Let's meet and vote on absentee ballots

By Marjorie Isaacson

The East Village Association will be voting on an amendment to the Bylaws at the March General meeting on Monday, March 2. The purpose of this amendment is to restore the voting procedures to their original status. I reviewed this issue in an article in last month's newsletter, available here.

To summarize the motion: I am proposing that our Bylaws be amended to remove the proxy and absentee voting. The vast majority of large and small democratically run organizations only permit voting by those in attendance. Furthermore, quoting Robert's Rules of Order, “proxy voting is incompatible with the essential characteristics of a deliberative assembly in which membership is individual, personal and nontransferable.”

An essential point here is that an individual needs to be present for the discussion about an issue in order to make an informed decision on the vote. At our meetings, EVA goes to some trouble to provide a forum for stakeholders in issues to inform the public or make their case for an issue. We do everyone a disservice when we don’t demand that the people making decisions are present to hear them.

The specifics of the motion are to amend the bylaws to remove the second paragraph of Article VI, the last sentence of Article X and the second sentence of Article XII.

I look forward to seeing you at the general meeting on March 2.
Tom Tomek business card
Anselmo @properties business card,
Ask Nagel business card.

Popular posts from this blog

Crime puts La Spata on the spot

Ald. Villegas gets to know East Village