[NABS-L] board position 4

Sat Jul 18 22:47:59 UTC 2020

Hello all, Kathryn is wrong as to when her term is to end. Here is the constitution, where it says that the terms of the officers elected are to begin at the end of the business meeting in which they were elected.
There shall be elected at the annual meeting of this organization: in each even numbered year, a President, a Second Vice President, a Secretary, and two (2) board members, designated as Board Member 2 and Board Member 4, and in each odd numbered year, A First Vice President, a Treasurer, and two (2) board members, designated as Board Member 1 and Board Member 3. The terms of these officers and board members shall begin at the close of the meeting at which they are elected and qualified. The President and Vice Presidents of this organization must be blind. Officers and board members shall be elected by a majority vote of the members of this Association present and voting. All officers and board members must be in school for one year following their election. There shall be no proxy votes.

If no nominee receives a majority vote on the first ballot, the name of the person receiving the fewest votes shall be dropped from the list of nominees and a second ballot shall be taken. This procedure shall continue until one of the nominees receives a majority vote. These officers and board members constitute the board of directors for this Association. The officers and board members are authorized to conduct such business as is necessary for the normal operation of this Association between the annual regular meetings of the Association. The duties of each officer and board member shall be those ordinarily associated with the office.

> On Jul 18, 2020, at 3:35 PM, Nico Petrillo via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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 <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 <mailto: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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