Some members will presumably have paid their dues prior to the meeting. Would they also receive ballots at the meeting (which will presumably require checking IDs, etc.)?
That's a non-issue in this case, anyway. If you have rolling memberships, you'll have people who will pay their dues at the meeting and people who paid their dues the month before or eight months before or eleven months before. On a rolling-membership basis, someone whose membership expires the day after the annual meeting would then technically be eligible to vote.
Under the annual membership platform, the earliest you can pay your dues for the current year is at the annual meeting. That way, everyone who's at the annual meeting will be paying dues. You can't have paid it before then. And since proxy voting is not allowed, per the bylaws, you have to be in attendance at the meeting anyway.
Or seven write-in candidates, for that matter. Since, in principle, the act of nomination takes place at the meeting, would we incur any legal risk from issuing ballots that contain only a subset of candidates, and requiring write-in votes for the others?
The bylaws don't state that candidates have to be nominated at the annual meeting, only that they get elected then. The board can vote to create and appoint a nomination committee 1-3 months before the election. Interested candidates can submit candidacy to the committee. You can leave room for write-in candidates on the ballot, or amend the bylaws to state that only those who were members in the previous year are eligible to run for a board position for the following year.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Michael Bashour
2011/5/9 Kirill Lokshin kirill.lokshin@gmail.com:
On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 10:16 AM, Nicholas Michael Bashour nicholasbashour@gmail.com wrote:
I don't see it as a logistical nightmare. Many organizations handle their elections that way. Anyone running for board would more than likely be a member anyway, and even then, you can have room for a write-in candidate.
Or seven write-in candidates, for that matter. Since, in principle, the act of nomination takes place at the meeting, would we incur any legal risk from issuing ballots that contain only a subset of candidates, and requiring write-in votes for the others?
Member verification for voting purposes would be easy. If you're there for the annual meeting, that's when you'd pay your dues, anyway. If you don't submit your membership form and dues at the meeting, you don't receive a ballot. It doesn't have to be more complicated than that.
Kirill _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-DC mailing list Wikimedia-DC@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-dc