At a convention held recently, there was an election for several contested positions. A couple vice presidents too but the most contentious one was for president.
While everyone was getting prepared to vote, someone asked whether the numbers for each candidate would be released, and the chair said no. I immediately objected as that is a violation of RONR 45:40 where it says in no uncertain terms that under no circumstances may the teller´s report be released. I don´t see that wording as allowing a suspension of the rules. The constitution of the association says nothing about this procedure, only that a majority is required for an election (although fails to explain how to achieve that if nobody does get it on any particular ballot).
The chair consulted with the parliamentarian, and the two of them concluded that if a motion was passed to destroy the ballot, then they would not release them. They also concluded that it would be a suspension of the rules requiring 2/3 to pass, but they also failed to say to everyone else that it was a suspend the rules motion needing 2/3. I happened to be sitting next to the parliamentarian so I heard what they were saying. That motion was moved and seconded, and was passed by 322 votes in favour to 95 against, out of roughly 1200 people at the convention who could vote, however they didn´t release the results of that motion to everyone else either. In fact, on no instance did they release the numbers for and against on any motion in the whole convention even when a tally count was necessary several times and we are entirely dependent on the chair´s judgement on this. I also imagine this kind of suspension could also impact the rights of absentees too who might be interested in the numbers like this, especially given that the rule I referenced dictates how the numbers are to be entered into the minutes too which is often done for the benefit of those absent.
I don´t know what next. Would this ordinarily be able to give rise to some kind of further appeals in most association to the committee relevant to it? I couldn´t get justice at the convention hall itself for transparency of the numbers.