Meeting Moment - Proxies and Ballots

Proxies or ballots?  What’s the difference?  And what happens at a meeting where people bring proxies?

It’s simple: a proxy is a document that gives the person holding it the right to vote on behalf of a member at one or more meetings.  It’s a limited power of attorney for the purpose of voting.  A directed proxy can be even more limited: it can limit the authority of the person holding the proxy to simply add to quorum, or it can direct the proxy-holder to vote in a particular way.

A ballot is a piece of paper used in the actual vote.  Someone who holds a proxy and shows up at a meeting gets a ballot in exchange for that proxy.  If the person with the proxy also has the right to vote at the meeting, then that person gets to vote more than once: once for himself, and once for each proxy held.

For this reason proxies are disfavored in traditional parliamentary procedure: they contradict the core principle of one person more than one vote.  Regardless of this shortcoming, proxies are very important tools to help community associations function democratically.  That’s because proxies allow a community to achieve a quorum.  Proxies count as if the member who signed them was present at the meeting.

Parliamentary Tip:  When chairing a meeting, you need to know if there are proxy-holders in the room.  If there are more than one or two proxy-holders, then you cannot take a valid vote by voice or show of hands (a vote by unanimous consent is still OK).  That’s because you’d have no idea how many votes had been made by voice or show of hands.  It could be that one lone “no” voice vote is holding 100 proxies!  Instead, when many members are present only by proxy, you must be prepared to take all votes – not just the election of directors – by ballot, since that’s the only way to be certain about the outcome of the vote.

What if someone makes a valid motion at a meeting that you didn’t anticipate, so you don’t have any pre-printed ballots for that motion?  Fortunately, any piece of paper can be used as a ballot.  As chair you should make sure before the meeting you have a big supply of pens and paper, then appoint enough tellers to help the secretary issue ballots to every member present, including everyone holding a valid proxy.  Counting votes this way requires good recordkeeping with the roster, and patience – be sure to give the tellers enough time to do their job accurately.

More proxy tips:

• Anyone of legal age can hold a proxy – the proxy-holder does not need to be a member of the association
• If a member who issued a proxy shows up at the meeting, the proxy is not valid for that meeting, and the member gets to vote for him or herself
• What if, let’s say, the secretary, traditionally votes all blank or standard proxies in an Association.  Now assume the secretary is subject to a recall election.  Can he still vote those proxies?  Yes indeed.  That’s why it’s prudent for anyone giving a proxy to only give it to someone they know and trust to vote fairly on his/her behalf