FW: Voting Process Question

From: John
Borras

Sent: 29 April 2010 08:56

To: ; 

Cc: 

Subject: FW: Voting Process Question

Hi
Shawn

 

I'm forwarding
your enquiry to members of my Committee to see if any of them can provide
an opinion on this issue.  You have to realise though that any
response will only be a personal opinion as we are not in the game of
providing legal opinions.  

 

TC
Colleagues

 

Can anyone help
Shawn please and point him to an authoritative answer to his question?

 

 

Regards

John Borras

 

Chair OASIS E&VS Technical Committee

 

m. +(0)44 7976 157745

Skype:  gov3john

 

 

From: Shawn
Liebling []

Sent: 28 April 2010 23:38

To: Mary McRae

Cc: John Borras; David RR Webber (XML)

Subject: Re: Voting Process Question

Hi
Mary, 

 

Thank
you for forwarding my question.  I look forward to a response.

 

-shawn-

 

 

 

On
Apr 28, 2010, at 2:39 PM, Mary McRae wrote:

Hi
Shawn,

  I'm forwarding your question to the
chairs of our Election and Voter Services TC; they are likely to be better
equipped to answer your question than I.

 

Best
regards,

 

Mary

 

On
Apr 28, 2010, at 2:27 PM, Shawn Liebling wrote:

Hello,

 

I
have been looking for the answer to a question about election process and I was
hoping you may be able to provide an answer.  If not, could you possibly
refer me to a source that may be able to answer my question?  Thanks!

 

I work for a small worker owned corporation in Oregon that
annually elects between 1-5 directors to serve on our "Board of
Directors".  It is my understanding that the default election process
for a Corporation in Oregon is the "Plurality" voting system.
 Our bylaws designate a different voting system which I believe to be the
"Plurality with Exhaustive Ballot" electoral system (I will include
the language from our bylaws at the end of this email).  Another
unique aspect of our business is that each owner/member has a single share of
the stock and therefor each of us have a single vote for each open position.
 I think our current voting methods work fine in general, but in my
understanding it is intended to be used in a "Single Winner" election.
 When we are electing the directors there is often 2-4 open positions
which we elect from a single group of candidates.  It is my understanding
that this would be a "Multiple Winner" election and therefor
shouldn't utilize the Exhaustive Ballot system which is designed for a Single
Winner election.  Do I have valid concerns?

 

I have brought my concerns to the membership, but I have been not
able to convince people that we are doing something wrong.  I am not yet
able to find definitive information as to why our current election system would
be inadequate for a Multiple Winner election.   I am hoping you can
provide that information, or point me to a source that could provide it.  

 

I also admit that I could be wrong in my interpretations and am
open to the possibility that our electoral system is working just fine.  
I look forward to your thoughts.

 

Thank you,

Shawn Liebling

 

 

PS - Here is the exact language extracted from our bylaws which
defines our election process:

 

 

4.2.4 Voting Procedure: Upon close of said
nominations, vote by written ballot shall be completed and the person receiving
in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the total votes cast shall be declared the
winner. If no person receives in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the total
votes cast for each Board position on the first ballot, the person receiving
the fewest number of votes (or in the event of a tie, by flip of a coin) shall
be disqualified as a nominee for that Board position and a new written ballot
for the remaining nominees shall be submitted to the membership for a vote,
with the person receiving in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the total votes
cast being declared the winner. If on reballoting no person receives in excess
of the fifty percent (50%) of the total votes cast, disqualification of the
nominee receiving the fewest number of votes and reballoting shall occur again,
in the manner provided in the preceding sentence, until such time as one person
shall receive in excess of 50% of the total votes cast for each Board position.
Nominations and balloting likewise shall be conducted for each of the other
positions, until people are elected for each position.