[Lnc-business] Please vote ASAP on email ballots!

[Alicia Mattson]

To address Tim's question, this is a very messy situation.

In an in-person meeting, when the question arose about a person's
eligibility to vote, we would resolve the question before we conducted any
other business.

The asynchronous nature of email ballots puts us in parliamentary la-la
land.  I will again point out that the footnote on page 1 of RONR (11th
edition) states:

"A group that attempts to conduct the deliberative process in writing—such
as by postal mail, electronic mail (e-mail), or facsimile transmission
(fax)—does not constitute a deliberative assembly. When making decisions by
such means, many situations unprecedented in parliamentary law will arise,
and many of its rules and customs will not be applicable (see also pp.
97–99)."

This is RONR's polite way of saying, "If you try to do email ballots, good
luck with that".  So here we are in the land of "situations unprecedented
in parliamentary law" where we may find ourselves trying to vote on another
matter while we are still conducting the vote on the person's eligibility.
That's not allowed in face-to-face meetings.

Regarding the idea of a chair's ruling standing until overturned by the
body, again, that cannot be applied in situations where the ruling
conflicts other RONR principles.  Even a unanimous vote cannot suspend the
rules to give rights to vote to a non-member.  If a unanimous vote can't do
it, can a chair's ruling do it?

We're only dealing with one member here, and the end result seems to be
that Mr. Craig is destined to be in the position one way or another, but
when we think about whether a chair's ruling can temporarily trump
fundamental principles of parliamentary law, consider this hypothetical.
Suppose there are 17 LNC members, and a Chair suddenly announces that 20 of
his closest allies are to be added to the LNC, and he rules that they are
LNC members in spite of obviously contradictory bylaws.  Does the chair's
ruling stand until the body of now-37 people overturns it, such that the 20
new members get to out-vote the original 17 LNC members, sustain the ruling
of the chair, and declare themselves to be on the LNC?

-Alicia



On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 12:29 AM, Tim Hagan <timhagan-tyr at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Doesn't the Chair's ruling stand until & unless the ruling is overturned?
> Mr. Craig should be able to vote at the meeting if the balloting is not
> finalized.
>
> Tim Hagan
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Daniel Wiener <wiener at alum.mit.edu>
> *To:* "lnc-business at hq.lp.org" <lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, May 2, 2015 9:29 PM
> *Subject:* [Lnc-business] Please vote ASAP on email ballots!
>
> *If you haven't yet voted on the two email ballots, I urge you to do so
> tonight or Sunday morning*.  Once all LNC members (not alternates) have
> voted, the balloting will be closed early.  That way, whatever happens
> (based on the current tallies), Doug Craig will be able to vote at Sunday
> night's electronic meeting regarding the LP logo.
>
> Dan Wiener
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20150503/9a8c94a4/attachment-0002.html>