Guest Steve Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:13 PM Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:13 PM We had a motion made and passed last month at our regular membership meeting to bring before the entire membership a vote to stop smoking in our entire building. The membership vote would be treated as our elections, by ballot for a period of 27 days. My question is the original motion legal and can this vote be prevented. Thanks for any help you can provide. As president I'm in the middle of this and want to make sure it is being done correctly. Steve Pitts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:19 PM Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:19 PM A little more information would be helpful, but as long as your bylaws don't prohibit this type of voting, an organization can adopt a motion specifying how a vote will be taken on a particular matter, including by ballot. See RONR pages 283-286, "Motions Relating to Methods of Voting and the Polls". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:21 PM Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:21 PM I don't see anything wrong with it, but I can't answer for what may be in your bylaws. Just to be clear--this vote "by ballot"--is it in fact a vote by casting ballots at a polling place, or is it a form of absentee balloting by mail or other means? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:36 PM Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:36 PM The voting would be ballots at our club, you would have to show a membership card to obtain a ballot. An absentee ballot would also be provided if requested. I have not read anything in the by-laws to cover this issue. We are a veteran's organization so as you can imagine this is a volatile issue. Thank you so much for your feedback. I'm not looking forward to our meeting tomorrow night. : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:57 PM Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 at 07:57 PM The voting would be ballots at our club, you would have to show a membership card to obtain a ballot. An absentee ballot would also be provided if requested. I have not read anything in the by-laws to cover this issue.RONR specifically prohibits all forms of absentee voting unless it is specifically authorized in your bylaws or required by state law. See, for example, page 423 which provides, in part, as follows: "It is a fundamental principle of parliamentary law that the right to vote is limited to the members of an organization who are actually present at the time the vote is taken in a regular or properly called meeting, although it should be noted that a member need not be present when the question is put. Exceptions to this rule must be expressly stated in the bylaws." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 9, 2015 at 10:25 PM Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 at 10:25 PM The voting would be ballots at our club, you would have to show a membership card to obtain a ballot. An absentee ballot would also be provided if requested. I have not read anything in the by-laws to cover this issue. We are a veteran's organization so as you can imagine this is a volatile issue. Thank you so much for your feedback. I'm not looking forward to our meeting tomorrow night. : )The absentee ballots may be void (as they are not permitted unless authorized by the bylaws or required by applicable law), but I do not see any reason, based upon the facts provided, that the entire vote would be invalid. The membership may establish in-person voting at polling places at defined times if it so wishes. As for the subject matter of the motion, the membership is free to adopt a rule prohibiting smoking in its building, unless the organization's rules or applicable law provide otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 10, 2015 at 03:53 PM Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 at 03:53 PM The voting would be ballots at our club, you would have to show a membership card to obtain a ballot. It would make more sense to require a membership card to cast a vote, rather than to obtain a ballot. Each vote cast should be checked off against a current membership list to prevent duplicate votes. Each ballot should be folded twice, making it more difficult to cast multiple ballots undetected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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