Change of Meeting Date Affects Balloting

[JayW]

I belong to a national organization that conducts Board of Director elections by mail, as outlined in our bylaws. The ballots must be sent between 40-55 days ahead of the annual meeting, and must arrive at the teller at least 10 days before the annual meeting. 

 

The bylaws state that the annual meeting will be held between May 1 and June 15, at a time and place determined by the Board. Our annual convention is held the first or second week in May (not dictated by the Bylaws) and the annual meeting occurs during that week. (It's the only time we could ever reach a quorum and our bylaws do not allow for other than in-person meetings.)

 

Because of the current restrictions on gatherings that would affect our convention, it's been rescheduled to the end of June. Of course we want to move the annual meeting date to coincide with the new convention. I understand that we can't suspend that bylaw, but we could have a non-quorum meeting and fix a time to which to adjourn, which could then be during the convention. 

 

This year's ballots have already been sent out, due back to the teller by April 25. The concern is that with the lockdowns, postal service has been delayed significantly in many areas, and even ballots that are sent in a normally timely manner may not reach the teller by the due date, especially for our international members. 

 

My question, at last, is whether there's a way to extend the ballot due date to coincide with the adjourned meeting date. Would there technically be two annual meeting dates, the non-quorum one and the adjourned one? (In which case, the ballots were sent out in accordance with the former, but could the due date be extended to the latter?)

[Dan Honemann]

If the bylaws say that the ballots must be sent between 40-55 days ahead of the annual meeting, and must arrive at the teller at least 10 days before the annual meeting, then that's that. In other words, the answer to both of your questions is no.

 

 

[JayW]

Thank you!