Proxy voting limits

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
A constitutional amendment has been proposed (by me) to allow proxy voting at BCA general meetings for individual members. It has been suggested to me that there should be a limit on the number of proxy votes that a person should be able to use.

The basic principle is that a BCA individual (CIM/DIM/Honorary) member eligible to vote should be able to nominate another BCA individual member to vote on their behalf at a specific general meeting. A form provided by Council would need to be completed by the individual who wished to vote by proxy and delivered to the BCA in advance of the AGM, indicating the details of the proxy and any prescribed voting intention (or allowing the proxy discretion). Note that it is fairly common to nominate the Chair of the general meeting as a proxy, indicating voting preference, and thus effectively allowing postal voting.

The question, then, is how many proxy votes a person should be able to use. It would make sense to permit the Chair unlimited votes to permit postal voting. I personally would favour a limit of a few - perhaps 2; since you can nominate the Chair the only advantage to nominating someone else is that they can use their discretion if you trust their judgement on your behalf and would like them to be able to have an input into proceedings on the day. For comparison UK national elections only allow you to hold two (non-family) proxy votes.
 

mch

Member
Personally, as a DIM, I feel that 2 is about right in view of the fact that the Chair can have unlimited proxy votes.
 
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