and what happens this year does not change, lessen or increase what has happened in the past. The hope is to increase involvement & participation by ALL members in the process. It may work, it may not. While you may consider it "dumbing down" the process, my personal opinion is that this new method just simplifies it. And if 200 members participate, wouldn't you agree that the results would be more representative than if 60 members participated? I wouldn't consider the prior process "elitist" as everyone had the same opportunity, but the hope is that more people (including myself) will participate. We shall see...

Steve B