Democracy for Fellow Feathers
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:38 pmThe special hearing meeting last Wednesday slammed home to me a sad lesson - the lack of turnout of club officers - for reasons which I can totally understand, as I sure did NOT want to be there.
I am also increasingly disturbed by the lack of communication which is engendered by the fact that MOST of the members of the club DON'T come to the club meetings.
But there are some relatively simple solutions which would enable the entire membership to participate, no matter where they are.
I'm thinking of some of the online survey and election systems - for example ballotbin.com, which allow any group to create an election or survey, with time constraints and various voter feedback mechanisms.
Its simple, its fast, and its relatively foolproof. Anyone with an email adress, and even those that don't, can use it.
I am thinking there would be 3 timeframes of elections:
- 30minute -
- 1 month
- 1+ month
For example, at every club meeting we spend the first 30m and tally any requests for the 30m vote. So from 7:30-8 we collect that and input it. At 8 oclock, voting begins, and by 8:30 the votes are tallied.
For more serious issues or the annual club elections, we have the nominations, they get input, and the club membership has the month to vote.
The 1+ mechanism is for issues such as the bylaw changes, where we need to vote twice, with one month between votes.
In the next meeting there will be some very contentious issues discussed, and I am NOT comfortable anymore with just the guys who show up for the meetings as the sole deciders. I think its time we make our club more accessible to EVERYONE who is a member of the FF. OF course, to do this, we have to vote to do it, and do it twice, as this is a bylaw change, but I strongly suggest we come up with a better way of bringing democracy to the Fellow Feathers.
I am also increasingly disturbed by the lack of communication which is engendered by the fact that MOST of the members of the club DON'T come to the club meetings.
But there are some relatively simple solutions which would enable the entire membership to participate, no matter where they are.
I'm thinking of some of the online survey and election systems - for example ballotbin.com, which allow any group to create an election or survey, with time constraints and various voter feedback mechanisms.
Its simple, its fast, and its relatively foolproof. Anyone with an email adress, and even those that don't, can use it.
I am thinking there would be 3 timeframes of elections:
- 30minute -
- 1 month
- 1+ month
For example, at every club meeting we spend the first 30m and tally any requests for the 30m vote. So from 7:30-8 we collect that and input it. At 8 oclock, voting begins, and by 8:30 the votes are tallied.
For more serious issues or the annual club elections, we have the nominations, they get input, and the club membership has the month to vote.
The 1+ mechanism is for issues such as the bylaw changes, where we need to vote twice, with one month between votes.
In the next meeting there will be some very contentious issues discussed, and I am NOT comfortable anymore with just the guys who show up for the meetings as the sole deciders. I think its time we make our club more accessible to EVERYONE who is a member of the FF. OF course, to do this, we have to vote to do it, and do it twice, as this is a bylaw change, but I strongly suggest we come up with a better way of bringing democracy to the Fellow Feathers.