[NAGDU] Voting at NAGDU business meeting, and voting on NAGDU and Guide Dog relatedresolutions

[Heather Bird]

Hello everyone. I believe strongly that discussions of voting, at least at NAGDU business meetings, NAGDU  board meetings, general session when it comes to a resolution put forth by NAGDU,  or, a guide dog related resolution, is a very relevant discussion topic. Of course, as always, one that should be discussed with respectful debate, and reasoned writing. To provide clarity, there are a few different types of voting being talked about here. One type of voting takes place among only the NAGDU board members, during board meetings held monthly, and, at the annual business meeting. Typically, this is done bY voice vote, and only the nag do board members vote. Another type of voting occurs within the annual business meeting, in this case, held using the zoom platform, it was done with the raising of hands, and had nothing to do with the national office, or the system the national office used where one needed to text a vote to a particular number. A third type of voting, used in general session, was as described above, we are one registers for the convention by the correct date, and registers as a particular phone number, from which votes can be sent, to a dedicated voting number, and where  a third number, will return a “thank you for voting “response when a vote is correctly cast by texting the number one for yes, I agree, or I approve, or two for no, I disagree, or I do not approve.Voice votes, are helpful only in the case of small meetings, for instance, a board meeting we’re only the board members vote, or a chapter meeting where the membership is relatively small. A voice vote in person can help provide a fairly accurate count, based on the number of individual voices you can hear, and the volume of those voices collectively. However, on zoom, where a large number of people are all trying to speak at once, the application running zoom, will equalize the volume of voices, or cut off others, as it simply cannot handle input from tens of voices all at once. Now, in theory, the kind of system used during general session, when it works correctly, is the best method. It is precise, and provides exact numbers, through a computer system, not relying on an individual to assess the votes. However, it is my understanding that this system is extremely expensive and is just not an option for smaller and medium size meetings, such as chapter meetings, affiliate board meetings, division business meetings and group meetings. So, for medium size meetings, such as larger chapters, division business meetings, etc., neither a voice vote, or the very formalized an expensive text to vote system, is appropriate or feasible. The National Association Of Guide Dog Users,, and several other divisions at convention this year, used  a system where by hand raising through the zoom app at particular times was utilized in order to count votes.

 I do have some thoughts on this third type of voting. I will echo what was said before, if you had trouble with the general session type of voting, and you are sure that you were correctly registered for convention, by the deadline, and set up to vote, that contacting the national office is your best bet. However, contacting the National office to discuss how NAGDU, NABS, NOPBC, or any other division conducted it’s voting, wouldn’t necessarily be relevant. 

I have heard from several individuals, in various divisions, including NAgDU that their votes were not counted, because they were calling in from a landline phone, and therefore were not identified by name. these individuals are, understandably so, upset, some of them very upset, feeling undervalued, and overlooked. I can’t honestly say that I blame them. And being someone who considers herself to be very intelligent, but not naturally tech  savvy by any means, I can certainly relate. However, I feel strongly that it is the duty of the zoom host to clarify and attach names to these individuals. Perhaps doing this at the beginning of a meeting when there are 100 or more participants would not be feasible. However, doing so right before voting begins, when often the number of people in attendance has dropped to 50 or fewer people, is necessary and extremely appropriate. even if it is entirely unintended, not counting the votes of people who are using landline phones to dial in can amount to ableism ageism,  or other types of bias. For instance, often people living in poverty do not have access to computers, smart phones, or Wi-Fi in their homes. Those who are elderly, or those who are newly blind, elderly or not, often do not have the training to utilize smart phones or computers even if screen reading software is available to them. I can absolutely sympathize with the challenges that a zoom host faces  with large groups of people, especially when some are only labeled as iPad, or iPhone, or simply a phone number. And, we can all help them out, if you have the option to use a computer or smart phone, please do so. If you are using a device, please label your name if you know Hal. If you know you were going to be voting, please make sure that your name is your first and last name, not some fun and creative username that will not match what is on the membership list. however, I still think it is critical that a zoom host, during a vote on an important issue, or an election, take the time, even if it is frustrating or arduous, to verify the identity of unidentified numbers and names in the participant list.Spending a few minutes labeling people, to ensure accuracy and fairness during a boat, takes a lot less time and effort, then helping to soothe hurt feelings, rectify or wrong, explain away a situation, moderate extra traffic on a list serve, or social media group, and it certainly isn’t worth bigger dramas such as personal attacks, people feeling they spending a few minutes labeling people, to ensure accuracy and fairness during a vote, takes a lot less time and effort, then helping to soothe hurt feelings, rectify a wrong, explain away a situation, moderate extra traffic on a listserv, or social media group, and it certainly isn’t worth bigger dramas such as personal attacks, people feeling they need to leave the division, or Federation, or the bad press that is generated, when people complain about a particular division, or the NFB in general, within, or outside of the organization. I have also made the suggestion to this and other divisions, that a screenshot should be taken, when the time is almost up for a vote, and as many hands are raised as are likely to be raised, this allows the person counting votes to take the time to count them accurately, allows them to take time to verify that individuals are actually members, by comparing names against a list, or, even to reach out to individuals and find out what their name is if they have not already been labeled by the zoom host. It also provides accountability if there’s any question of whether the vote was accurate. This protects the integrity of the election and protects the individual responsible for counting votes, from any accusations and helps to avoid drama of any type. also, if the individual counting votes uses the system of lowering a hand in order to count each vote, once a hand is lowered, they might not remember which hands have been lowered, the screenshot provides a starting point if a recount is necessary or if there is any confusion or discrepancy. If the individual counting votes is going to lower each hand as they count it, the participants should be made aware of this, so that they do not raise their hand again if they see that it has been lowered. Also, the individual counting the votes should not lower any hands at all, until it is announced that the voting is over. For instance, my husband voted in the business meeting, and his hand was lowered by the host, while it was raised indicating his vote, and, it was either done accidentally, most likely, or intentionally, possible, but not likely  so, what this means is that his vote never got counted. This happened prior to the ending of voting, many hands still went up after his was lowered, and before Raul announced that the voting was ending and the votes for this particular portion would now be counted. So, if the individual counting votes is going to lower one   hand at a time, it needs to be announced as part of the procedures, and it needs to not begin until the screenshot has been taken and it has been announced that the voting is stopping for this particular vote so that the votes can be counted. This also leaves the individual in a bad spot. If their hand is lowered before voting is over, then they have to wonder, has their votes been counted? And they’re all set? If they’re not all set, and they don’t raise their hand again, then they will be denied the opportunity to vote, but if they do raise it again, will it mess up the vote count? Will it appear as if they are trying to vote twice? It raises all sorts of dilemmas. I know on one vote, not during elections, but for well, yes, for elections, but not for a disputed position, just where we were raising hands to vote by acclamation, I raised my hand, and almost immediately, it was lowered by one of the hosts. This is just an example. if we have another virtual convention, or, if a hybrid convention is adopted, which allows participants over zoom to vote along with people sitting in the actual physical location, I would strongly urge that this be adopted. I would also suggest, that perhaps, using a breakout room, for those who are eligible to vote, with a recording kept in order to preserve transparency, and ensure everyone that all is being done, above board as it were, would be helpful. there were issues in various divisions where  hands went up and down during a vote, which could confuse the count, and were individuals who were not in fact dues paying members raise their hands. This is not a condemnation of nagged you by any means, I participate in various divisions, and have friends and acquaintances who participate in and even serve on the boards of various divisions, and this problem is not at all exclusive to the guy dog users division. I would urge anyone that believes their vote was not counted, or that there was another problem to right to board at nagdu.org with your personal experience. The only way we can grow and improve is if we demand accountability from our leader ship, but also, if we do our part to make things run smoothly and be understanding that all of us, leader ship and members and nonmembers are all human beings, and in most cases are doing their best to be fair, accurate, another suggestion that I would make for any future endeavors of the sort, is that if there is  any vote that is within five votes margin be re-counted, or if screenshots are being used, re tallied  That is, if the for and against, or if the votes for two or more different candidates, are  s close as five or fewer votes, the vote should be checked. If hands are going up and down, or a nonmember accidentally, hopefully accidentally, votes, some thing with a large margin say 20 or more votes, is not likely to be affected by a few glitches or errors, but if resolution is going to pass, or fail to pass, by a very small margin, or if candidates in an election are separated by a very small margin, verifying the vote count, in my opinion, is critical for accuracy. In the case of the secretarial race, three votes separated the two candidates, and in another meeting I was in with a different division, two candidates were only separated by two votes, and both of these were fairly large meetings with between 40 and 60 people voting on the elections and issues.obviously commonsense needs to be used with regards the scale and scope, and numbers. For instance, in a small chapter with only 15 members, some thing that is only one or two votes different, is a big deal, in a medium size meeting, Lake for our division, some thing that is say 3 or 4 votes difference, is a big deal, and, for something to be significant on the scale of a general session, it would have to be close, I would say, within 30 or 40 votes, since we are dealing with five or six hundred Or more people voting during resolutions, for instance. I have also heard from many individuals, participating in a variety of elections and policy votes, in a variety of divisions, including NAGDU  that they have engaged in the following behaviors: voting when they’re not a member, voting twice, on purpose or by accident, voting incorrectly and then changing their vote, voting on an issue, usually voting it down, if they didn’t really understand the topic of the issue, voting for someone else, I.E.  Proxy voting, etc. These difficulties put an unfair burden on leader ship and on those responsible for tallying votes, and we need to try, individually, as hard as possible, not to intentionally, or unintentionally, do any of these things as mentioned above. 

For perspective, I want to be very clear, that there is no perfect system, anywhere, in any organization. Even our voice vote system that we typically use in person is not perfect. This is also not exclusive to the NFB or even the ACB, or even organizations that are not in anyway blindness or disability related. Conducting meetings in person, over a conference call line, over zoom or teams, all of these come with pitfalls and different pros and cons. The most important thing, above all, is to vote, register to vote, make your voice heard, if you have an opinion, express it, respectfully of course, participate, take action, and if you feel strongly about an issue, in any organization, make sure that you have registered to vote, paid your dues, officially joined that organization, or whatever you need to do in order to make sure that your vote is legal, expressed, and counted. I am writing up my suggestions and concerns, in a  formal, and carefully worded fashion and sending it to the current board. Raul never makes it any secret that they would love feedback, that  you are welcome to write  to the board at any time. I would like to second that, and urge anyone who has a suggestion, a question, concern, to write to the board. They are good people, and they want to do the best to serve their membership, and are receptive to the emails you sent, they will read them, and they do care what you have to say. , Please be kind, even if you feel very passionately about something, please combine tact with your intensity. Please remember that these individuals serve, and are not paid to do so, they also have busy lives, and give a lot of them selves to this organization. lastly, I know there are a lot of instances, where people did the correct thing, and their votes were not counted, either in a division meeting or during general session. I also know that there are individuals who did not take the necessary steps or did not take all of the necessary steps or took them too late, , Please, never hesitate to ask for help. If you want to know how something works, or if you want to verify that you are correctly registered, or if you’re not very tech savvy, reach out to the board, reach out to a friend or family member, reach out to someone in your chapter or affiliate.  I will share a perspective that I have because I have spent time on both sides of the wall as it were. From the leader ship side, I can tell you that it is extremely frustrating when information is sent out on email lists,  gone  over in chapter or division meetings, explained on a conference call, etc. And then, you have people calling you, texting you, emailing you, asking how to do this or that or explaining why they missed the deadline and asking for an exception. I’ve also been on the other side of the wall, as a participant or member, running around doing 10 things at once, and having that horrible nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, that I forgotten something, and that something I forgot might be a registration, or a deadline, for something business related, not just forgetting to set a timer for the oven, or packing an extra towel in the duffel bag for summer camp. I have been there, reading such an overwhelming amount of information about a seminar or a conference or convention, the things that I am certainly smart enough to understand, just sort of became a blur, and went in one ear, and right out the other. So I would urge leader ship, to always be patient and kind when people need assistance, and I would urge membership, to not get stuck in a late homework syndrome, and just reach out if you have a question, don’t let it fester, because then you are likely to miss out,Whether it is missing a deadline to RSVP for a chapter party, missing out on the deadline so you can vote in general session, missing out on a really cool seminar or workshop you really would have enjoyed and benefited from, etc. After all, we are all in this together, and the more people that vote, participate, discourse, and act, the more our diverse and fantastic membership will be represented, in the leaders we elect, the policies we adopt, and the awesome Federation that we can, and should, B.

Sent from my iPhone