Food co-op founder looking for advice on elections process

[eridani]

My current project is establishing a new cooperative grocery in my hometown. One of the important distinguishing characteristics of cooperatives is representation via the Board of Directors, which (naturally) should be chosen by the precepts of fair and open election! I am working on by-laws that will safeguard these principles long after I pass from the stage of players. I would very much appreciate any review and comment from this excellent group of elections researchers.

(I also think that progressive groups have an opportunity to use their organization's by-laws and elections conduct to educate more people about the many alternatives to plurality voting and terrible voting practices, in general. The more people who are familiar with superior math and fair conduct, the easier it will be to achieve reform in governmental elections.)

Following are my by-laws, for your review. Thank you very much in advance!

Jake Schlachter

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By-laws, and the feedback I hope to get:

Thanks again for taking a look! I'm hoping to enshrine range-voting as a best-practice alternative to plurality voting, as well as the principles of HCPB. There's also provision for voting "absentee", if you will, if previous elections failed due to lack of quorum (10% of membership, membership could well be 2000+ people at some point). Please feel free to point out anything inconsistent with these principles, ways it could be better stated in these by-laws, or perhaps ways that other organizations have done this in their by-laws (I was informed by Fedora Core Project's.) I'd also be interested in ideas you may have for making these concepts easier to understand and value by the laity. (One note - an elections procedural handbook is a necessary accompaniment. These by-laws just establish some principles.) Thanks!



Section 5.6.1 – Election of Directors: Election of directors shall be yearly at a meeting of members except as otherwise allowed for in Section 5.6.7. Voting shall be by ballot.

Section 5.6.2 -- Range Voting: Election of directors or officers shall be by range voting. Each voter receives a ballot listing all of the candidates. For each candidate, the voter assigns a score between 0 and the number of candidates. At the close of the election, the points for each candidate are tallied and the candidates with the most points win a seat. If the terms of seats vary, the seats with the longest terms will be awarded to the candidates receiving the most points.

Section 5.6.3 -- Principles of Fair Elections: In the spirit of fair and open elections, the following best practices will be observed in the conduct of elections:.

All ballots are on paper. Ballots are safely stored and available for verification upon request by a member for at least four weeks following an election.
All ballots are counted by hand by the voters, in view of their peers, in a verifiable way.
All ballots are cast anonymously.
The record of which members were eligible to vote in an election and which members voted shall be available to any member upon request, and shall be maintained as a record of the Co-op.
Section 5.6.4 Notification of slate and voting place: 14 days before an election of the directors, the slate of candidates and any included materials will be published to all eligible voting members. 3 days before the election, a notification including the time and place of the election will be sent to all eligible voting members.

Section 5.6.5 Voting privileges: Each member is entitled to one vote.

Section 5.6.6 Nominations of candidates: Nominations to the Board may be made by a nominating committee, by the Board, or by petition of the lesser of 25 or 10% of members and submitted to the Co-op at least sixty days before the date of the annual meeting.

Section 5.6.7 Voting by mail: The Board may authorize an election of directors by mail if the previous election failed due to lack of quorum. This vote by mail ballot may be in conjunction with, or in lieu of, a meeting of members. In such event, the notice of the meeting shall include a postage-paid ballot with a candidate slate, directions on completing the ballot, and notification of the date by which ballots must be returned. Ballots must be returned in a sealed envelope which is authenticated by the member's signature. If mail ballots are used in conjunction with a meeting of members, votes cast by mail ballot shall be counted together with votes cast in person at the meeting. If mail ballots are used in lieu of a meeting of members, a quorum shall consist of the number of ballots returned. A vote cast by mail ballot shall be equivalent to presence in person by the member at a meeting of members.


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Jake Schlachter
jake {at} miamiriverfood s.org

"Creating local markets for local foods."
Organizer, Miami River Foods Project
http://www.MiamiRiverFoods.org
www.twitter.com/miamiriverfoods