Email Voting Questions

[Guest VeriTx]

Bylaws were recently revised and adopted for our county’s political executive committee to include standing rules for email voting to say:

1. a second is not needed. 
2. “The motion to lay on the table is not in order”

Do these violate RONR? 
Should email voting be used in non-emergency situations? Our CEC meets monthly, yet still conducts business between meetings that aren’t urgent or an emergency.

Im still new and learning “on the job”.

 

[Richard Brown]

On 10/19/2022 at 9:39 PM, Guest VeriTx said:

Bylaws were recently revised and adopted for our county’s political executive committee to include standing rules for email voting to say:

1. a second is not needed. 
2. “The motion to lay on the table is not in order”

Do these violate RONR? 
Should email voting be used in non-emergency situations? Our CEC meets monthly, yet still conducts business between meetings that aren’t urgent or an emergency.

Im still new and learning “on the job”.

 

The proposed “standing rules“ are actually in the nature of special rules of order. Although they conflict with RONR, their adoption as special rules of order would be appropriate because special rules of order take precedence over the rules in the parliamentary authority. That is the very reason for special rules of order: to provide for something different from a rule in the parliamentary authority.  It is appropriate and in order.

Whether your organization should permit email Voting is a judgment call for your membership to make.

[Alicia Percell, PRP]

Email voting is a judgment call for your membership to make, but there are many good reasons that the very first footnote on the very first page of RONR 12th ed. says:

"A group that attempts to conduct the deliberative process in writing—such as by postal mail, electronic mail (e-mail), or facsimile transmission (fax)—does not constitute a deliberative assembly. When making decisions by such means, many situations unprecedented in parliamentary law will arise, and many of its rules and customs will not be applicable (see also 9:30–36)."

What happens when someone makes a motion by email, but someone else needs to raise and resolve a point of order about it?  What if some want to offer amendments?  Email just does not lend itself to handling these things well, thus the caution on page 1.  Been there.  Done that.  It's terrible in my opinion.  It's the asynchronous nature of email that makes it a mess.  However, your organization can adopt rules that run contrary to the advice in that footnote.

 

[Josh Martin]

On 10/19/2022 at 9:39 PM, Guest VeriTx said:

Bylaws were recently revised and adopted for our county’s political executive committee to include standing rules for email voting to say:

1. a second is not needed. 
2. “The motion to lay on the table is not in order”

Do these violate RONR? 

The first one may or may not, depending on whether the executive committee uses the small board rules. The second one does, but it doesn't matter because special rules of order take precedence over RONR. (I concur with Mr. Brown that these are special rules of order, not standing rules.)

More importantly, email voting itself violates RONR, but can nonetheless be authorized in your bylaws if your society wishes. Email voting is so very different than an actual meeting that substantial rules of order will be needed to facilitate it.

"A group that attempts to conduct the deliberative process in writing—such as by postal mail, electronic mail (e-mail), or facsimile transmission (fax)—does not constitute a deliberative assembly. When making decisions by such means, many situations unprecedented in parliamentary law will arise, and many of its rules and customs will not be applicable (see also 9:30–36)." RONR (12th ed.) 1:1n1

I would note that, in my view, the rule prohibiting Lay on the Table seems entirely reasonable for email voting, since I have a hard time imagining a situation where the intended purpose of Lay on the Table would arise in such a situation.

On 10/19/2022 at 9:39 PM, Guest VeriTx said:

Should email voting be used in non-emergency situations? Our CEC meets monthly, yet still conducts business between meetings that aren’t urgent or an emergency.

Ideally, email voting should not be used at all. Therefore, I suppose the next best thing would be to use it only in emergency or urgent situations.

Notwithstanding this, your organization is free to adopt whatever rules concerning email voting in its bylaws that it wishes.

Edited October 20, 2022 at 12:10 PM by Josh Martin

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/19/2022 at 10:39 PM, Guest VeriTx said:

Bylaws were recently revised and adopted for our county’s political executive committee to include standing rules for email voting to say:

1. a second is not needed. 
2. “The motion to lay on the table is not in order”

Do these violate RONR? 
Should email voting be used in non-emergency situations? Our CEC meets monthly, yet still conducts business between meetings that aren’t urgent or an emergency.

Im still new and learning “on the job”.

 

This is confusing.  You say the rules are for email voting.  

But seconding of motions cannot occur during voting, nor can motions of any kind, including laying a question on the table.  So these rules don't seem to make sense. 

It seems that instead of rules for voting, these are turning into rules for debate and conduct of business, which is an entirely different (and much more problematic) kettle of seafood. 

If your bylaws authorize only email voting, that does not authorize making motions, debating, referring, amending, or otherwise disposing of a question by email.  It only authorizes the casting and tallying of votes that have gone through the deliberative process already, presumably in person or some other means that preserve the characteristics of a deliberative assembly, and comply with the bylaws.