SOG-UK-L Archives

Archiver > SOG-UK > 2002-04 > 1018219525


From: Tim Powys-Lybbe <>
Subject: Re: [SoG] The AGM
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2002 23:45:25 +0100
References: <148.c71c3f9.29e1e415@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <148.c71c3f9.29e1e415@aol.com>


In message <>
wrote:

> Surely the future of the Society is so important that distant members should
> be allowed a proxy vote on a draconian increase in fees?

Two issues here.

First there is no provision in the constitution, I suspect, for the
votes of absent members from the AGM to be counted. That is a separate
resolution that must be passed at an AGM and proposed well in advance.
The time to propose it is now. There are a multiplicity of
considerations:

1. Any matter to be voted on must be tabled at least two months before
the AGM, to give time for absentee votes to be set up.

2. The proxies to do the voting must be nominated at least one month
before the AGM.

3. There must be no additional cost to the society. This means that the
society cannot send out proxy voting forms to all members. Instead the
motions to be voted on could be posted on the "members" section of the
society's web site. (Some of this may turn out to be infeasible...)

4. The process of proxy voting must not be susceptible to multiple or
fraudulent voting. The voting forms must be serially numbered, say with
the voter's membership number. Possibly they could be downloaded from
the society's web site. Certainly they should then be physically
posted back to the society (I am not convinced that 100% internet voting
is secure enough).

5. The process of counting the received voting forms and checking that
only one is received per member needs careful setting up. And may cost
money.

If proxy voting is to become a reality all the above needs discussing
fast and now. And remember that the vote to permit proxy voting can be
done only by the members present at the meeting.

The second consideration is who has the responsibility for deciding the
fees to be paid by members. Is it the executive committee? Or the
assembled AGM? In either case, the decision is clearly one of judgement
as too heavy an increase in fees will indeed have a negative effect on
income due to excess resignations. The future (independent) viability
of the Society may be at stake.

--
Tim Powys-Lybbe
For a patchwork of bygones: http://powys.org


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