Bylaws

[Guest J. Gou]

What happens if a bylaw is not followed? Example is the procedure for collecting absentee ballots was not followed should they be allowed.

[jstackpo]

In general "what happens" is that a member, at a meeting, raises a point of order related to the problem and steps are then taken (with luck!) to set things right. But it is up to a member to initiate matters via a point of order.  Just grumbling won't do it.

As for the specific problem about absentee ballots, we could use a bit more information:  are such ballots authorized in the bylaws; how are they "supposed" to be collected; what did (or didn't) happen?

[Guest J. Gou]

the bylaws state that absentee ballots are supposed to be turned in to the board of directors at the board meeting prior to the business meeting. The ballots were instead collected by the vice presidents after the board meeting.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

In general, points of order must be timely. Did this aberration cause anyone to lose the right to have their vote counted? If not, I would say it is too late to raise a point of order now.

[Richard Brown]

I agree with GWCTD.  Unless someone's rights were violated or someone was denied the right to vote, I think it is harmless error and it is too late to do anything about it now. A timely point of order would have been necessary at the time of the violation.

[Guest J. Gou]

The elections are tonight and it will cause people to lose their votes if the ballots are not allowed. If a bylaw is not followed does it make it null and void? This is an election for positions and it is a problem not knowing if the ballots are actually from those people with no real chain of custody.

[Guest J. Gou]

Also the ballots that were collect were done yesterday and the board meeting was a week ago.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

12 minutes ago, Guest J. Gou said:

The elections are tonight and it will cause people to lose their votes if the ballots are not allowed. If a bylaw is not followed does it make it null and void? This is an election for positions and it is a problem not knowing if the ballots are actually from those people with no real chain of custody.

What you have described is a procedural rule and it is too late to raise a point of order that it was not followed. If you think that the ballots are compromised, you can make a main motion at tonight's meeting to propose whatever remedy you think is best. But there are no grounds to automatically throw out the votes because they were collected after the board meeting instead of during it.

[Josh Martin]

4 hours ago, Guest J. Gou said:

What happens if a bylaw is not followed? Example is the procedure for collecting absentee ballots was not followed should they be allowed.

 

2 hours ago, Guest J. Gou said:

the bylaws state that absentee ballots are supposed to be turned in to the board of directors at the board meeting prior to the business meeting. The ballots were instead collected by the vice presidents after the board meeting.

 

1 hour ago, Guest J. Gou said:

The elections are tonight and it will cause people to lose their votes if the ballots are not allowed. If a bylaw is not followed does it make it null and void? This is an election for positions and it is a problem not knowing if the ballots are actually from those people with no real chain of custody.

53 minutes ago, Guest J. Gou said:

Also the ballots that were collect were done yesterday and the board meeting was a week ago.

Based on the facts presented, I am inclined to disagree with my colleagues. It seems to me that the bylaws specify the time at which the polls are closed, and ballots were submitted after that time (in fact, one week later). I think that these ballots should be treated as votes cast by persons not eligible to vote. If these votes can be identified, they would then be thrown out. If they cannot, any elections where the number of such ballots is sufficient to affect the result would be null and void.

It is certainly correct, however, that this is not automatic, and it will ultimately be up to the assembly to resolve this matter.

[Atul Kapur]

We are, of course, operating without the exact wording of the bylaws. However, we are told that "the elections are tonight", which sounds like the polls will be open tonight. While it is the assembly that will interpret its own bylaws, I would say that the absentee ballots should not be invalidated due to this procedural mis-step. (they are beyond what RONR says about closing and re-opening of polls because they have introduced absentee ballots).

The bigger issue for me would be the question that Guest J. Gou raises:

3 hours ago, Guest J. Gou said:

it is a problem not knowing if the ballots are actually from those people with no real chain of custody

If there is a real question about whether the absentee ballots were completed and casted by eligible voters, that could lead to a valid challenge to the election, depending on whether they have the potential to affect the elections. Again, these concerns should have been addressed by the Bylaws or Rules of Order.