This page describes a procedure for electronic voting (primarily of the EC).

The key steps of voting at in-person EC meetings that it attempts to replicate are:

  1. Participation by the whole EC: while some people may not be able to make an EC meeting, each EC member is informed of the time (and generally participates in picking a time that works for ~everyone) and has a chance to make it; per standing policies, quorum is a majority of the EC
  2. Discuss: attendees can discuss the issue, and potentially sway the opinions of the other attendees
  3. Vote: after the discussion (under RONR, with a 2/3 vote to close discussion, if necessary), EC members vote

In order to simulate the above in an email context, use the following procedures. In general, if a vote is expected to be controversial, having it at a public EC meeting is probably better than doing it by email, but something slightly controversial may make sense to do via email.

Non-controversial votes (white ballot equivalent)

  1. Propose the question ("Does Alice dance club level, and do we want to member her?")
  2. Specify a final deadline for voting ("Please respond by Sunday"), which should be at least a couple days out (three days, say). If the sponsor doesn't include a time frame, the chair (President/VP) should specify one. If the sponsor does include a time frame, the chair should confirm that it's reasonable.
    • If a faster resolution is desired, in addition to a final deadline, include a preferred deadline. This should still be at least a day out except in severely time-constrained circumstances.
  3. If there are objections, this was actually a controversial vote (your white ballot failed). See below.
    • Objections by non-EC members with a reasonable justification, that might plausibly sway an EC member, qualify as objections.
    • Just about any objection / "no" vote by an EC member also qualifies.
  4. Once the final deadline is reached, if a quorum of EC members have replied in favor and nobody has objected, then the motion passes.
  5. Once the preferred deadline has passed, if all EC members have replied and there have been no objections, then the motion passes.

Controversial votes

  1. Propose the question ("Does Alice dance club level, and do we want to member her?")
  2. The chair (President/VP) should specify a timeline (say: at least three days for discussion, discussion ends after the list has been quiet for at least 36 hours; voting will take place over the next two days)
  3. Discuss
  4. Once the discussion has died down, the chair should declare that voting has begun.
    • Votes may not be cast before the discussion ends and voting starts – discussion has the potential for changing somebody's opinion, so it doesn't make sense to lock in somebody's vote before other participants have a chance to sway them.
    • If a vote begins as a non-controversial vote and transforms to a controversial one due to a "no" vote, that voids "yes" votes so far and sends the vote to the discussion phase. The chair should specify a timeline, as above – likely the minimum discussion length will not be relevant, but the quiet period will be.
    • If discussion doesn't seem likely to die down or is very controversial, an in-person meeting is advised.
  5. Once the voting period ends, if a quorum of the EC has participated and a majority voted in favor, the motion passes.
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