Alternates and voting

[Guest Janice]

Can alternates to a standing committee vote if there are a sufficient number of regular committee members present at the meeting? I thought alternates could only vote if they were standing in for a regular member who could not make the meeting or you lacked a quorum of regular members to hold the meeting.

Our by-laws, etc. do not address this issue so I would like to find the passage in Roberts Rules that does address it. Is it found in Chapter 20? Chapter 20 does not really address committees but rather a convention or assembly.

[Josh Martin]

Can alternates to a standing committee vote if there are a sufficient number of regular committee members present at the meeting?

So far as RONR is concerned, there are no alternates in standing committees.

Our by-laws, etc. do not address this issue so I would like to find the passage in Roberts Rules that does address it.

Robert's Rules does not address it. There is no such thing as an alternate for a committee unless provided for in your organization's rules. In RONR, alternates only exist for conventions of delegates. If your organization wishes to have alternates for committees, it will need to develop its own rules to facilitate that.

Is it found in Chapter 20?

No.

Chapter 20 does not really address committees but rather a convention or assembly.

No it doesn't. In the current edition of RONR, Chapter 20 is about disciplinary procedures. Chapter 19 is about conventions. So you either read the roman numerals wrong or you are not reading The Right Book.

Edited March 3, 2011 at 07:46 PM by Josh Martin

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Can alternates to a standing committee vote if there are a sufficient number of regular committee members present at the meeting?

No.

Either you are (a.) a true member of that body; (b.) a nonmember of that body.

Members vote.

Nonmembers cannot vote.

When/If the alternate becomes a true sitting member, then that person can vote (and the person who got swapped out cannot vote).

The swapping in/out of alternates is not a fixed method.

Your method of swapping might differ from another organization's swapping method.

So no one can cite RONR and prove when/how an alternate becomes a fully-empowered committee member.

It is all customized.

(See RONR for convention delegate alternates, which does have a fixed method of swapping.)

I thought alternates could only vote if they were standing in for a regular member who could not make the meeting or you lacked a quorum of regular members to hold the meeting.

That is right.

Alternates are not the same thing as members.

Our by-laws, etc. do not address this issue so I would like to find the passage in Roberts Rules that does address it.

Is it found in Chapter 20?

Chapter 20 does not really address committees but rather a convention or assembly.

Huh?

Chapter XX (Section 61) in Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th ed. 2000) is the chapter on DISCIPLINE.

That chapter has nothing to do with alternates.

As I said, for conventions, yes, there is a method in RONR.

For committees, no, there is no fixed method in RONR.

[Guest K. Griffo]

On 3/3/2011 at 12:44 PM, Kim Goldsworthy said:

No.

Either you are (a.) a true member of that body; (b.) a nonmember of that body.

Members vote.

Nonmembers cannot vote.

When/If the alternate becomes a true sitting member, then that person can vote (and the person who got swapped out cannot vote).

The swapping in/out of alternates is not a fixed method.

Your method of swapping might differ from another organization's swapping method.

So no one can cite RONR and prove when/how an alternate becomes a fully-empowered committee member.

It is all customized.

(See RONR for convention delegate alternates, which does have a fixed method of swapping.)

That is right.

Alternates are not the same thing as members.

Huh?

Chapter XX (Section 61) in Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th ed. 2000) is the chapter on DISCIPLINE.

That chapter has nothing to do with alternates.

As I said, for conventions, yes, there is a method in RONR.

For committees, no, there is no fixed method in RONR.

Please clarify, can an Alternate board member stand in for another to meet quorum and can he vote?

[Guest K. Griffo]

Can an Alternate Board Member "stand in" for an absent one and can he vote?

[Josh Martin]

18 minutes ago, Guest K. Griffo said:

Please clarify, can an Alternate board member stand in for another to meet quorum and can he vote?

 

17 minutes ago, Guest K. Griffo said:

Can an Alternate Board Member "stand in" for an absent one and can he vote?

For future reference, please post a new question as a new thread rather than adding to a thread from ten years ago.

As was noted previously, RONR only provides for alternates in the context of a convention of delegates. There is no such thing as an "alternate board member" in RONR. If your organization's bylaws provide for "alternate board members," then your organization should adopt rules to answer questions like these. In the absence of such rules, then your organization will have to interpret the limited rules it has.

If your organization's bylaws do not provide for "alternate board members," then that position does not exist, which makes these questions moot.

To the extent that the rules in RONR regarding alternates in a convention of delegates may be of assistance in this regard (which I expect is not much), alternates may be "upgraded" to delegate status in the event of the absence of a delegate, although RONR has very specific rules regarding exactly when and how this is done (and the convention may have its own rules on the subject). Alternates which are upgraded in this manner are then considered to be delegates, and thus are able to vote and count toward the quorum. These rules are discussed in more detail in RONR (12th ed.) 58:16-17.