I agree. voting by proxy is the way to go.....especially when the conditions are met.
Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello.
I would like to second that -- voting by proxy is indeed a common practice in organizations, commercial and non-commercial. It is useful for organizations which are geographically disparate (as is somewhat the case with WMKE today, and may be much more the case in years to come!) making it difficult for members from regions far from the meeting venue to attend, thus creating a unintentional bias against their opinions.
My personal recommendation (I do not speak for the Foundation here) would be to allow voting by proxy under the following circumstances:
- The board should decide a particular item on the next meeting's agenda is
to allow voting by proxy. 2. The board must make public this decision sufficiently long in advance (say, at least two weeks before the meeting) 3. Proxy votes must be explicitly sent -- in writing or e-mail -- to both the proxy agent and the board, with the subject and the vote explicitly spelt out, e.g. "On the matter of wearing silly hats, I request that my proxy agent Asaf vote YES on my behalf." -- no later than 1 day before the meeting.
I also second Oliver's two restrictions (quoted below).
Again, this is just my personal opinion, and you are (of course) free to reject it in part or in whole.
(oh, and about 'chairman' -- as Abbas says, 'chairperson' is often used to avoid gender bias, as well as simply 'chair' -- which sounds strange to non-native speakers [certainly sounded very strange to me till I got used to it!], but is a little less cumbersome than 'chairperson'.)
Asaf
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 4:40 AM, Oliver Stegen oliver_stegen@sil.org wrote:
Well, I know of several institutions (here in Nairobi even), which allow members to vote by proxy - however, there are certain restrictions: a) a member can only give his/her proxy to another member, b) no voting member may hold more than one additional proxy. Does that sound like a reasonable compromise? Oliver (aka BT)
-----Original Message----- From: wikimediake-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediake- bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Limoke Oscar Sent: 09 June 2011 12:58 To: The discussion list for the upcoming Wikimedia Kenya chapter. Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Articles & Memorandum of Association (Semi-final draft)
Grace,
proxy-i don't really know about this but ave never heard of a company that doesn't give its members the opportunity to vote by proxy.
...and i have never seen a company that allows a member to send someone tp vote for them...really where does it happen i send say my brother to go vote for say x??or about issue y?which he has no idea of....?makes no sense at all.collecting dividends and staff,yes proxy is accepted but vote??really?? or maybe i don't get the context of "proxy"...
Abbas,yes should one be absent on voting days,he/she forfeits his/her vote,that's my thought....
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-- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
Thanks for the feedback. I'm redacting the bylaws following the proposed revisions, and will submit the final version to chapcom for approval (at last!). I'll also send the final draft to the mailing list. --Abbas.
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:03:35 +0300 From: dafriwawira@gmail.com To: wikimediake@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Articles & Memorandum of Association (Semi-final draft)
I agree. voting by proxy is the way to go.....especially when the conditions are met.
Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello.
I would like to second that -- voting by proxy is indeed a common practice in organizations, commercial and non-commercial. It is useful for organizations which are geographically disparate (as is somewhat the case with WMKE today, and may be much more the case in years to come!) making it difficult for members from regions far from the meeting venue to attend, thus creating a unintentional bias against their opinions.
My personal recommendation (I do not speak for the Foundation here) would be to allow voting by proxy under the following circumstances:
- The board should decide a particular item on the next meeting's agenda is
to allow voting by proxy. 2. The board must make public this decision sufficiently long in advance (say, at least two weeks before the meeting) 3. Proxy votes must be explicitly sent -- in writing or e-mail -- to both the proxy agent and the board, with the subject and the vote explicitly spelt out, e.g. "On the matter of wearing silly hats, I request that my proxy agent Asaf vote YES on my behalf." -- no later than 1 day before the meeting.
I also second Oliver's two restrictions (quoted below).
Again, this is just my personal opinion, and you are (of course) free to reject it in part or in whole.
(oh, and about 'chairman' -- as Abbas says, 'chairperson' is often used to avoid gender bias, as well as simply 'chair' -- which sounds strange to non-native speakers [certainly sounded very strange to me till I got used to it!], but is a little less cumbersome than 'chairperson'.)
Asaf
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 4:40 AM, Oliver Stegen oliver_stegen@sil.org wrote:
Well, I know of several institutions (here in Nairobi even), which allow members to vote by proxy - however, there are certain restrictions: a) a member can only give his/her proxy to another member, b) no voting member may hold more than one additional proxy. Does that sound like a reasonable compromise? Oliver (aka BT)
-----Original Message----- From: wikimediake-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediake- bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Limoke Oscar Sent: 09 June 2011 12:58 To: The discussion list for the upcoming Wikimedia Kenya chapter. Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Articles & Memorandum of Association (Semi-final draft)
Grace,
proxy-i don't really know about this but ave never heard of a company that doesn't give its members the opportunity to vote by proxy.
...and i have never seen a company that allows a member to send someone tp vote for them...really where does it happen i send say my brother to go vote for say x??or about issue y?which he has no idea of....?makes no sense at all.collecting dividends and staff,yes proxy is accepted but vote??really?? or maybe i don't get the context of "proxy"...
Abbas,yes should one be absent on voting days,he/she forfeits his/her vote,that's my thought....
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
-- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
Asaf and Oliver, Thanks for the input.You have addressed my concerns and fear.I was afraid the proxy clause may be abused by members but with strict measures like you have proposed,I now am comfortable with it.
I however raised a few other pertinent issues like the Signatories to the Funds be explicitly defined in the By-Laws and the Treasurer should not be allowed to sign/spend money without knowledge of the Chair(I like the shortened version too..:-) ) and vice verser...
Another issue is on the clause on voting at Meetings by Show of hands...well i would suggest we make it secret ballot too.This is because I think people would vote more comfortably by secret ballot.
BTW,Was proxy the only issue Abbas sort our opinion?Looks like that's the only clause that has been exhaustively discussed.Lets discuss other clauses too...
Regards,
On 6/15/11, Abbas Mahmood abbasjnr@hotmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. I'm redacting the bylaws following the proposed revisions, and will submit the final version to chapcom for approval (at last!). I'll also send the final draft to the mailing list. --Abbas.
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:03:35 +0300 From: dafriwawira@gmail.com To: wikimediake@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Articles & Memorandum of Association (Semi-final draft)
I agree. voting by proxy is the way to go.....especially when the conditions are met.
Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello.
I would like to second that -- voting by proxy is indeed a common practice in organizations, commercial and non-commercial. It is useful for organizations which are geographically disparate (as is somewhat the case with WMKE today, and may be much more the case in years to come!) making it difficult for members from regions far from the meeting venue to attend, thus creating a unintentional bias against their opinions.
My personal recommendation (I do not speak for the Foundation here) would be to allow voting by proxy under the following circumstances:
- The board should decide a particular item on the next meeting's agenda
is to allow voting by proxy. 2. The board must make public this decision sufficiently long in advance (say, at least two weeks before the meeting) 3. Proxy votes must be explicitly sent -- in writing or e-mail -- to both the proxy agent and the board, with the subject and the vote explicitly spelt out, e.g. "On the matter of wearing silly hats, I request that my proxy agent Asaf vote YES on my behalf." -- no later than 1 day before the meeting.
I also second Oliver's two restrictions (quoted below).
Again, this is just my personal opinion, and you are (of course) free to reject it in part or in whole.
(oh, and about 'chairman' -- as Abbas says, 'chairperson' is often used to avoid gender bias, as well as simply 'chair' -- which sounds strange to non-native speakers [certainly sounded very strange to me till I got used to it!], but is a little less cumbersome than 'chairperson'.)
Asaf
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 4:40 AM, Oliver Stegen oliver_stegen@sil.org wrote:
Well, I know of several institutions (here in Nairobi even), which allow members to vote by proxy - however, there are certain restrictions: a) a member can only give his/her proxy to another member, b) no voting member may hold more than one additional proxy. Does that sound like a reasonable compromise? Oliver (aka BT)
-----Original Message----- From: wikimediake-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediake- bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Limoke Oscar Sent: 09 June 2011 12:58 To: The discussion list for the upcoming Wikimedia Kenya chapter. Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Articles & Memorandum of Association (Semi-final draft)
Grace,
proxy-i don't really know about this but ave never heard of a company that doesn't give its members the opportunity to vote by proxy.
...and i have never seen a company that allows a member to send someone tp vote for them...really where does it happen i send say my brother to go vote for say x??or about issue y?which he has no idea of....?makes no sense at all.collecting dividends and staff,yes proxy is accepted but vote??really?? or maybe i don't get the context of "proxy"...
Abbas,yes should one be absent on voting days,he/she forfeits his/her vote,that's my thought....
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
-- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
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