UEFL Draft 2014: Appeals Board Replacement Election

Due to voting irregularities, the 2014 UEFL Appeals Board election ballot has been replaced with the following form. This decision was rendered by the senior members of the 2014 UEFL Appeals Board in response to a grievance filed concerning abnormal voting activities observed.

After presenting the topic to the Board, we have determined a revote is in order. Forensic analysis of the electronic data during the previous vote suggests and confirms undue spamming or ballot box stuffing activity was involved. Joe Gravina, the primarily accused, issued the following statement:

I am writing to you to discuss the huge increase in votes that I received in the last day of the appeals board voting.

As I stated in my application, I am an avid follower of this site. I am also the Director of Training for a 100 member umpire organization in the state of Rhode Island. I use your site on a weekly (sometimes daily basis) to share out Case Plays, situation handling, and rules training information.

Because I have done this, I would say approximately 50% of my umpires now see the items on your site faster than I do and ask me questions about it before I even get a chance to look. When my name went up for the voting, it quickly spread around my organization and brought the vote total into the high 70's that were seen just prior to the last day of voting.

On the last day, one of my umpires took it upon himself to post the voting to his facebook account. This is where things got out of hand. I am very aware that this was not the purpose of the voting and that it has damaged the integrity of the vote. I am sorry that I have put you or anyone else associated with the site in a difficult position to rule on this matter. I apologize to the other applicants of the position for they way in which this played out. I know I can be of great assistance to you and the site in matters of appeals. However, if you feel it is appropriate, I will withdraw my application to the appeals board in the interest of the site's integrity.

The revote process is now live and will extend through Monday, March 31. All votes under this platform will be analyzed for validity and user uniqueness. Do not vote more than once; suspicious or duplicate votes or voting patterns are subject to disqualification at the Commissioner's sole discretion.
Click here to review candidate statements. Thank you for your patience and understanding.