best to answer them honestly and directly with no window-dressing or editorializing.... (well maybe a little at the end)*g*

Ballots are sent to each individual member via the U.S. Postal Service. Usually they are enclosed with the quarterly magazine.

No votes are presently taken at the convention. At one time, in the early beginning, votes were cast at our Annual Meetings.

No, a member does not have to be present to vote. Voting is done by mail ballot and the ballots are sent to an Election Chairman who appoints a committee to count the ballots.

Your last question is hard to answer... and I'll just offer my speculative reply. My guess is that most members do not care about the internal politics of the organization or who is runing the ship. All most of them want to do is buy, sell, trade chips and tokens and silver strikes and "have fun." My assumption is that they are content to leave it up to others to handle the nuts and bolts of the organization. Attending the conventions is merely one of the activities that is sponsored by the club in which many people gather to renew friendships and develop new friendships and to meet those with whom they have been in correspondence with during the year(s) and to accumulate more treasures for their collections. Other than campaigning by individuals for office, or campaigning by Chapters to add new members, the conventions are set up to be educational in nature and virtually no binding voting takes place on important or controversial issues.

I hope this reply answers most of your unanswered questions ... or questions from other bb readers who share your similar inquiry.