PDF, DOC, RTF ballots are trufen.net.
TAFF ballot in HTML
is on Dave Langford's
TAFF page.
You can also find the "Weekly TAFF News" with the results from the 2003 and 2004 races.
What is TAFF? From the TAFF ballot form: "The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular fans familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. TAFF exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted on by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than $3 or £2. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible."
This time around, the TAFF delegate will travel to Interaction, the 2005 Worldcon in Glasgow.
Who may vote? Any fan who's been active in fandom prior to April 2003 who contributes a donation of at least $3 or £2. (Note that James Bacon can accept cheques in dollars, pounds sterling, and euros; Randy Byers, dollars.) If you don't think Randy Byers or James Bacon will recognize your name, then you should include a reference - someone other than a candidate, a nominator, or a fan group, who knows your name and they can write to. Include their address.
Some notes by Chaz Boston Baden
Why are you standing for TAFF? From my platform: I've met many charming Britfans and European fen. I'd love to meet the rest of them. As TAFF winner, I'd cover all the fannish territory I can fit into three or four weeks, and photograph every fan I meet to share your faces with the rest of fandom; and publish a trip report illustrated with photos and fan art when I return home.
I'd been thinking about TAFF for a while - I read an article in FLOSS that got me thinking about it seriously - but didn't think they knew me in Britain and the rest of Europe well enough for them to want me to come over. (TAFF is like a giant fannish game of "Red Rover.") Then I noticed that I was getting a number of caption data for Hazel's Picture Gallery from Brit fans, and realized that a growing number of overseas fans were using my website as a reference. (Thanks in part to Vincent Docherty sending me a bunch of photos of happy fans at some of the cons he's been to.)
I've started publishing my own "proper" fanzine, A BEAR WENT OVER THE MOUNTAIN. I've pubbed a series of apazines in the past, I've published daily newszines at various conventions including Loscon, Westercon, NASFiC, and Worldcon, but I'd never published something with a cover and multiple pages inside. A proper fanzine, something with some substance. So I decided I'd write up my travels and other adventures, combine them with some other minor articles, and that's how I came up with "A BEAR WENT OVER THE MOUNTAIN." Issue #1 features my trip report from Armadillocon and a couple of shorter articles on a bachelor's party and a grilled cheese sandwich contest. If you'd like a copy, ask me and I'll send you one.
What can I offer fandom as a TAFF delegate? Well, I like people, I like to travel, and I like taking pictures. I've got enough vacation time banked up that I could take a three-week trip. II think it's important (for the visibility of the fan fund) that a fan fund delegate spend some extra time in the host country or countries, besides the convention they're attending. Plus that'll be more fun.
Those pesky trip reports -- what constitutes a proper trip report? It took me a little less than four months from my attending Armadillocon to have a trip report written and published. I'm going to write up some more of my travels, and keep A BEAR WENT OVER THE MOUNTAIN coming out a few times a year; if I win TAFF, my trip report would be a continuation of that same project, it would just be a bigger fanzine. I can make it happen, if fandom wants me to do it.
Deadline for voting in the TAFF race is midnight 3 April 2005 - must be received by Randy Byers or James Bacon by that time. Some people have asked me for about the part of the ballot that asks you to name a fan that knows you that is known to the administrators. That's not as hard as you might think. They're just trying to prevent ballot-stuffing by people who aren't connected to fandom. You can't put any of the candidates or nominators there, and you can't put down a club or organization -- has to be an individual. If you know a lot of the people who have voted in the 2003 or 2004 races, you could pick one of them who you're confident knows your name.
Curt Phillips has a TAFF page as well. I don't know if Suzanne Tompkins has put one up yet.