After sitting through that interminable process of electing three directors to
the MCB Board, which may still be going on for all I know, I think we really
need to brainstorm some ways for speeding up that process and making it more
efficient. Here is one thought. At one time, we elected one Director on
Saturday afternoon and two on sunday morning. In fact it was written that way
in the Bylaws and therefore had to be done that way. When the Bylaws were
revised, we took that out, not because we thought it was a bad idea but because
we wanted to leave that up to the discretion of the Presidents and let each
President continue to do it that way if he/she wanted to or do them all on
Sunday. Perhaps we could try that process again to see if it helps. the Bylaws
would not have to be changed to allow that since the Bylaws don't specify when
directors have to be elected. Now all three directors are elected in
odd-numbered years. Should we consider electing two in odd years and one in
even years? Some believe we should eliminate the directors altogether. I don't
particularly favor that approach but it could be debated again. the process
needs to be changed in some way. Each position requires multiple elections
because of runoffs and with each election, the number of voters drops
dramatically so by the end of the process, only a few voters are making the
important decision of who will compose the Board, which is not a good thing. I
wonder if there was even a quorum present for the final election. You can argue
that people should stay but transportation often dictates when people leave as
well as check-out times at hotels. And taking almost four hours for five
elections seems ludicrous to me and I certainly can't blame people for not
sitting through such a lengthy process. In fact, I admit that I bailed before
the final director's contest and that a candidate that I would have voted for
lost. The Board is looking at a new voting machine but I don't believe that it
will actually speed up the process and I feel that the machine being considered
could at least slightly compromise the secret ballot. Whatever we do, the
process needs to be overhauled because at least in my opinion it is not working
well. I don't want to open an argument here but just to get some thoughts and
get people to think about what could be done to have a more fair and efficient
election for our organization. John
GO CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
_______________________________________________
ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
