opportunity to vote

[Guest jaws]

We have an election coming up in May. Unfortunately, a group of members cannot be at the meeting to vote, due to a professional comittment several hours away. ByLaws state " vote may be conducted by ballot or electronic ballot pursuant to the decision of the Board of Governors. What about nominations that come from the floor for the meeting? If those non-attending have to vote prior to meeting, they will not be able to possibly vote for better candidates who are nominated from the floor! What can we do?

[Chris Harrison]

This is exactly the reason why RONR discourages mixing in-meeting voting with absentee voting (RONR p. 423 ll. 25-35).  Is it feasible after the election meeting for the absent members to be sent a ballot with the names of everyone who was nominated so they are on equal footing with those who were at the meeting and the results be announced at the next meeting?

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, Guest jaws said:

We have an election coming up in May. Unfortunately, a group of members cannot be at the meeting to vote, due to a professional comittment several hours away. ByLaws state " vote may be conducted by ballot or electronic ballot pursuant to the decision of the Board of Governors. What about nominations that come from the floor for the meeting? If those non-attending have to vote prior to meeting, they will not be able to possibly vote for better candidates who are nominated from the floor! What can we do?

What is meant by electronic ballot? Does it mean absentee voting by email, or does it mean voting at an in-person meeting using handheld electronic voting devices? Absentee voting of any sort is not permitted unless explicitly authorized in the bylaws or required by state law. The same goes for proxies. They are not permitted unless authorized in the bylaws or required by state law.

[Gary Novosielski]

4 hours ago, Guest jaws said:

We have an election coming up in May. Unfortunately, a group of members cannot be at the meeting to vote, due to a professional comittment several hours away. ByLaws state " vote may be conducted by ballot or electronic ballot pursuant to the decision of the Board of Governors. What about nominations that come from the floor for the meeting? If those non-attending have to vote prior to meeting, they will not be able to possibly vote for better candidates who are nominated from the floor! What can we do?

It is not obvious to me that "electronic ballot" means absentee voting, and if absentee voting is not authorized in the bylaws, (or required by law) it is prohibited.

Edited March 27, 2018 at 02:02 AM by Gary Novosielski

[jstackpo]

If (possibly a big "if") circumstances allow it, you could, when the elections are pending at the meeting, postpone the election to your next regular meeting, or to a sooner held "adjourned meeting" (see page 242), when more of your membership can get there. It is a majority decision so if the folks who are at the meeting want to get it over with, too bad for the folks not there.