VOTING RULES

Started by DanielL7 • 3 replies • 1353 views

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DanielL7 (Louisiana)
Posts: 17

Posted:

Our bylaws state:

ARTICLE VIII - NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

Section 2. Election. .....At such election the Members or their proxies shall cast
one(1) vote per each vacancy.

This section has been interpreted by the Board that if you have three vacancies then
members have to vote for three candidates. You cannot vote for just one or two. If you
do then your ballot is discarded.

Does anyone have this in their bylaws? Does this seem to be a standard policy for voting?

I would appreciate any comments.

Thanks

DanielH1 (California)
Posts: 482

Posted:

This section of your Bylaws is too vague. It is unknown whether the Board is correct or not.

If your Bylaws or state allows cumulative voting, a person could legally cast 3 votes for 1 candidate and 0 for the remaining candidates.

But, if that is not the case, your Board lacks common sense even though it is not illegal to lack common sense. Most organizations and governments do not discard partial ballots but count them exactly as you would expect. If your Board discards partial ballots, they are just being silly.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Daniel,

I interpret your bylaws to mean than only one vote per candidate can be cast. Normally a ballot IS counted if a vote is not cast for each vacancy however a ballot would be voided if more votes were cast than vacancies on the ballot, i.e. 4 votes cast for 3 vacancies. Of course this could only occur if there were at least 4 candidates on the ballot.

Do the candidates have to get a certain number of votes or are the candidates with the highest number of votes elected?

If there are 3 vacancies and only 3 candidates IMO it's not fair to require the members to vote for 3 candidates. This could mean that the BOD is forcing you to vote for a candidate you don't like or your ballot will not be counted. IMO, this is not right.

IMO, the instructions on the ballot should be to vote for "not more" than 3 candidates.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

At such election the Members or their proxies shall cast
one(1) vote per each vacancy.

*********************************************************************
Should read: At such election the Members or their proxies shall cast
not more than one(1) vote per each vacancy.

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