Proposed Bylaws Revision regarding Proxy Voting For Consideration at the 2026 Annual Meeting
The NEBCA Board of Directors will make a motion at the 2026 Annual Meeting to eliminate the option of voting by Proxy from the organization’s bylaws. In the past, when the annual meeting was held in person, and travel distances often made it impossible for many members to attend, proxy voting was a reasonable option and was often needed to achieve a quorum. Now that membership meetings are held electronically, the effort required to participate is minimal and the concerns regarding achieving a quorum have been eliminated. Also, managing voting with proxies in a Zoom meeting can be quite confusing.
Robert’s Rules of Order discourages proxy voting in non-profit organizations and argues that it “is incompatible with the essential nature of a deliberative assembly in which membership is individual, personal and non-transferable”. In other words, if you are going to vote, you should be there to hear and participate in the discussions of the issues on which you are voting. Giving your voting rights to another member, without knowing the motions to be voted on, and the arguments made in the meeting for and against them, does not contribute to the best decisions being made for the organization. The board of directors agrees with this logic.
This post, and a related article in the winter newsletter, serves to satisfy the bylaws requirement that a 30 day notification of a vote on any revision be provided to the membership. A marked-up version of the bylaws detailing the changes proposed is below.