Re: #02: Recall of Board Members

On Mon, Mar 10, 2003 at 10:09:51AM -0600, John Goerzen wrote:
> 02 Recall of board members (presumably by the membership)

And here is a specific proposal for this one:

1. Any board member or officer can be recalled by a 2/3 vote of
the membership.

2. A ballot for such a recall has only two options: Recall the member and
leave the member in place, and is tallied using a simple count -- no
condorcet voting. If the membership wishes to recall more than one
member, each one must be the subject of a separate ballot or question.

3. No individual board member may be the subject of more than one
recall vote within any given 90-day period.

4. If the recall vote turns out in favor of removing the member, the member
is expelled from the board immediately, and any position as officer
is immediately relenquished.

5. Upon a vacancy on the board or for an officer (whether or not it arises
because of this procedure), if the next election for that particular seat
is x days or less away, the seat will be unfilled until the election,
at which point it will be filled using regular annual procedures.
A recalled member *is* eligible for election here.

Otherwise, an election will be called immediately for this particular
seat only.

A person elected under this clause will serve out the remainder of
the seat to which he/she is elected, and will be subject to re-election
at the next regularly scheduled annual election for that seat.

We will need to refine that x-day period based on the regular election
procedures we adopt, and may need to alter #5 based on that as well.

Rationale:

1. I think all board members and officers should be held thusly responsible,
and I think the bar should be higher than half.

2. The recall vote should be easily interpreted and decided, and since it
has only two options, condorcet is not needed.

3. This means that if the recall vote fails and the person remains a member
of the board, the membership cannot raise vote after vote calling for the
recall. It also means that if the recall vote succeeds but the person
is elected back to the board, a recall vote cannot be immediately
proposed.

4. I see no need for any delay, and in fact, it could cause a "burn the
bridges" problem.

5. If the next election is close enough that a replacement couldn't be
elected before it anyway, then there's no need to hold a separate
election; just deal with it normally.