Absentee Voting

[Guest Linda]

If absentee voting on proposed bylaw amendments is permitted are those votes counted if there is an amendment to the proposed amendment? Do they simply not count toward the vote?

[George Mervosh]

1 minute ago, Guest Linda said:

If absentee voting on proposed bylaw amendments is permitted are those votes counted if there is an amendment to the proposed amendment? Do they simply not count toward the vote?

It can only be permitted if the bylaws authorize it.

As to your question:

" An organization should never adopt a bylaw permitting a question to be decided by a voting procedure in which the votes of persons who attend a meeting are counted together with ballots mailed in by absentees. The votes of those present could be affected by debate, by amendments, and perhaps by the need for repeated balloting, while those absent would be unable to adjust their votes to reflect these factors. Consequently, the absentee ballots would in most cases be on a somewhat different question than that on which those present were voting, leading to confusion, unfairness, and inaccuracy in determining the result."   RONR (11th ed), p. 423.

[Guest Intercom]

So how are the absentee ballots handled? Are they simply not counted if any change is made?

[Josh Martin]

17 minutes ago, Guest Intercom said:

So how are the absentee ballots handled? Are they simply not counted if any change is made?

What RONR says on the subject is that any rules which authorize absentee voting should be written in such a way as to prevent this problem from arising. If you have absentee voting, the final wording of the motion should be decided before any votes are cast, and all votes should be cast prior to the meeting where the results are announced. In other words, don't mix and match absentee votes with votes cast at a meeting.

If your organization does not heed this advice, then your organization will need to figure out the resulting problems on its own.