Preliminary and Final Quorum Reports

[Guest Guest]

We have been discussing what meeting activities may be conducted between the preliminary and the final quorum reports.  Some of our organization believe that we should only conduct approval of minutes, officer and committee repoprts and general announcements.  Others believe that we may consider and vote on motions and conduct the election of offices during that time.  The rational provided to not do the later is that the preliminary report does not indicate the total membership in attendance and that between the preliminary and final reports there may well be additional members added to the Present list.  Thus there may be more votes cast than provided for with the preliminary report perhaps making any roll call vote of officer election invalid.

 

What is appropriate? 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Perhaps FAQ #3 may be of use.

[Guest Curious]

It's the duty of the presiding officer to determine that a quorum is present before substantial business, such as an election, is transacted. How she goes about it is up to your organization. If a quorum is present, then a roll-call vote is valid even if some members are absent. At the end of the call, the chair can ask if any members entered after their names were read and their votes may be recorded at that time.

[Josh Martin]

We have been discussing what meeting activities may be conducted between the preliminary and the final quorum reports. Some of our organization believe that we should only conduct approval of minutes, officer and committee repoprts and general announcements. Others believe that we may consider and vote on motions and conduct the election of offices during that time. The rational provided to not do the later is that the preliminary report does not indicate the total membership in attendance and that between the preliminary and final reports there may well be additional members added to the Present list. Thus there may be more votes cast than provided for with the preliminary report perhaps making any roll call vote of officer election invalid.

What is appropriate?

I don't quite understand these concerns. Members come and go all throughout a meeting, so it may always be the case that a report of the members present at a given time does not accurately reflect the number of members present at another time. This would not have the effect of invalidating any business. Unless enough members leave that a quorum is no longer present, I don't see what the problem is.

For that matter, I don't quite understand what is meant by the "preliminary" and "final" quorum reports.