teck wyn Posted March 17, 2017 at 12:29 AM Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 at 12:29 AM We have a society of about 4000 members. Recently we held an extraordinary general meeting to amend our bylaws. The meeting agreed that polling would be done via secret ballot. The chairman adjourned the meeting and the team of scrutineers collected and tallied the ballots. The scrutineers submitted their report to the chairman during lunch and the chairman announced the result during lunch. The chief scrutineer said that she is a registered company secretary and it is common for publicly listed companies to announce the result of a poll after the meeting has adjourned and so it should be okay for a society to do so as well. This makes no sense to me. Is this practice common in other societies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted March 17, 2017 at 12:35 AM Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 at 12:35 AM Only if the society formally authorizes it, either in bylaws or by a special rule (of order, sorta). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted March 17, 2017 at 01:00 AM Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 at 01:00 AM 24 minutes ago, teck wyn said: The chief scrutineer said that [...] it is common for publicly listed companies to announce the result of a poll after the meeting has adjourned and so it should be okay for a society to do so as well. This makes no sense to me. Q. Is this practice common in other societies? No. That practice [to announce election results outside of a quorum-satisfied meeting] is not common. But it does happen. That practice is contrary to Robert's Rules of Order. -- That practice does not allow for challenges, points of order, motions to discard that round of balloting, etc., whatever irregularity occurred, and which needs correction. *** For example: What would you do if voter fraud was clearly involved? (Extreme hypothetical example: How can there be 101 ballots stuffed in a ballot box, where a club only has 33 members?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Who's Coming to Dinner Posted March 17, 2017 at 01:51 AM Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 at 01:51 AM You should have taken a recess for lunch (or adjourned to meet again afterward) so the tellers ("scrutineers") could present their report and the chair announce the result during the meeting. "Lunch" doesn't have minutes so you cannot record the result until it is announced at the next meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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