Voting Rights... Please don't wait until the last minute to request change in status!

https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Rules_and_Policies#Voting_Rights (as of March 1, 2017. Please click on the link for the most recent revision)

  • All members start off as Supporting Members, with no voting rights.
  • A Supporting Member may submit an application to become a Regular Member only after 90 days of membership.
  • A member’s application to change from Supporting Member to Regular Member must be submitted via email to [email protected] from the email address registered on their account. Rights will be effective upon receipt of the e-mail.
  • Members added via the Family rate will not be allowed voting rights.

It’s very important to ensure that you DO have voting rights prior to any official votes (including voting for the Board of Directors and various agenda items during scheduled member meetings). It’s equally important to request your voting rights be removed if you do not plan on using them, in order for quorum to be able to be met by the percentage of voting members required at any given official vote.

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Is this a one time process or something that members must do every year?

We have to do it yearly I believe

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That’s my understanding, but the link she provided does not mention it.

Last year if I remember right, we submitted a ticket through the old ticketing system, requesting our voting rights.

Now that’s gone, I’m hoping that we have a replacement

Is there an actual application or do we just put in the email something along the lines of “Please change my voting rights”?

This is the replacement:

Yes, just send an email with the request clearly stated.

Annually, following the BoD elections, voting is “reset”, so if you want to have them for the upcoming year, you’ll need to re-request. I’m having trouble finding the documentation. That SHOULD really be added to the rules where @LisaSelk has linked above (in fact, I thought it had, but clearly it is not there now).

For @LisaSelk : is there a simple way for a person to check whether they are currently able to vote? I assume one could email as above and request voting rights, or request a check to see if they have them, but is there an easier (for everyone) way?
I reckon attending monthly meetings where it’s discussed in the context of quorum would be another…

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If my memory serves me right, I thought the voting rights were expired after the BOD election. That’s the way it was last year. I asked for my voting rights right before the election then again after the election. The voting rights would then expire after the election in April. I’m going off memory here & could not find the exact thread where I read it.

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I’ve already responded to, and assigned voting rights to, a couple of members who sent emails into [email protected].

There are several of us that have admin access to the accounts system, and we will do our best to respond quickly to these requests, but please don’t wait until the last minute to request voting rights.

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Thanks for all that you do!

Email sent.

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Sorry, but I just don’t remember hearing these details when I signed up. I see the purpose. I will likely make the cut. But what a surprise.

All in the member handbook, on the wiki, all over talk.

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Like @missydee1206 mentioned, it’s posted in several locations. Probably the most ‘obvious’ (easy to find for new members who may not otherwise even think to ask about voting rights…) would be the New Member Handbook that is offered to anyone who wants one; and, is almost always pinned to the bulletin board near the front lobby.

On the current revision, dated Feb 9 2017, it happens to be on “Page 3”:

If you would like a soft copy (PDF file), you can grab a copy off of the Committee Drive in the PR folder under the “New Member Handbook” sub-folder. Be sure to always select the most recent revision. :dms:

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There is a good amount of information on the wiki. I think we should encourage new members to edit the wiki if they discover important things that are not documented there. This will encourage the new members to actually read the wiki and might improve the content for future members.

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To answer my own question on this, I think a person can check their membership in AD for “voting members” group. If you’re in that group, you’re a voting member.

*You may or may not think this is “easier” than sending an email…

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That is correct…


:scream:

(definitely all a matter of perspective… :slight_smile: )


Here’s a thread with some information on how to check Active Directory to see if you have Voting rights…

https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/t/resolved-questions-answered-issue-classes-taken-not-being-recorded/16048/7?u=lisaselk

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Can dallas.ms/voting be reenabled to allow self checking of status?

The software is basically broken at this point and needs to be rewritten. I figure it wouldn’t take me more than a day or two, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort since there may be another system in the works.

@StanSimmons, can you try your hand at a PHP page that dynamically pulls a list of Voting Members from AD? We would have to host it internally… or if anyone knows some sort of Wordpress API that we could use to update the list with a cronjob every night…?

If Stan’s low on free time, I’ll volunteer to take a crack at it.
and here’s my famous last words: It Shouldn’t Be Too Much Trouble ™.

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