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Grex > Coop6 > #43: Should internet link downtime extend the voting period? | |
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Message |
remmers
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Should internet link downtime extend the voting period?
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Nov 30 23:04 UTC 1994 |
I'm in the process of configuring the vote program for the Board
election that is about to begin. Normally, the election would run from
December 1 through the end of the day on December 15.
Bylaws Article 5.c provides for extension of the voting period in case
of system downtime. I'm thinking that since many members access Grex
only through our internet link, periods of time during which the link
is down should count as "downtime", with the voting period extended
accordingly.
Does this seem reasonable?
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| 14 responses total. |
steve
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response 1 of 14:
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Nov 30 23:06 UTC 1994 |
Yes--its been two days. I think that the extension period should
be equal to the amount of off-the-net time we have.
The off-the-net counter starts Monday 6:39PM EST.
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robh
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response 2 of 14:
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Nov 30 23:08 UTC 1994 |
That sounds good to me. (Extending the voting period, not the Internet
link being down. >8(
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remmers
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response 3 of 14:
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Nov 30 23:12 UTC 1994 |
Re #1: I think it would be more appropriate to start the off-the-net
counter at the time the election is scheduled to begin, so as to count
only the downtime that cuts into the regular election period.
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carson
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response 4 of 14:
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Dec 1 02:46 UTC 1994 |
I'd agree with the sentiment expressed in response #3.
Make that "I do agree."
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steve
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response 5 of 14:
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Dec 1 04:47 UTC 1994 |
OK, that makes sense.
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davel
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response 6 of 14:
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Dec 1 11:01 UTC 1994 |
Um, yes ... with reservations. Some users, having tried without success
for a couple of days to get on, may well let days go by before trying
again. And the system is slow (but only a bit) now that it's back up.
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popcorn
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response 7 of 14:
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Dec 1 16:48 UTC 1994 |
Looks like we were off the net for less than an hour after the polls
opened. That's so short a time (in a 15 day long election) that maybe
it's not worth worrying about.
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rcurl
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response 8 of 14:
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Dec 1 18:00 UTC 1994 |
The bylaws (4.d) say the elections will be held between 1 and 15 December.
No extensions are possible. The bylaws do not say how the elections will
be held: they could be by written ballot in a box at Zings on 10 December,
between 2 and 4 pm. They could be by mail ballot. In fact, if Grex were to
be down a significant period of time between 1 and 15 December, a mail
ballot would be necessary. Most organizations use a mail ballot, and
specify in their bylaws the date by which the ballots must be mailed, and
the date by which ballots must be returned (often, at an "annual
meeting"). The Grex on-line, 15 day open polls voting is permitted, but
not required, by the bylaws.
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remmers
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response 9 of 14:
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Dec 1 19:03 UTC 1994 |
Article 5c stipulates that the voting period will be extended
in the event of system downtime of 24 hours or more. The context
is a bit misleading, as adjacent sections are talking about voting
on member-proposed policies, but I think 5c was intended to apply
to all elections.
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rcurl
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response 10 of 14:
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Dec 1 19:14 UTC 1994 |
Article 5 appears to be concerned only with member-proposed motions.
The intent may well have been for 5.c to apply to elections, but this
is unclear, since there are other ways to hold the elections to
satisfy Article 4. The solution, of course, is to amend the bylaws
to be more specific on the means and timing of elections. (Will also
have to consider state law, which doesn't know yet about cyberspace.)
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remmers
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response 11 of 14:
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Dec 2 12:51 UTC 1994 |
The question of extending the voting period might not come up, since
the internet connection was restored at about the same time as the
beginning of the voting period.
I think current practice for holding elections has worked well. We're
on our fourth annual board election now, and they've all been conducted
the same way. I think it's a reasonable interpretation of the bylaws
to hold the election online and to extend the period in case of
downtime. So I don't see a pressing need to revise the bylaws to cover
this, but I wouldn't object to a to a change in wording to make the
intent clearer. Perhaps you'd like to start the ball rolling by coming
up with wording and formally proposing an amendment, as per Article 7?
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rcurl
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response 12 of 14:
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Dec 2 16:03 UTC 1994 |
I checked, and found nothing in state law against elections conducted
via electronic media (I was afraid there might have been some "notice
by mail" provisions). I agree that the current practices have
worked well. Time extensions could be included in the bylaws, though
it may be desirable to have a limit on that. Most bylaws provide for
"ultimate contingencies", allowing directors to serve, for example,
"until their successors are elected". This sort of thing doesn't come
up often, but certainly have during wars, and could during meteor
impacts, etc (corporate law is written for the existence of corporations
*in perpetuity*, so provisions for unexpected events are usually
included).
As far as I can see, at most the bylaws need clarifying language, and
not substantive alterations. There was something else in that category.
I'd be glad to collect general suggestions and craft language. But
after the holidays. For this, I'd suggest starting an item in coop
on bylaw-amendments-to-be-considered, and collect the few that have
come up, for action at one time (but not collectively, of course).
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popcorn
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response 13 of 14:
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Dec 2 16:57 UTC 1994 |
(The PFC did that once, combining bylaws ammendments so that you had
to vote yes or no on pairs of ammendments. The directors claimed they
thought it would be too many questions to ask people to vote on each
ammendment separately. I was disgusted - most the pairs included one
change I wanted to vote Yes on, and one I wanted to vote No on. At the
time it looked like some kind of slimy political move. Since then I've
met a lot of the PFC directors who were involved in this, and I think they
may have genuinely done this for the reasons stated. At the time I wasn't
so sure.)
The original intent of Grex's bylaws was to hold elections on-line for
a period of 15 days, and extend the voting period to correspond to any
amount of system downtime during the election.
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rcurl
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response 14 of 14:
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Dec 2 17:19 UTC 1994 |
On reflection, that would work, even if it took 6 months to accumulate the
15 days ;->.
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