Previous Elections

24 March 2023

4 December 2022

The following are the results of the Dons Trust Board elections 2022 which were counted today by the ESG in the presence of Neil Springate, the Independent Scrutineer:

There were 3,440 ballot papers issued and 1,218 votes cast – a turnout of 35.4%.

The number of votes cast for each candidate were as follows (candidates are in ballot paper order):

Matt Lowndes 826

Graeme Price 760

Kevin Rye 686

Chris Philips 641

Colin Shergold 256

Mike Hastie 348

Julian Ehrhardt 374

Adam Procter 430

Joshua Perrin 296

Mark Lewis 650

Richard Shepherd 627

Daniel Allwright 271

James Macdonald 809

There were eleven spoilt ballots.

I therefore declare that Matt Lowndes, James Macdonald, Graeme Price, Kevin Rye and Mark Lewis have been elected to serve two year terms and Chris Philips and Richard Shepherd have been elected to serve one year terms as Dons Trust Board members.

My thanks to all the candidates and voters and particularly to the members of the ESG, Julian Edwards, Matt Breach, George Jones and to our independent scrutineer Neil Springate.

David Hall

Joint Chair (Elections Steering Group)

25 November 2022

The Elections Steering Group is keen to ensure that all eligible members get the opportunity to vote.

We sent out the initial ballot forms to members via an email from Smart Survey on Saturday 12 November and a first reminder on Tuesday 22 November. A second reminder will be sent out tomorrow (Saturday 26 November) by around 12 noon.

If after 12 noon tomorrow, you have not been able to locate your email ballot (including in your spam or junk folders) we are offering two alternatives to members to cast their vote:

1. Replacement electronic ballots – in order to enable this please email the ESG team at elections@thedonstrust.org and put ‘Replacement Electronic Ballot’ in the subject header. We will then send you a personalised email from the elections@thedonstrust.org address with instructions on how to cast your vote. The deadline for requesting the replacement electronic ballot is Friday 2 December at 12 noon.

2. Replacement paper ballot – we will be offering this in person at the Dons Trust Kiosk before the Chesterfield game tomorrow until 2.45pm and at the match against Grimsby on 3 December until 12.15pm. The ballot box will also be available to cast your vote at the Dons Trust Kiosk after the game until 2.45pm on 3 December.

We are also planning to send out two further email reminders via Smart Survey on Tuesday 29 November and Friday 2 December to those people still considering their choices. Thank you to all those members who have registered their vote so far.

21 November 2022

The Elections Steering Group will be sending out its first reminder to members tomorrow to those people who have yet to vote. At least one further reminder will be sent before the ballot closes on 3 December.

If you have not received the original or first reminder by 6pm tomorrow evening then do let us know at elections@thedonstrust.org and we will do what we can to help. We will also have a presence on the DT Stall for the Sutton match tomorrow and the games against Chesterfield and Grimsby to deal in person with any enquiries.

14 November 2022

The Unofficial Hustings took place on the evening of 13 November, facilitated by Same Old Wombles podcast.

Below are the links to each session, with details of who chaired the session, the candidates in each session, and the questions asked to all. There are reminders of how to continue the discussion further.

Dons Trust Board Election 2022 Unofficial Hustings 1/3 – Same Old Wombles

Dons Trust Board Election 2022 Unofficial Hustings 2/3 – Same Old Wombles

Dons Trust Board Election 2022 Unofficial Hustings 3/3 – Same Old Wombles

4 November 2022

Manifesto Corrections

The ESG does not generally agree to changes in manifestos after publication, but we wish to draw members attention to a couple of changes as follows.

One of the candidate’s manifestos (Julian Ehrhardt) was incorrectly loaded on 2 November as a result of an error by the ESG resulting in a significant part being omitted. This was rectified on the website shortly afterwards at around 4pm the same day. The ESG apologises for the error and any inconvenience caused.
Another candidate (Daniel Allwright) pointed out an error he made himself in a figure quoted in his manifesto. After careful consideration the ESG has agreed to show the tracked change to the figure as it would otherwise have been misleading. The source of the figure has also been verified. The change was posted at 16.15 today.

The changes have also been made on ProBoards which can be found here: Home | The Dons Trust Member’s Forum (boards.net)

If you downloaded the combined manifesto or the candidate’s individual manifesto before the times above, then we would ask you to review the corrected documents.

2 November 2022: Full Manifestos published

Members of the Dons Trust Board are elected to serve for two years. This year there are five vacancies for a two-year term plus an additional two vacancies for a one-year term.

Following the closure of nominations on Saturday 29 October we are pleased to announce that we have received 13 validly nominated candidates for the seven vacancies.

The manifestos for those candidates are here:

The ballot papers will be sent out separately to trust members on or around 12 November. Please note the manifestos are in the reverse order to the ballot paper. The ballot order was drawn by our independent scrutineer, Neil Springate on 31 October.

Hustings are currently being arranged and will be held on Sunday 6 November co-ordinated, as last year, by the 9 Years Podcast team.

Mini manifestos will be published in the Leyton Orient programme on Tuesday 8 November.

Members of the Elections Steering Group (ESG) will be in attendance at the DT Stall pre-match for that game to answer any queries and any subsequent cup matches in November as well as the Grimsby league match on 3 December (the final day of voting).

Any queries in the meantime should be sent to David Hall and the ESG team at elections@thedonstrust.org or Neil Springate, our independent scrutineer at elections2@thedonstrust.org

18 October 2022: Revised Announcement of election to fill seven vacancies on the Trust Board

Members of the Dons Trust board are elected to serve for two years. Following the decision to increase the board to ten there are five two-year vacancies arising this year.

In addition, there will be two two supplementary one-year vacancies to fill the places left by the resignation of Graham Stacey. (as previously announced on 8 October) and Niall Couper (who resigned on 16 October)

There are therefore seven vacancies to be filled.

If you wish to stand, you will need to complete a nomination form [Word version or PDF version].

The revised announcement contains this year’s election timetable which is as follows:

Nominations open: Saturday 8 October 2022
Revised announcement: Tuesday 18 October 2022
Nominations close: Saturday 29 October 2022 at 23:59 GMT
Voting eligibility deadline: Sunday 30 October 2022 at 23:59 GMT
Announcement of the candidates, manifestos published and campaigning starts: Wednesday 2 November 2022
Voting forms sent to members: Saturday 12 November 2022
Closing date for voting: Saturday 3 December 2022 at 23:59 GMT (electronic vote)
Results announced via Dons Trust website, etc: As soon as possible after counting
Annual General Meeting – Formal announcement of result: TBC.

The election rules for 2022 can be found here.

The Dons Trust Board has also issued Guidance for Board candidates which gives information about the way it operates and Terms of Reference for its four theme groups:

If you wish to stand you will need to complete a nomination form and follow the guidance included on the form. Should you have any queries on the process please email the Elections Steering Group at elections@thedonstrust.org

The original Announcement of 8 October can be found here for information.

2021 elections

Most recent updates appear first.

Sunday 5 December: Election results announced

The following are the results of the Dons Trust Board elections 2021 which were counted today by the ESG in the presence of Neil Springate, the Independent Scrutineer:

There were 3,731 ballot papers issued and 1,371 votes cast – a turnout of 36.7%.

The number of votes cast for each candidate were as follows (candidates are in ballot paper order):

James Macdonald 394

Freddy Flaxman 643

Niall Couper 756

Ben Ransome 127

Graham Stacey 719

Colin Shergold 302

Graeme Price 539

Kris Stewart 653

Mark Engelbretson 266

Dennis Lowndes 449

Adam Procter 259

Michele Little 1,008

There was one spoilt ballot.

I therefore declare that Michele Little, Niall Couper, Graham Stacey, Kris Stewart and Freddy Flaxman have been elected to serve two-year terms as Dons Trust Board members. This message is also being sent to the existing Dons Trust Board members and the Dons Trust Secretary.

My thanks to all the candidates and voters and particularly to the members of the ESG, David Hall, George Jones, Julian Edwards and Matt Breach and to our independent scrutineer Neil Springate.

Monday 1 November: the list of candidates is announced.

Click on the name of the candidate to view their manifesto, or download all the manifestos [887KB colour PDF]

(This is in reverse to the order they will appear on the ballot paper following a random draw conducted by our independent scrutineer).

Friday 8 October: Announcement of election to fill five vacancies on the Trust Board

The key dates are as follows:

Opening of nominations: Friday 8 October
Close of nominations: Friday 29 October
Manifestos sent out: Wednesday 3 November
Ballots sent out: Friday 12 November
Ballot deadline: Saturday 4 December

This announcement of election formally starts the election process to fill those five vacancies.

Supporting documents:

2021 elections