Kurtis D. Miller

Thank you all for your assistance! I was not aware of this usage of "the assembly" in RONR and was tripping over the fact that committees are not, in a the strictest sense, assemblies.

On 2/6/2018 at 2:03 PM, Josh Martin said:

It may be that the committee members wish for their votes to be secret even from the other members of the committee, and only a ballot vote will ensure that. If the only concern is keeping their votes secret from those who are not members of the committee, executive session would be sufficient.

I have learned more about the details surrounding the request and it appears that you have identified their reasoning.

On 2/6/2018 at 2:03 PM, Josh Martin said:

Perhaps the situation is instead that the motion was already coming before Committee B, and the chairman of Committee A informed everyone of this. In that event, I agree that the action cannot be undone.

This is the correct interpretation.

Again, I greatly appreciate all of your help on this. I lurk here fairly often, but am a little too slow on the trigger to get a post in that someone else hasn't already written in much more detail and with greater rigor. Thanks for being such a quick and supportive community!

Thank you. I was wondering because RONR explicitly states that authorization from "the assembly" is required. I wasn't sure if RONR was referring to the entire body as "the assembly" or if, since we ware talking about a committee meeting, the committee would be "the assembly" in question.

I am part of an organization where the chair of standing committee "A" (as part of his official report to the body) announced unexpectedly that a contentious question would be coming before standing committee "B". This is, of course, inappropriate because that announcement had not gone through committee "A" and, therefore, should not have been part of their official report. In addition, the issue is outside the charge committee "A". Although this action cannot be undone, it has some difficult consequences.

Members of committee "B" are concerned that they will not be able to vote freely during their meeting (which is open) unless they are able to vote anonymously. RONR (11th ed.) clearly states that voting by ballot may be used "when expressly ordered by the assembly or prescribed by its rules" p. 412. It seems pretty clear that RONR is talking primarily about ballot votes for the entire body. I can't seem to find anything about using ballots in committee. Authorization to use ballots is not written in the bylaws, the committee charge, or any other rules. If committee members want to use a ballot vote,

1. Do they need to have authorization from the entire body, or
2. Can they, as a committee, authorize their own ballot vote?

Personally, I think the easiest option is to just go into executive session, which is what I have advised, but the committee members specifically asked about ballots and I'd like some additional opinions on that.