The power of the Membership

DMS General
#1

https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/t/bod-agenda-09-17-2018-change-infrastructure-logistics-pr-and-classrooms-to-groups/42278/59?u=lukestrickland

Going on from what @Lampy said over in the other topic, I wanted to take the chance to point out the power the membership has.

Removing a Director
The members can remove a director from their position.

Section 2.2 Vacancies of Office
Removal by resolution in a general membership meeting, in which there is a quorum of two-thirds of the voting members;

Voting for Actions
The members can vote for any action, unless otherwise specified.

Section 4.7 Majority Action as Membership Action
Every act or decision done or made by a majority of voting members present in person or by proxy at a duly held meeting at which a quorum is present is the act of the members, unless the Articles of Incorporation, these Bylaws, or provisions of law require a greater number.

Amending Bylaws
Voting members can modify the bylaws in their entirety, including ratifying or rejecting existing ideals.

Article 13 - Amendments to Bylaws
Any member in good standing may propose an amendment to the Bylaws upon collecting the signatures of 10 voting members or 10% percent of the voting membership, whichever is larger, in favor of the proposed amendment.
These Bylaws may be amended, repealed, or altered in whole or in part by a majority vote at any regular or special meeting, in which there is a quorum of two-thirds of the voting members.

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#2

The challenge is now we can pretty much no longer reach quorum. Unless it is a big deal and the membership realizes it is do or die.

#3

As best I can tell, there are 255 voting members currently. The list should be cleaned of any “membership lapses”.

170 is not a crazy amount of people, especially when members are allowed to vote electronically!

As I recall, the 2018 election had a 80% turn out?

#4

The online election system is pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. If we include a mail out to full membership. Not so cheap.

#5

Physical mailing notification is only required for the annual meeting, I’m a member of a Makerspace up in Pittsburgh and they email members when it’s time to vote.

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#6

It was no where near 80%. I am thinking nearer 250 voters.

I know the 2017 election was around 10%.

Votes does not equal turn out.

Votes / 5 is the turn out.

@stansimmons. What was the 2018 voter turn out?

#7

I’ll have to dig it out of the wiki when I get back.

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#8

The Annual Meeting is here: https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Annual_Member_Meeting_20180412 but they don’t list the total votes cast.

It looks like there were 47 votes cast in person, but the online votes cast is a little murky. It lists the totals for each person, but not everyone cast 5 votes, so dividing the total by 5 doesn’t work. @Lampy handled the online portion of the voting and should have that information.

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#9

I’m guessing the 80% number is 80% of members registered with voting rights (as opposed to 80% of total number of members or members who could be eligible to vote should they ask for it)? I seem to remember there being around 300 or so “voting members”.

#10

You’re right, but dividing by 5 will give a lower bound at least.

#11

Thanks, however I did not have the notion that votes = turnout.

SImply Voting tells us the exact number of people who cast a vote, regardless of how many people they voted for.

Sources:

https://dallasmakerspace.simplyvoting.com/index.php?mode=results&election=64499
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13XvR0JJvcjdVPs6G70UD9e5Z8EuQs1n_YcgTI_63DcA/edit#gid=0
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#12

As Luke points out, we did reach quorum in our last election. It was only a couple of years ago that we made quorum in 2 member meetings back to back.

Quorum is not the problem. The substance of the meeting is what is needed. ByLaw changes, or a defense of our rules & bylaws will do it.

I collected 163 signatures. From people physically at space over a 10 day period (sans a weekend with the boys). I talked to many more that would vote.

200 is a small number for something of this scale.

#13

Voting for bylaw changes must be regular members in good standing who have been here 90 days an. Add on family members are not eligible.

#14

Thanks for getting that info before I noticed the request.

#15

Quorum isn’t a characteristic of an election. It is a characteristic of a meeting.

This is traditionally never an issue, because by “default” rules in just about any parliamentary authority one could think of (Robert’s, but also Mason’s, Demeter’s, the Standard Code, and a few dozen others) no vote is binding to a membership unless it occurs in a meeting. Bylaws can make exceptions to that, but a blanket “exception” for the outside-of-meeting passage of any motion is not an exception at all, but a redefinition. (Typical exceptions include election of organizational officers, for example)

If one meant for a vote to be able to be held without a meeting, and wanted to say something about the minimum votes for it to count, they’d talk about minimums to “votes cast,” not to “quorum.”. The fact that a quorum of 2/3 of voting membership would be required for some of the things named above is a reflection of the authors intending it to be hard to do, which makes sense (especially when we’re talking about the ability to fully rewrite the bylaws!). It means that that many folks in the org feel like this issue is of sufficient gravity to show up for to a scheduled meeting, announced with sufficient previous notice. Casting a vote online doesn’t either de jure or de facto meet that quorum criterion.

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#16

The way we hold board elections is by proxy via electronic voting. This is how we meet quorum for the membership meeting election. Rarely if ever do we have enough members at monthly membership meetings to make quorum with 1/3 of the voting members but no one even counts or puts anything on the agenda. It has turned into an announcement meeting and potluck. This is an issue. I think we should make quorum in membership meetings many times a year outside of elections and hold business. I don’t think people realize that they have more power than the board.

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#17

Online voting is simply proxy voting, an in-person respresentitve would appear at an in-person meeting available to members.

#18

Online voting isn’t proxy voting – it’s online(/electronic) voting. Were it proxy voting, the proxy would actually have to be assigned, which would be a problem for two reasons: one, because any authority that grants the ability for proxy voting typically also puts quantity limitations on the proxies held by one person, and two, because proxies for voting purposes aren’t automatically also necessarily considered as attendance for quorum purposes.

As I said in my earlier comment, it is not uncommon that an exception be made in an organization allowing some sort of outside-of-meeting “remote” voting when it comes to the election of the organization’s officers – that would include the process by which we hold board elections. That exception doesn’t itself grant any other process that same avenue for voting, let alone somehow affect how quorum is counted. It is still the case that, again, quorum is a characteristic of a meeting – not a vote.

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#19

Actually ours is proxy voting. The members cast their votes online and the secretary applied them as proxies in the meeting.

#20

Actually … proxies can only be in writing …

Section 4.8 Proxies https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Bylaws#Section_4.8_Proxies
At any meeting of members, a member entitled to vote may vote by proxy executed in writing by the member or by his duly authorized attorney-in-fact in accordance with the requirements of law.

What is WRITING? https://thelawdictionary.org/writing/
The expression of ideas by letters visible to the eye. Clason v. Bailey, 14 Johns. (N. Y.) 491. The giving an outward and objective form to a contract, will, etc.,by means of letters or marks placed upon paper, parchment, or other material substance. In the most general sense of the word, “writing” denotes a document, whether manuscript or printed, as opposed to mere spoken words. Writing is essential to the validity of certain contracts and other transactions.