Policy on Electronic Discussion and Voting

Between meetings of the Chapter Executive Committee, important business may
arise requiring a vote of the Executive Committee.  When such a matter is
brought to the attention of the Chapter Chair, the Chair shall first determine
whether the matter can wait until the next quarterly Executive Committee
meeting.  If it can't wait, the Chair shall then determine whether to use an
e-mail poll, a telephone poll, or a telephone conference call to discuss and
take a vote on the issue.  When any of these electronic methods are used, all
rules of quorum and majority required to pass an issue in a regular meeting
of the Executive Committee shall apply.  A determined effort must be made to
contact every member of the Executive Committee in order to give every member
the chance to participate in the voting, and these efforts should be documented.

A. If the matter is handled by e-mail, the Chair shall put the question along
with all relevant information on a listserver for all Executive Committee
members or shall otherwise send such information to all Executive Committee
members who have e-mail.  If time permits, the same information should be
mailed or faxed to any members not on e-mail.  When the Chair specifies
deadlines for discussion and voting, the Chair shall allow a reasonable
amount of time for consideration of the question. It is desirable to allow
at least seven days for discussion, followed by at least three days for
voting, but in setting times for discussion and voting, the Chair shall
allow the maximum time possible, considering the urgency of the matter.
The Chair shall post a call for votes when the period for discussion has
ended. Any member may request, prior to the deadline for either discussion
or voting, that the time for that portion of the process be extended, and
the Chair may, at his or her discretion considering the urgency of the
matter, specify an extended deadline. 

If three members of the Executive Committee enter on the discussion
listserver their objection to consideration of the question as presented
for discussion, the Chair may attempt to have a more acceptable motion
crafted by discussion among interested parties and may offer the result
as a new question for voting.  In addition, three members of the Executive
Committee may invalidate an e-mail poll by declaring it an inappropriate
method for voting on the issue.  If an e-mail poll is so invalidated for
either of the foregoing reasons, the Chair may then conduct a telephone
conference call to vote on the issue, or the Chair may defer the matter
until the next regular meeting of the Executive Committee.

Once the Chair has posted a call for votes, Executive Committee members
shall post their votes on a listserver appropriate for voting.  E-mail
votes shall include the subject heading posted by the Chair and shall
state only the vote and voting capacity of the Executive Committee member
in the body of the e-mail message.  Voting on the wrong listserver,
failing to include the designated subject heading, or failing to state
the vote (either yes or no) first, separated from any brief explanation
of the vote in a voting message will disqualify the vote.  A  member may
change his/her vote before the deadline for voting. 

Executive Committee members share in the responsibility for successful
e-mail voting and have the obligation to:

(1) check their e-mail frequently, so that critical deadlines are not missed,

(2) for group delegates to the Executive Committee, designate an alternate
delegate for e-mail purposes, if they anticipate being unavailable by
e-mail for any length of time (including informing the Chair, so that the
alternate can be added to the listserver used for voting),

(3) maintain civility and respect in all e-mail discussions, and

(4) observe deadlines, communicate on the proper listservers for discussion
and voting, and observe the requirements for voting messages.

The Chair or other person conducting an e-mail poll shall make a good
faith attempt to contact any member not on e-mail or not voting after a
reasonable interval.  Any person contacting an Executive Committee member
by phone for purposes of obtaining a vote must present all sides of the
issue in a fair and unbiased manner, summarizing the discussion on the
listserver. 

B. A telephone poll should be undertaken only if e-mail communications
are not functioning adequately.  If Executive Committee members are polled
by telephone, the Chair may elect to have one or more members of the
Executive Committee assist in the poll by calling other members. All
callers shall keep a log of the date and time of each call.  All callers
must present all sides of the issue in a fair and unbiased manner. Any
two members of the Executive Committee may invalidate a telephone poll
by declaring it an inappropriate method for voting on the issue.  If a
telephone poll is so invalidated, the Chair may then conduct a telephone
conference call to vote on the issue, or the Chair may defer the matter
until the next regular meeting of the Executive Committee.

C. Telephone conference calls shall be conducted in the same way regular
meetings of the Executive Committee are conducted. In fact, they qualify
as valid meetings of the Executive Committee in every way.