Guest Lori McConville Posted August 23, 2018 at 12:29 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 at 12:29 PM Does an email vote count when it's cast before the meeting? We have a major purchase that has been a topic of several meetings and email discussions, but not voted on. A Special Meeting was called particularly to debate and vote with new information brought forward. Motions were made at the meeting. Does the vote of a board member who does not attend the meeting count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted August 23, 2018 at 01:09 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 at 01:09 PM Do your bylaws specifically authorize voting via email? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted August 23, 2018 at 01:12 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 at 01:12 PM 42 minutes ago, Guest Lori McConville said: Does an email vote count when it's cast before the meeting? We have a major purchase that has been a topic of several meetings and email discussions, but not voted on. A Special Meeting was called particularly to debate and vote with new information brought forward. Motions were made at the meeting. Does the vote of a board member who does not attend the meeting count? No, unless your rules provide for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 23, 2018 at 05:11 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 at 05:11 PM (edited) Guest Lori, I agree with the previous answers. However, in the future please post your questions in the "General Discussion" forum rather than here. This particular forum is for technical questions about issues with the message board itself, not for questions about parliamentary procedure. Those should be posted in the general forum. Thanks! Edited August 23, 2018 at 05:12 PM by Richard Brown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 23, 2018 at 06:07 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 at 06:07 PM Note: I see that one of the administrators moved this thread from "Questions about the Message Board" to the "General Discussion" forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lori McConville Posted August 28, 2018 at 01:45 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 01:45 PM On 8/23/2018 at 8:09 AM, Chris Harrison said: Do your bylaws specifically authorize voting via email? On 8/23/2018 at 8:09 AM, Chris Harrison said: Do your bylaws specifically authorize voting via email? On 8/23/2018 at 8:09 AM, Chris Harrison said: Do your bylaws specifically authorize voting via email? On 8/23/2018 at 12:11 PM, Richard Brown said: Guest Lori, I agree with the previous answers. However, in the future please post your questions in the "General Discussion" forum rather than here. This particular forum is for technical questions about issues with the message board itself, not for questions about parliamentary procedure. Those should be posted in the general forum. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lori McConville Posted August 28, 2018 at 01:56 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 01:56 PM On 8/23/2018 at 8:09 AM, Chris Harrison said: Do your bylaws specifically authorize voting via email? No. This is something we need to address, so I was looking for an opinion. The timing here is an issue. The vote was cast without being privy to the information and discussion of the meeting. Can someone vote who has not heard all the information? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lori McConville Posted August 28, 2018 at 01:57 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 01:57 PM 10 minutes ago, Guest Lori McConville said: Thank you for replying even though I'm in the wrong spot. Sorry about that. i didn't realize this was for technical questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 28, 2018 at 02:13 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 02:13 PM On 8/23/2018 at 8:09 AM, Chris Harrison said: Do your bylaws specifically authorize voting via email? 9 minutes ago, Guest Lori McConville said: No. This is something we need to address, so I was looking for an opinion. The timing here is an issue. The vote was cast without being privy to the information and discussion of the meeting. Can someone vote who has not heard all the information? As Mr. Huynh pointed out, absentee voting of any sort is prohibited by RONR unless specifically authorized by your bylaws or required by state law. The issue here isn't whether someone voted without having all the facts or hearing the debate. That is perfectly permissible. A member who arrives at the meeting after all debate has taken place and voting is about to begin has just as much right to vote as another member who has been there for the whole thing. The issue is that ABSENTEE voting of any sort.... whether by mail, email, phone, proxy or whatever.... is prohibited unless authorized in the bylaws or required by state law. You must be physically present in order to vote. In your case, this particular board member is attempting to vote absentee, apparently via email. That is not permissible under RONR. He must be physically present in the meeting room in order to vote. Does that answer your question? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted August 28, 2018 at 02:57 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 02:57 PM 1 hour ago, Guest Lori McConville said: No. This is something we need to address, so I was looking for an opinion. The timing here is an issue. The vote was cast without being privy to the information and discussion of the meeting. Can someone vote who has not heard all the information? My opinion: Someone can vote who has not heard all the information. However, since your rules do not permit email voting, this particular vote does not count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 28, 2018 at 04:14 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 04:14 PM 2 hours ago, Guest Lori McConville said: No. This is something we need to address, so I was looking for an opinion. The timing here is an issue. The vote was cast without being privy to the information and discussion of the meeting. Can someone vote who has not heard all the information? Sorry, but the informed voter rule does not exist. RONR is perfectly clear that the right to vote is not predicated on having any facts, or hearing any debate. So that alone would not prevent the vote from being counted. But... There is a clear requirement the voter must be present in the room at the time the vote is cast. Absentee votes are prohibited unless your bylaws explicitly allow them. So it would be improper to count that vote. It certainly would have been better if that member had been properly informed of the rules before casting that improper vote. But being badly advised does not make the vote valid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 28, 2018 at 06:01 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 06:01 PM Do y'all reckon that since at least four of us have said exactly the same thing that maybe Guest Lori's question has been answered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted August 28, 2018 at 06:40 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 06:40 PM 38 minutes ago, Richard Brown said: Do y'all reckon that since at least four of us have said exactly the same thing that maybe Guest Lori's question has been answered? I used to wonder why we do this, but I just got used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 28, 2018 at 10:42 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 10:42 PM We do it because sometimes it takes four identical answers to convince someone that it's true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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