[NABS-L] Procedures Re: board position 4

[Naim Abu-ElHawa]

Hi Arielle and NABS folks. There were indeed challenges that would have
otherwise been nonexistent if the convention was in person. However, due to
my observed presence at Wednesday evening‘s meeting, the virtual aspect of
the convention business meeting (National Association of Blind Students
business meeting) did pose slight communications challenges. although I
opted not to participate in voting, I could see how slight confusion could
have arose at the time. Communication was effective, but not clear to all.
Other than that, I understand that the constitution does grant the chair of
the business meeting some room, I could understand some folks‘ frustration.
I think a great way to settle this, I’ll be at complicated, would be for
folks bringing forth concerns to say, contextually, where their concerns
lie in the constitution. Otherwise, There did not appear to be any blatant
lack of transparency in Wednesday night‘s elections, from my point of view.
We should all try our hardest to remain impartial, and comments should not
become personal. Thank you Arielle for your clearly impartial point of
view. I must reiterate, I do not have any steak in any results, as I did
not vote Wednesday night and neither was I a paying member at the time. I
just hope my comments, as unnecessary as they may be, could prove to be
treated as points of reflection for those who are exercising their
democratic rights. We are a democratic organization after all. Democracy
shall always prevail. remember, we are a democracy. I hope my statements,
with any added platitudes, may prove to be effective to some. Enjoy this
evening‘s banquet address. Take care all. Many thanks and much respect.
Sincerely,
Naim Muawia Abu-El Hawa

On Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 8:08 PM Arielle Silverman via NABS-L <
nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
> As a former NABS president who was involved with some messy NABS
> elections once upon a time, and as someone with no skin in the game at
> this point, I wanted to offer a few clarifications regarding the
> constitution and how I have seen these kinds of matters addressed in
> the past.
> It is true that the constitution specifies a process for election of
> board members by a majority of voting members at a regular business
> meeting. However, as the supreme authority of the organization, the
> active members present at a business meeting may vote to make one-time
> procedural amendments. They may also vote to give certain powers to
> the chair of the meeting, in this case the NABS president, depending
> on circumstances. There have been rare cases when a chair must decide
> the outcome of an election; for example, I had to determine the winner
> of one NABS vice-presidential election when there was an exact tie in
> the vote.
> I was not at Wednesday's business meeting, but as I believe Kathryn is
> a person of integrity, I trust that the members at that meeting did
> vote to delegate authority to their chair to appoint the board member.
> Kathryn is also correct that the business meeting is the ultimate
> platform where members can vote on procedures.
> While this is perhaps not how I would have handled the situation, it
> sounds like the NABS members at a business meeting agreed unanimously
> to the procedural change, and this it is legitimate in my opinion.
> While dialogue on the NABS list cannot override the will of an
> assembled business meeting, these discussions are helpful to learn
> from in the future. Hopefully we will not have to deal with the
> challenges of a virtual convention in the future. I would, however,
> advise to have any modified election procedures adopted by the board
> and then presented to and voted upon by the membership prior to
> beginning the elections. I can think of at least one way to handle an
> election with more than two candidates using a Google form, if we were
> to make a one-time change to the rules such that the person with the
> highest vote count is elected even if they do not receive 50% of the
> vote. This would eliminate the need for follow-up contests. Perhaps
> folks already considered my idea, and found an issue with it that I
> missed.
> Please take my comments in the spirit of education with which they are
> intended, and not as a judgment or critique of NABS. The parts of the
> NABS programming that I did attend were very well-organized, in my
> opinion, and I heard rave reviews from several students afterward.
>
> Best,
> Arielle Silverman:
> NABS president, 2009-2011;
> NABS board member and officer, 2005-2009
>
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