Jerry Thackery Posted February 17, 2020 at 01:37 AM Report Share Posted February 17, 2020 at 01:37 AM Our organization, non-profit, in accordance with our by-laws provides for absentee ballots when voting on issues that are brought to the Annual Business Meeting. The question has surfaces about amending a motion, at time of voting, that make it different from the information provided the person/Member who has submitted the absentee ballot. All motions are thoroughly discussed and forwarded from the informational meeting, which is at least 30 days prior to the voting meeting. When Members request an Absentee ballot, they are provided all of the background information that members attending the meeting will receive. Question: May motions be amended at Annual Business meeting, if so, how is the Absentee ballot tabulated? Thank You, Jerry Thackery, President. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted February 17, 2020 at 02:14 AM Report Share Posted February 17, 2020 at 02:14 AM (edited) 41 minutes ago, Jerry Thackery said: May motions be amended at Annual Business meeting, if so, how is the Absentee ballot tabulated? RONR has no answers to these questions. RONR prohibits absentee voting unless it is authorized in the bylaws. Furthermore, RONR strongly advises against adopting rules which permit a combination of absentee and in-person voting, precisely because of problems like this. “An organization should never adopt a bylaw permitting a question to be decided by a voting procedure in which the votes of persons who attend a meeting are counted together with ballots mailed in by absentees. The votes of those present could be affected by debate, by amendments, and perhaps by the need for repeated balloting, while those absent would be unable to adjust their votes to reflect these factors. Consequently, the absentee ballots would in most cases be on a somewhat different question than that on which those present were voting, leading to confusion, unfairness, and inaccuracy in determining the result. If there is a possibility of any uncertainty about who will be entitled to vote, this should be spelled out unambiguously and strictly enforced to avoid unfairness in close votes.” (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 423-424) Since your society has nonetheless adopted such rules (and has not “spelled out unambiguously” how the procedure is supposed to work), the society will need to interpret its rules as best as it can. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 588-591 for some principles of interpretation. Edited February 17, 2020 at 02:18 AM by Josh Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transpower Posted February 21, 2020 at 03:03 PM Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 at 03:03 PM I agree with Josh. I would only add that some organizations designate an individual in attendance to decide which way to vote the absentee ballots when the motion is changed from its original form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted February 21, 2020 at 04:40 PM Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 at 04:40 PM 1 hour ago, Transpower said: I agree with Josh. I would only add that some organizations designate an individual in attendance to decide which way to vote the absentee ballots when the motion is changed from its original form. That sounds worse than not being able to adjust their votes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted February 21, 2020 at 05:14 PM Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 at 05:14 PM 2 hours ago, Transpower said: I agree with Josh. I would only add that some organizations designate an individual in attendance to decide which way to vote the absentee ballots when the motion is changed from its original form. Yeah, that's a proxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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