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how to fix/correct confusing motion leading to e-vote


Guest Roy

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I am confronted with this process that i realized is already confusing among members of the council. I (an officer of the council) was absent from that meeting. 

The motion was made in a meeting (in person assembly) and the main motion "move to transfer host to wix"  [translation transfer present service company to another service company] then this motion is placed to be e-vote in two weeks. [our bylaws has e-vote clause].

Six days later, I learned there was e vote and i never received  the email nor cast my vote. Regardless the service was terminated next day. 

confusion occurred  from 4 members of the council telling me (summary versions of)

  • check with the present service company first
  • investigate before voting
  • waiting for report from two people [was in the meeting]
  • terminate present service. 

then on the 9th day (3 days from learning), president called for re-vote the e-vote.  He  stated in email had to re-vote because waiting for the report.  is allowing for discussion by email. on 14th day,  president emailed wanting to have emergency [sic: special] meeting, then 17th day, [via electronic text] to me not to proceed with the emergency, instead calling for e-vote in next 2 days [19th day]. 

 i know is this. 

  •  bylaws has a section to voting by electronic means. I do not see anything for other parts  of the process.
  • there is 2 attempts to re-vote electronically? 1st is questionable due to 2 weeks ambiguity.
  • president is trying to open discussion electronically which i am against due to non-council members has right to debate.
  • no "clarification" addition onto the motion aka refer to committee or postpone to allow for investigation/check with company.
  • emergency meeting is not happening because notice is not made or given [bylaws: notice given 36 hours before emergency meeting can begin]

My question:

  • do i have right to say point of order on the email [prior or while president calls for e-vote]?
  • could i move to rescind  or amend previously stated motion right now or wait  until meeting begins?
since 2 re-vote attempts was made, is treasurer required to restore the service with first company? my interpretation of the motion, my organization has or starting working with new company, in which did not happen, does this means this motion should be ruled out of order? make email declaration, putting on the agenda, my notice that i am moving to reconsider the motion at next meeting.

what would be the correct course of action for me and president to resolve this problem?

 

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55 minutes ago, Guest Roy said:

do i have right to say point of order on the email [prior or while president calls for e-vote]?

If you think that something was done incorrectly, you should raise your Point Of Order as soon as possible. Get a friend to stand by for a second of an Appeal in case the ruling goes against you.

56 minutes ago, Guest Roy said:

could i move to rescind  or amend previously stated motion right now

If there is something that can be rescinded or amended giving notice before the meeting would lower the threshold for its adoption to a majority vote, otherwise if you wait until the meeting begins then the threshold would be two-thirds. Be aware, however, that the only thing that can be rescinded or amended are unexecuted parts of a motion. Motions that have already been fully carried out cannot be rescinded or amended.

1 hour ago, Guest Roy said:

since 2 re-vote attempts was made, is treasurer required to restore the service with first company?

No. If the service with the second company has not yet been established then the unexecuted part of the original motion (that stated the new service provider) should be simply rescinded and the company informed. A new motion may now be made attempting to restore the first company as the service provider or a different selection made.

1 hour ago, Guest Roy said:

my interpretation of the motion, my organization has or starting working with new company, in which did not happen, does this means this motion should be ruled out of order?

If the new company has not activated any new service then as a practical matter this is the unexecuted part of the original motion that sought to make the transfer from the first company to the second one. There is nothing out of order at this point. It appears that if no action is taken then the second company may proceed to make an activation which may not be what you want.

1 hour ago, Guest Roy said:

make email declaration, putting on the agenda, my notice that I am moving to reconsider the motion at next meeting

Yes, you do want to give notice that the unexecuted part of the original motion establishing the service with the second company is to be rescinded, not reconsidered since it is too late to move the motion to Reconsider, which would have to have taken place on the same day as the original motion was adopted. If all of this is delayed the second company may activate the service and then all of this will be moot. And I really mean all of this.

(Would you believe that I could not remove the text formatting of the last three references? I had to paste the selection into a plain text file, re-copy it and then paste it over the old formatted text. I wonder why I could not remove the underlines by just selecting the text and hitting the "Remove Formatting Text" button above, the one that says "Tx". Strange. Back in the day we could actually edit the referenced text by changing the title or even inserting HTML markup. Now those glory days are gone. Sniff.)

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i discovered the text formatting mess-up. I do not know how that happened or  not able to "edit".   

 

Regardless,  one thing i failed to mention,  i am on day 17.  e vote has not started until day 19 assuming president does start it correctly.

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Warning:  Going into Soapbox mode...

Guest Roy's compendium of problems is a fine example of jumping into e-voting, and e-meetings in general, without thinking through how Internet "meetings" differ from regular in person meetings and what to do about it, i.e. what rules to adopt beforehand  There is no free lunch.

Here is a possible set of suggestions and rules...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8w31eocwqx067h/E-Meetings 2012.docx?dl=0

and here...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/453cfqxcmt9cbuk/E-Meetings in Real World 2012.docx?dl=0

Note that these rules depart as little as possible from the "standard" meeting rules in RONR -- RONR remains the basis for "good" meetings. 

End Soapbox.

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jstackpo: thanks for the articles.  however none of my organization's e-vote handling is "pre-structured" [ex chair, e-rules, quorum, etc]

that is why i am trying to think out how to say things as it progresses [e-vote] that appears valid on the minutes. 

right now an admission was made that the motion was voted and passed in assembly. and few of the council member is accusing me of stupidity. 

whereas i am no longer comfortable proceeding with the process.  

Roy

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