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Telephone votes -


Guest Vicki

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6 hours ago, g40 said:

I think I might term this participation in the meeting by phone vs. "absentee". I do agree that such participation would need to be allowed in the Bylaws.

Wheter you agree or not, if it isn'tt in the byalws  or a higher-level authorityu)you can't do it. Anyone who is not physically present at the meeting is an "absentee."

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I have to disagree with you there, Mr. Merritt. RONR allows an assembly to authorize a committee to meet by teleconference without any special authorization from the bylaws, and it would be rather absurd to say that the committee can meet by teleconference but members not present in the same physical location as someone else (the chair? a randomly selected member? Whoerver is closest to the clubhouse?) cannot vote.

So the answer to the original question comes down to first determining whether an applicable authority (most likely bylaws but possibly also a statute or terms of reference) allow the member to participate by phone. If they are allowed to do so, then they are fully participating and have all the same rights and privileges as if they were physically present. If, however, they do not, then the member is considered absent while listening in, and therefore does not count towards quorum, cannot move motions, cannot vote without specific provisions to that effect, and so on.

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Well, just to confuse matters further, I'll say that one difference between a member who is participating in a meeting by conference telephone call (RONR, 11th ed., pp. 97-99) and one who is participating by postal mail, e-mail, fax, proxy, etc. (RONR, 11th ed., pp. 423-429) is that the former may be participating in a meeting of a deliberative assembly, whereas the latter is not, but there may be differing views as to how much difference this difference makes.  :)

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Well, to get a bit technical and picky, a committee is not a "deliberative assembly" according to RONR.  On the other hand, a board, which guest Vicki was asking about, IS considered a deliberative assembly.

From page 489 of RONR:  "Unlike a board, a committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly."

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