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Dear
Bob,
In not including
failed votes in the list of resolutions, I was following the precedence of the
ISO committee I am associated with, ISO TC184/SC4.
We could choose
to do something different, but I think the approach is sound. A failed vote
means nothing. It is only passed votes that have significance. The record of
failed votes is there in the archives for those who are
interested.
Matthew West
Principal Consultant
Shell Information
Technology International Limited
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United
Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Mobile: +44 7796 336538
Email:
matthew.west@shell.com
Internet: http://www.shell.com
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk
Matthew,
In the section of the SUO web page
titled Resolutions, I think it is appropriate to list all of the motions that
have resulted in a vote including those that have failed. This gives a
better perspective of the WG's activities. Two SUMO motions have failed
- the original one and the one offered last summer.
Bob
West,
Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE wrote:
Dear Bob and
Jim,
Well I've had
a look at this and it seems reasonably clear to me that the By-Law below
applies to us and so we require a majority of voting members for a motion to
pass.
As I recall
Jim's objection to this is that no other committee votes in this way.
However, I suspect we are the only committee that works entirely by e-mail,
and that is what causes the difference (except when other committees have a
letter ballot).
I should
perhaps make my own position clear. I am relatively indifferent as to which
voting process we use as a matter of principle. My experience is that people
adapt their behaviour to make a voting process work reasonably. However,
what I am concerned about is that there should be uncertainty about how
votes are counted. Then people do not know what the effects of their
behaviour will be.
So Jim, do
you accept that our voting is governed by the By-Law quoted below? If not
please give a rationale.
Also, if you
do not, what action do I have to take to challenge your decision so that we
can get this sorted out?
If we accept
this process below, then looking back the SUMO - and I suspect the IFF
vote would have failed (though the numbers of voting members were not
declared in the published ballot result). What do we do about those
votes?
Matthew West
Principal Consultant
Shell Information
Technology International Limited
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United
Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Mobile: +44 7796 336538
Email: matthew.west@shell.com
Internet:
http://www.shell.com
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk
Matthew,
I spoke to a member
of the IEEE -SA staff who confirmed that in our case (a vote without
a meeting, e.g. e-mail) an affirmative vote of a majotity of all the
voting members is required. The reference is the IEEE By-Laws, 1-300
Management, 1-300 General, 1. Governance; Parliamentary
Procedures, 4. Action of the Board of Directors and Committees. (4)
below:
(4) Unless otherwise provided in the Certificate of
Incorporation, the Constitution, these Bylaws, or the Not-for-Profit
Corporation Law of the State of New York, any action required or
permitted to be taken by any board or committee of any organizational
unit of the IEEE (other than the Board of Directors, the Executive
Committee, the Major Boards, the Standing Committees and any other board
or committee reporting directly to the Board of Directors) may be taken
without a meeting. Unless a more
restrictive voting requirement is specified in the governing documents
of the board or committee, an affirmative vote of a majority
of all the voting members of the board or committee shall be required to approve the
action. The results of
the vote shall be confirmed promptly in writing or by electronic
transmission. The writings and/or electronic transmissions shall be
filed with the minutes of the proceedings of the board or
committee. ?Electronic transmission? means any
form of electronic communication, such as e-mail, not directly involving the
physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be
retained, retrieved and reviewed by a recipient thereof, and that may be
directly reproduced in paper form by such a
recipient.
The IEEE By-Laws can be viewed
at
http://www.ieee.org/portal/index.jsp?pageID=corp_level1&path=about/whatis/bylaws&file=i-300.xml&xsl=generic.xsl
It is clear that the SUMO vote failed.
Bob
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