Typo in Bylaws change ballots

[Guest Billy]

The By-Law committee presented a motion to change/amend part of our by-laws. The motion was handed to the Secretary in a written form. When the printing of the motion was done, the Secretary used an electronic version of the same motion that had been sent online. The Secretary cut/pasted the motion for the printing. However, the motion sent out for secret ballot vote had a typo in it. The typo does not change the intention of the motion, it just looks silly. We have not counted the ballots and won't until the meeting on August 11,2014. Ballot counting will take place after approval of the previous months minutes. Is there a way to fix the typo, even after all of the mail in ballots are secured?

[Edgar Guest]

I'd say you'd have to wait until the amendment was adopted (or defeated) as noticed. Then you could "correct" it. If it's as inconsequential as you say I would think a directive to the secretary might be enough. But the devil is in the details. A couple of commas make the difference between "Eats, shoots, and leaves" to "Eats shoots and leaves".

 

Stay tuned for other options and opinions.

[g40]

Even a misplaced or absent/present comma can make a huge difference! Not a parliamentary experience, but in a business related lawsuit (multiple individuals and a small company), that we lost, the location/presence/absence of a comma cost me about $75,000 . OUCH! The interpretation of the words and punctuation by the judge (which he said was so clearcut that he did not allow 'intent' to be brought up) was completely against what I understood and what our attorney said that the agreement meant at the time I signed it.