Snow White Posted March 28, 2012 at 01:03 AM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 01:03 AM Our By-laws state that our Parliamentarian shall: Be responsible for procuring ballots, distributing and collecting ballots, counting votes and recording results. My question is: If our parliamentarian resigns (two weeks before our scheduled elections), and we are unable to get someone to step into that position, can we still hold elections? Who would be charged with this responsibility?(The reason our parliamentarian has more power than that of just an adviser is because we have 3 advisers who are non-voting members of our organization.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Cisar Posted March 28, 2012 at 07:54 AM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 07:54 AM Find one pro tem. Can you farm out the responsibility to somebody else? It is up to your organization to interpret your bylaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trina Posted March 28, 2012 at 08:22 AM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 08:22 AM Our By-laws state that our Parliamentarian shall: Be responsible for procuring ballots, distributing and collecting ballots, counting votes and recording results. My question is: If our parliamentarian resigns (two weeks before our scheduled elections), and we are unable to get someone to step into that position, can we still hold elections? Who would be charged with this responsibility?(The reason our parliamentarian has more power than that of just an adviser is because we have 3 advisers who are non-voting members of our organization.)With the exception of 'procuring ballots', those other tasks are ones that normally fall to the tellers in RONR --'In balloting in a meeting where the voting is in the same room as the meeting, the chair appoints tellers to distribute, collect, and count the ballots, and to report the vote.' (RONR 11th ed p. 414 ll. 6-9).It seems to me that a rule which gives these tasks (rules that describe part of the orderly process of conducting an election by ballot) to a particular officer would be suspendable, so as to allow other people at the meeting to carry out these tasks. As for the pre-meeting task of 'procuring ballots', just have someone ready at the meeting with a stack of blank paper, if necessary. It would be ridiculous to give up on holding an election because the assigned person fails to bring ballots to the meeting. As for 'recording results' -- presumably the secretary will record the results in the minutes, whether or not the parliamentarian is there to carry out this assigned duty.At some point, the organization may want to review its bylaws, to see if such detailed assignment of tasks related to balloting is really necessary, or useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow White Posted March 28, 2012 at 09:31 AM Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 09:31 AM Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted March 28, 2012 at 11:02 AM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 11:02 AM How does one become your Parliamentarian? Is it an office defined in the bylaws, elected to by the membership? Is it an appointed position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow White Posted March 28, 2012 at 12:05 PM Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 12:05 PM Our Parliamentarian's office is defined by our bylaws, and she is appointed by our president. She is resigning because she believes that there has been an infringement on the rights of the membership of our organization to fully debate the issues that arise within our organization and to vote on them as each member sees fit. We are not being given the option to interpret our own bylaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 28, 2012 at 02:51 PM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 02:51 PM Those are your rights as members. Rights aren't "given" to you, they're already yours. If you don't exercise them, you have nobody to blame but yourselves. And you don't do that by resigning, you do that by staying and sticking up for your rights.If the president is the problem, remove the president, and do so before other valuable people start resigning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 28, 2012 at 10:14 PM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 10:14 PM She is resigning because she believes that there has been an infringement on the rights of the membership of our organization to fully debate the issues that arise within our organization and to vote on them as each member sees fit. We are not being given the option to interpret our own bylaws.I think you should read up on the sections on Point of Order (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 247-255), Appeal (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 255-260), and Removal from Office and Other Remedies for Dereliction of Duty in Office or Misconduct (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 650-654), and you should get a few ideas on how to deal with this infringement on the rights of the assembly and the authority of the assembly.In the meantime, however, I concur with Trina that the rule giving the duties of the tellers' committee to the parliamentarian is in the nature of a rule of order, and therefore, these duties may be reassigned until the position can be filled.And you don't do that by resigning, you do that by staying and sticking up for your rights.Actually, if the Parliamentarian's advice is habitually disregarded (as seems quite likely in the scenario presented), resigning is a perfectly proper course of action (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 467, lines 4-7). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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