Guest tom Posted October 10, 2016 at 04:52 PM Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 at 04:52 PM Our secretary mailed ballots to all members for the upcoming election. Our bylaws only allow absentee ballots if requested by a member. He also required ballots to be returned before the election meeting. Our bylaws state that the voting must be done at the meeting. Does his actions invalidate the election? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Honemann Posted October 10, 2016 at 05:16 PM Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 at 05:16 PM 22 minutes ago, Guest tom said: Our secretary mailed ballots to all members for the upcoming election. Our bylaws only allow absentee ballots if requested by a member. He also required ballots to be returned before the election meeting. Our bylaws state that the voting must be done at the meeting. Does his actions invalidate the election? The short answer is "no". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted October 10, 2016 at 05:24 PM Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 at 05:24 PM 8 minutes ago, Daniel H. Honemann said: The short answer is "no". Because "yes" would be worse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Honemann Posted October 10, 2016 at 05:30 PM Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 at 05:30 PM 5 minutes ago, George Mervosh said: Because "yes" would be worse? Yes. And longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rear Commodore Posted October 10, 2016 at 07:56 PM Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 at 07:56 PM The secretary violated several of our bylaws and took it upon himself to mail out ballots against our bylaws. What would be the procedure to censure him for his actions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted October 10, 2016 at 08:02 PM Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 at 08:02 PM Make a motion to censure him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted October 11, 2016 at 11:54 PM Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 at 11:54 PM On 10/10/2016 at 0:52 PM, Guest tom said: Our secretary mailed ballots to all members for the upcoming election. Our bylaws only allow absentee ballots if requested by a member. He also required ballots to be returned before the election meeting. Our bylaws state that the voting must be done at the meeting. Does his actions invalidate the election? Wait, your bylaws say that a member can get an absentee ballot, but voting can only be done at the meeting? What happens to the absentee ballots? Do they get thrown away? If, instead, the bylaws mean that the absentee ballots would be counted at the meeting, then it would seem to be a no-brainer that they would have to be returned before the meeting. However, RONR strongly cautions against using a procedure where absentee ballots are mixed with in-person votes, for a number of really good reasons. One reasonable method to avoid the pitfalls of such methods is to ensure that all votes are done by absentee ballot, which are counted and reported at the next regular meeting or at a special meeting called for that purpose. So your secretary may actually be suggesting a better method than what you've used in the past. The problem, of course, is that no matter how "good" an idea may seem, if it violates the bylaws, it's not permissible. I don't believe the secretary's actions in sending out absentee ballots to members who did not request them would invalidate the election. But if, in fact, the bylaws prohibit the sending of such ballots unless requrested, then the secretary might properly be the subject of disciplinary action for failing to follow the rules in the bylaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.