Annual meeting voting tally process

[J Murphy]

Our bylaws allow for proxy voting for absent members. There are no guideline for vote counting.Present board wish to use online voting with votes going to the board secretary (who is a candidate). What is standard operating procedure? There is much push back for changing the online voting stating it would not be confidential. 

[Joshua Katz]

SOP doesn't matter. If your bylaws do not authorize email voting, you may not vote by email.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 1/30/2024 at 11:40 PM, J Murphy said:

Our bylaws allow for proxy voting for absent members. There are no guideline for vote counting.Present board wish to use online voting with votes going to the board secretary (who is a candidate). What is standard operating procedure? There is much push back for changing the online voting stating it would not be confidential. 

You say they allow proxy voting, but proxy voting requires an in-person meeting, where people in attendance, holding the proxies, cost those votes.

If your bylaws contain no rules on counting votes, then the rules in RONR §45. VOTING PROCEDURE apply. 

It's way too long to quote here, but for ballot votes it uses a Tellers Committee appointed by the chair (usually) to collect and count the votes.  The committee issues a full Tellers' Report of the tallies for each candidate and the number needed to elect, which they  report at a meeting.  Examples of the Tellers' Report are found at 45:37-38.

The report is read again by the chair, who announces who is elected, and for which if any offices the election is still incomplete.  The report is entered in full in the minutes.