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eligible voters in creating a quorum


Guest georgia nielsen

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Guest georgia nielsen

Our 50l © 3 status Foundation has 20 eligible voters. One has said he is finished but not resigned per bylaws. One claims his Alliance Coalition bylaws do not permit him to vote at the Foundation.

Question: when we count the eligible voters according to our Foundation bylaws there are 20. Do we care if one voter no-shows and another claims his organization does not permit him to vote? Is our number 20 irrespective of reasons for not voting? If so, we are a quorum of 11 and we carry on business--is that correct?

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Chris !!?!

I'd think Guest georgia nielsen might be helped with a little about what Robert's Rules says, though of course she should know that what RONR says always yields to what her bylaws say (but no, the bylaws don't belong to georgia, or even nebraska), as well as to applicable law (such as maybe what 501( c) 3 rules say).

Here in RONR-Land, a member is a member until h/she is not a member. Counts towards a quorum. The organization might want to wonder if it considers the "finished" member to have, in actuality, resigned, though he quibbles about the wording.

Similarly with the person from his Alliance. What counts for georgia nielsen's organization is whether he is an eligible voter (what we in RONR-Land call a member, unless the Foundation's rules have some persnickety nuances -- if so, they will supersede) according to the Foundation's rules. As far as the Foundation is concerned, he is entitled to vote as long as the Foundation's rules say he can. If the Alliance says he can't vote, that''s their lookout. If his mommy said can't vote, would that make him ineligible?

(Probably this discussion thread should be moved into General Discussion, where I think it more appropriate. And maybe adjust the forum opening page so that Announcements is not the first category. I think some of the posts in this section are from people who are looking for information about their boards, 'cause that's the title of the category. Maybe change it to Forum Information. Yes, Olivia, I'm full of good ideas for things for other people to do.)

[Edited to fix typos, remove some stupidities, and perhaps inevitably add some. Or maybe I mean "insert". But why quibble. Not my job. Not at no $4.50 an hour it's not.]

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Do we care if one voter no-shows and another claims his organization does not permit him to vote? Is our number 20 irrespective of reasons for not voting? If so, we are a quorum of 11 and we carry on business--is that correct?

A quorum is the number of members who must be present and is often defined as a proportion of the members who are eligible to vote. The member who said he is "finished" but has not yet resigned is clearly still an eligible voter. I also agree with Mr. Tesser that the Bylaws of another organization are irrelevant for the purpose of determining whether a member is an eligible voter (unless, perhaps, they are the Bylaws of your parent organization). It would seem to me that barring any odd provisions in your Bylaws, the number of eligible voters is indeed 20. Under RONR, the only reason a member would not count for such purposes is if his rights are under disciplinary suspension.

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