voting

[Guest Guest]

Our organization is going to have an election of officers. Our bylaws require ballot and absentee voting. Absentee ballots will be received prior to election day. In person

ballot voting will be on election day.

A question has come up as to whether someone who has voted by absentee ballot can come to the polls and vote again in person.

If they can, what happens to their absentee vote?

The bylaws are silent as to selection of tellers. RROH says the chair appoints. Several members have threatened to challenge any teller who might be considered to support

either one of the candidates because they are not impartial. Can they do this successfully?

[Richard Brown]

Members get only ONE vote.  If a member has voted absentee, but his ballot is still unopened and sealed, and can be identified, it is up to your organization to determine whether to give it back to him and let him cast a ballot in person.  Just like in regular governmental elections, you don't get to vote twice.  Usually, if you have voted absentee, that's it.  You don't get a "do over".

 

The tellers are usually appointed by the chair.  This what RONR says about it on page 414:

 

"Balloting Procedure. 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. The number of tellers is dependent on the number of voters, and the number of offices to be filled or questions to be answered, or the number of candidates. For a small group, two or three tellers are usually sufficient. The tellers should be chosen for accuracy and dependability, should have the confidence of the membership, and should not have a direct personal involvement in the question or in the result of the vote to an extent that they should refrain from voting under the principle stated on page 407. Often their position with regard to the issue involved is well known, however, and they are frequently chosen to protect the interests of each opposing side. They normally vote themselves."

 

Edited to add:  I don't believe the issue of "challenging" tellers is directly covered in RONR, but I suppose a member can raise a point of order that one or more of the tellers appointed by the chair are not qualified according to the provisions above and should be disqualified.  The chair would rule on the point of order.  If any two members are unhappy with the ruling of the chair, they can appeal the ruling to the assembly.

 

Edited to add:  Adopting a motion to suspend the rules and allow the assembly to select the tellers as Mr. Harrison suggested in the post below is certainly another option.

[Chris Harrison]

A question has come up as to whether someone who has voted by absentee ballot can come to the polls and vote again in person.

I would say unless there was a way to check if someone had already cast an absentee and identify which vote is the member's (perhaps using a procedure similar to mail in voting as discussed on RONR pp. 424-428) I would say once the member casts an absentee ballot they cannot then come in and change their vote.

 

 

If they can, what happens to their absentee vote?

Assuming the absentee ballot can be identified I would imagine the Teller could give the member the unopened envelope containing his or her absentee ballot.

 

The bylaws are silent as to selection of tellers. RROH says the chair appoints. Several members have threatened to challenge any teller who might be considered to support either one of the candidates because they are not impartial. Can they do this successfully?

It is correct the Chair appoints the Tellers but by a 2/3 vote the members could Suspend the Rules to allow the assembly to appoint some or all of the Tellers.  However, if I were the Chair I would rule that such an challenge (by moving to Suspend the Rules) would need to take place before or while I was making the appointments.

[Edgar Guest]

Our bylaws require ballot and absentee voting. Absentee ballots will be received prior to election day. In person ballot voting will be on election day.

 

RONR advises against combining absentee votes with "in-person" voting. Suppose no one is elected in the first round of voting. The members who are present are free to change their vote in subsequent rounds. What do you do with the absentee votes?