[Lnc-business] details for electronic mail ballots

[Alicia Mattson]

Bylaws Article 13 authorizes our electronic mail ballots as follows:

Boards and committees may transact business by electronic mail. The chair
or secretary shall send out electronic mail ballots on any question
submitted by the chair or cosponsored by at least 1/5 of the members of the
board or committee. The period for voting on a question shall remain open
for ten days, unless all members have cast votes, or have stated an
intention to abstain or be absent during the voting period, by electronic
mail to the entire board or committee. Votes from alternates will be
counted, in accordance with previously defined ranked order, in the absence
of the corresponding committee member(s). The outcome of each motion shall
be announced promptly and recorded in the minutes of the next meeting. The
number of votes required for passage of any motion shall be the same as
that required during a meeting. Motions dispensed through electronic mail
ballots satisfy the requirement of giving previous notice.

We have 17 members of the board.  The chair may submit an electronic mail
ballot, or 1/5 of the members of the board (4) may co-sponsor an electronic
mail ballot.

The policy manual has some other provisions regarding electronic mail
ballots:

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Section 1.02.6 (regarding what is required to be in the minutes):

The following aspects of each mail ballot conducted since the prior meeting
and reported by the Secretary at that meeting:
o the complete text of the motion,
o the names of the co-sponsors,
o the dates of the initiation and completion of the balloting, and
o the roll of those voting on the motion.

Section 1.04.1:  Electronic mail ballots shall not include an accompanying
argument for or against passage of the motion. Notification of an
electronic mail ballot shall be made by the Secretary by electronic mail.
An LNC Member may change his or her vote on an electronic mail ballot,
provided that the change is received by the Secretary by the deadline for
return of ballots.

Section 2.07.4:  The Secretary shall report the results of electronic mail
ballots at each LNC meeting immediately following those ballots.
------------------------------

I don't wait until the next meeting to tell you how the vote turned out, as
you might wonder from 2.07.4.  I go ahead and report the results shortly
after the voting period.  They are also reported at the next LNC meeting.

When does voting end on an electronic mail ballot?

The bylaws say that the voting remains open for 10 days (unless shortened
by everyone voting/abstaining early).  What time of day on the final day
does voting end?  If I send it at 5:17pm, does it end at 5:17pm on the 10th
day?  Perhaps.  Or is it the generic sense of the day, as in 11:59pm on
Thursday is still only one day after 9:15am on Wednesday?  What has worked
well in past terms is to give the most generous interpretation of the
voting deadline of 11:59:59pm.  Then members don't have to remember what
time of day each mail ballot ends.  It always ends at midnight on the 10th
day after it is sent.

Midnight in which time zone?  In the past I have used Pacific Time Zone, as
it is my time zone and it also gives a generous interpretation.  It doesn't
matter to me all that much which one we pick, so long as we set a standard
that everyone knows.  Consistency is the main desired feature.  Unless the
LNC feels inclined to say differently, I will continue to use Pacific Time
Zone for the deadlines.

How do you co-sponsor an email ballot?

After someone sends a message to the list requesting co-sponsors, just
reply to that message with a blatantly clear indication like "I will
co-sponsor this."  Don't leave me guessing and interpreting with phrases
like "This is a good idea" or "I support this".  I will not interpret such
phrases as co-sponsorships.  Use the magic word "co-sponsor" to remove all
doubt.

How do you vote?

After a sufficient number of co-sponsors have been identified, I will send
a message announcing the start of the 10-day voting period with all the
necessary details.

I use a fixed pattern for the subject lines when I sent email ballots.
That makes it easier to find them in your email history.  I'll number each
email ballot with first the year, then a number indicating the year-to-date
count of email ballots.  The first email ballot of this year will be
2016-01, for example.  The prior term's LNC did not conduct any email
ballots in 2016, so that numbering won't duplicate anything from the past.

To vote, simply reply to that email thread with your vote.

Make your vote very clear, as in, "I vote yes", or "I vote no".

Do not use phrases that are subject to interpretation, or have
contingencies like "I vote yes if this means X but no if it means Y".  If
you say "you have my support", I do not interpret that as a vote, but as
debate.

Please do not embed your vote inside of other extensive commentary, as that
increases the chances that I will overlook your vote.

Please put your vote as the first thing in your email message.  The
cleanest option is to put nothing else in your message except for the vote,
though if you must include debate on the motion to explain yourself, make
your vote the first thing in the message.

-Alicia
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