[NABS-L] board position 4

Sat Jul 18 22:35:54 UTC 2020

As a state student division president I also agree having state student division presidents vote is not the way to go. Imposing a deadline like this is creating the issues at hand. Simply call a special meeting to vote on board member for when it is convenient to the new board. I want to reiterate I’m not questioning anyone’s ethics or intentions just that we abide by our constitution. Below is the link to the constitution that is public on a Our student division website.

http://nabslink.org/about/constitution

Nick Petrillo
He/him/his
Virginia Association of Blind Students| President 
703-346-9981

> On Jul 18, 2020, at 6:27 PM, Justin Young via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Thank you Kathryn for your detailed response outlining the rationale
> behind the decisions made for the annual NABS business meeting & our
> elections.  I support the decision made and the reasons presented.
> 
> I have heard a few times now the idea of having Student Division State
> Presidents as delegates, but until there is a students division in all
> 52 affiliates, this would never be a fair method or respectful to all
> NABS members because their voices might be lost using that kind of
> system.
> 
> Thanks & I look forward to hearing the result of the Outgoing/Incoming
> Board & Nominating committee for which student will fill this vacancy.
> 
> Justin Young
> President, New York Association of Blind Students
> 
>> On 7/18/20, Kathryn Webster, National Student President via NABS-L
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> First and foremost, thank you so much for surfacing your concerns on a
>> public platform. I applaud you for exercising your voice in this format. I
>> want to clearly explain voting protocol so there is full transparency. I
>> also want to highlight that these concerns should have been brought up on
>> Wednesday night, as we felt comfortable and confident in the decision made
>> upon adjournment. If that was not the case, I wish we could have openly
>> talked about it regardless of the time. I hope you understand that I am a
>> fair leader, one in which values each of your ideas, contributions, and
>> opinions. To that end, I only want full transparency, fairness, and honesty.
>> I do not say this to be defensive, I only mention it because I tried to make
>> it as clear as possible that I am open to alternative ideas, not only the
>> executive decision I made. The entire board would have stayed on Zoom ready
>> to go name by name down our registration list if that is the direction that
>> made the most sense. As I'm sure you can imagine, this is a tough situation
>> to be in, given the circumstances.
>> 
>> Each year, we initially rely on voice vote to conduct elections. This
>> proceeds to a standing vote if the voice vote does not suffice in making a
>> clear decision. Any member elected must receive a majority vote of the
>> active members present and voting. If there are more than two members
>> seeking a given position, then we proceed in the following way. We would
>> take a voice vote, dropping the candidate who received the least amount of
>> votes. We would then conduct another voice vote, dropping the individual who
>> received the least amount of votes that time around. This continues until
>> there are two candidates remaining. Again, a majority of votes must be
>> received in order to be fairly and constitutionally elected.
>> 
>> This year is different due to the virtual environment. A Google form would
>> have to be distributed at least four times to the hundreds of members to
>> ensure it is done fairly. On the other hand, the final seat is a 1-year
>> position this time around, as it was vacated by a board member who was
>> elected to an officer position. To be completely honest, as president, I
>> could have appointed all three vacated board positions from a constitutional
>> perspective. I did not feel comfortable doing that as the voice of the
>> membership is critical in our movement.
>> 
>> While we all have extremely passionate emotions around what completes a
>> great NABS Board, I promise that my heart is in the right place in making
>> this decision. Diversity matters. Experience matters. Balance matters. I am
>> working with the outgoing and incoming NABS Board to make the wisest and
>> most appropriate decision for the future of NABS. I also am working with our
>> trusted Nominating Committee to be intentional, aware, and proactive. This
>> means, everyone's opinion matters. However, this also means that a
>> discussion on the NABS list or on Facebook does not compare, even slightly,
>> to allowing for an open forum during our annual business meeting. Leaning on
>> student state delegates who were present excludes all states that were not
>> on at 11:30pm. Not to mention not all states have delegates to represent
>> you. Taking a vote via Google form is not logistically feasible given the
>> protocol that is needed to follow voting procedures. As president, I have
>> the right to proceed in this way, as long as I am being ethical and
>> intentional. All members who ran for Board Member 3 or Board Member 4 are
>> prioritized for consideration, without a doubt.
>> 
>> I am saddened that members are not feeling that I am proceeding as you would
>> prefer. I also hope that you can trust that my opinion is not the only one
>> that is being taken into account. As we are seeing at General Session right
>> now, sometimes the virtual space forces us to make decisions that were not
>> initially planned. Our NABS board put in a ton of thought and intention as
>> we discussed the mitigation strategies for elections this year. Not to
>> mention, many divisions opted to not hold elections this year; and instead
>> continue with the current board until next year. We did not agree with that
>> approach, and thus problem solved ways to be most fair.
>> 
>> I appreciate you reading and truly hope that you feel empowered to call me
>> to discuss if you continue to have concerns. I value you; I appreciate you;
>> and, at the end of the day, we need you.
>> 
>> Love,
>> Kathryn Webster
>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>> 203-273-8463
>> Nabs.president at gmail.com
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NABS-L <nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Victor Marques via
>> NABS-L
>> Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2020 5:16 PM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Victor Marques <therealvictormarques at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [NABS-L] board position 4
>> 
>> I too was dissatisfied with the choice to simply appoint board member 4.
>> Those who expressed an interest at the meeting, and the individual who was
>> not successful for board position 3, should be put into a 5 way Google Form
>> vote. It would be easy to cross-reference membership and tally votes. Should
>> the be a tie for positions 1 and 2, that could be decided by a second vote.
>> That’s the democratic way I would have handled this, Google Forms is
>> perfectly capable as a tool to manage this election.
>> 
>> I’m glad I am not the only one who felt this way.  I felt this was pushed
>> through without voting on the rules of engagement or without adequate
>> discussion.
>> 
>> Victor Marques
>> NABS Member
>> 
>>> On Jul 18, 2020, at 5:06 PM, Keri Svendsen via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I think this is reasonable.
>>> 
>>>> On 7/18/2020 4:40 PM, Zachary GriegoDreicer via NABS-L wrote:
>>>> Hello, I hope everyone is enjoying convention. I've had a number of
>>>> people talking on facebook and to me directly that we don't approve of
>>>> the handling of the voting of board position 4. There has been
>>>> significant discussion of this topic and I think that the discussion
>>>> should  be opened to all NABS members. I think it only fair that everyone
>>>> who ran for other board positions, and were not elected, should be
>>>> allowed to run again for said position. Further, any dues paying member
>>>> should be able to vote for the student they believe the best to serve in
>>>> this role. I propose that a second google form be created for this
>>>> purpose. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the general convention would
>>>> run perhaps by raising hands in zoom or something similar to fill all
>>>> positions....I think we will find out soon enough if my thought process
>>>> is correct. Thus, in fairness to all involved, I would like to suggest
>>>> that position 4 be elected by google forms or other fair form of voting.
>>>> I would love everyone's input. Thanks all for your consideration.
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from my BrailleNote touch
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>>> 
>>> --
>>> Keri Svendsen
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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> 
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