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RSCDS restructure AGM motion: voting system
e.ferguson
Sept. 17, 2001, 9:42 p.m. (Message 27398)
On 17 Sep 2001, at 18:09, Andrew Smith wrote: > 3 (a) That every fully paid up Member of the RSCDS at HQ shall have > the right to vote at General Meetings, and to elect such Members to > the Management Board and Standing Committees of the Society at HQ; (b) > That a Branch Convention be convened annually to provide a forum for > Branch members to discuss issues affecting the Branches and put > forward proposals to the Management Board of the Society at HQ. > > 4 That all Members of the Society at HQ should pay their > subscriptions direct to HQ, and all Branches/Local Associations should > make an annual donation to HQ proportionate to the numbers of > Branch/Local Association members which they have (exclusive of Members > at HQ), the annual subscription and donation amounts to be set by the > Society at HQ AGM. Could Andrew please explain the voting procedure? If even a few thousand "Branch+Affiliated Group" members become HQ members, the full AGM will never be able to bring together more than a small fraction of them all. With "one member one vote" few will decide to travel from far just to cast one single vote. In addition, those living near by can always "load" the meeting. Those living far away are therefore in effect disenfranchised. Would it not be better if members not attending were allowed to vote by proxy through members attending ? That would allow (e.g.) New Zealand, for the first time, to have influence related to its size. Eric. Eric T. Ferguson, van Dormaalstraat 15, NL-5624 KH EINDHOVEN, Netherlands tel: (+31)(0)40-243 2878 fax:40-246 7036 e-mail: x.xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx
Sorry, Eric, but I have just realise that I did not address your comment on "proxy voting" -my apologies. We did consider writing it in, but felt that in the changes there is the opportunity for it to be included : "7. Except as otherwise provided, voting on all motions before a General Meeting shall be by a show of hands [Insert: and by prior postal instruction from absent members]." We believe this establishes the principle, and that it should be up to the Management Board to decide the most cost-effective and acceptable way to do it. Certainly, using a proxy allows the person holding the proxies to consider the arguments "live" rather than pre-judging the situation, but we did not want to get too bogged down in the mechanics at this stage. (I am sure there will be Strathspey readers who will be noting the comments with a positive view to the future.) I hope this helps. Andrew.