Reynolds v. Sims has to do with state legislatures and is completely irrelevant to this discussion.
The nomination process is not a secret. The US Sailing Nominating Committee works just like any other nominating committee. Just because you're unaware of the process doesn't make it secret.
Let me enlighten you:
There are 13 members on the Nominating Committee (
http://about.ussailing.org/Directory/Committees/Nominating_Committee.htm). I've been on it for 2+ years now, first as the One-Design Class Council Rep, and now the Multihull Council Rep. John Williams was the Multihull Council Rep before me.
Each committee member is free to nominate as many people for the board as they'd like. Nominees' names are put on a spreadsheet that also lists their attributes - where they're from, what they do (professionally and in sailing) and a host of other things. Right now, the spreadsheet has about 50 names on it.
2 to 3 board positions are filled each year. The Nominating Committee tries to keep the BoD balanced - not all from one region of the country; not all professional sailors, not all coaches, etc. That's the first filter applied to the spreadsheet that produces a "short list" of 10 or so people to contact to see if they're actually interested in being on the board. (Up to this point, they may not know they've been "volunteered".)
The real problem is that most people
aren't interested in being on the board. It's a huge commitment in time and money (board members are expected to pay their own way to meetings and to contribute to the US Sailing Annual Fund). Some people don't want to be exposed to the possibility of losing an election. In the time that I've been on the NC,
nobody has actually volunteered on their own to be considered for the board. Getting nominees to commit often requires considerable persuasion.
At the end of the day, we're lucky to have a handful of candidates to fill the open positions. If you (or anyone for that matter) is interested in being considered for the US Sailing BoD, just let me know and I'll be glad to put your name on the spreadsheet.
