[Lnc-business] reminder on voting protocols

[Alicia Mattson]

Since we have several new appointees to this body, I am sending a reminder
of how I handle votes cast on email ballots.

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

On the currently-open email ballot, a couple of people said something to
the effect of, "If I weren't an alternate, I would vote x."  I do not count
that as a vote.  When you say you "would" do something, it implies that
would be the case under different circumstances than the ones presently
before us.  Don't leave any doubt.  Say "I vote yes", or "I vote no" if you
intend to vote...or "aye", or "nay"...something clearly affirmative or
negative.

If you're an alternate, you can just go ahead and vote as if you believe it
will count, and at the end I'll decide whether it should be counted or
depending on what your region rep did.

Do not use phrases that are subject to interpretation, or have
contingencies like "I vote yes if this motion means X but no if it means
Y".  I will not interpret whether something meets your conditions or not.
You should decide that and then just tell me "yes" or "no".

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.  If it's in the 4th
sentence of the 8th of 12 paragraphs, it can be missed.  Doing this doesn't
mean your vote won't count.  It's just inconsiderate.  If I start skimming
a long message instead of reading every word, and that means I don't see
your vote, then we both have to invest more time at the end when I report
the votes, and you have to say that you voted but I didn't list it, then I
have to go find it, then I have to re-issue corrected results, and everyone
else's inboxes get that extra email traffic that adds no substantive
value.  Please just save us all the extra time by making your vote very
easy to find.

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

Thank you for helping me out by following these guidelines!

-Alicia
-------------- next part --------------
   Since we have several new appointees to this body, I am sending a
   reminder of how I handle votes cast on email ballots.
   Make your vote very clear, as in, "I vote yes", or "I vote no".
   On the currently-open email ballot, a couple of people said something
   to the effect of, "If I weren't an alternate, I would vote x."  I do
   not count that as a vote.  When you say you "would" do something, it
   implies that would be the case under different circumstances than the
   ones presently before us.  Don't leave any doubt.  Say "I vote yes", or
   "I vote no" if you intend to vote...or "aye", or "nay"...something
   clearly affirmative or negative.
   If you're an alternate, you can just go ahead and vote as if you
   believe it will count, and at the end I'll decide whether it should be
   counted or depending on what your region rep did.
   Do not use phrases that are subject to interpretation, or have
   contingencies like "I vote yes if this motion means X but no if it
   means Y".  I will not interpret whether something meets your conditions
   or not.  You should decide that and then just tell me "yes" or "no".
   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.  If it's in
   the 4th sentence of the 8th of 12 paragraphs, it can be missed.  Doing
   this doesn't mean your vote won't count.  It's just inconsiderate.  If
   I start skimming a long message instead of reading every word, and that
   means I don't see your vote, then we both have to invest more time at
   the end when I report the votes, and you have to say that you voted but
   I didn't list it, then I have to go find it, then I have to re-issue
   corrected results, and everyone else's inboxes get that extra email
   traffic that adds no substantive value.  Please just save us all the
   extra time by making your vote very easy to find.
   The cleanest option is to put nothing else in your message except for
   the vote, though if you need to include debate on the motion to explain
   yourself, please make your vote the first thing in the message.
   Thank you for helping me out by following these guidelines!
   -Alicia