BCA Chair
Member
Just to clarify a few questions that have been going around on here and elsewhere;
All BCA members (CIMs, DIMs and Groups, the latter including regional councils, consistuent bodies and clubs), have a vote in this ballot under the existing two-house voting system. The individual members (CIMs and DIMs) vote in the House of Individuals, and the Groups in the House of Groups, and both must pass for a vote to be successful. For non-constitution related proposals, this must achieve >50% in both houses, but as this relates to the constitution, it must achieve >70% in both houses... a difficult thing to achieve indeed!
I believe someone commented at the AGM this year that the two houses have never voted in opposite ways (I have not fact-checked this).
All BCA members have received a ballot. For Individuals (CIMs and DIMs), this will have come by email, if you have provided the BCA with your email address (about 4000-4500 of our members). If we do not have your email address it will come by post (about 2000+ members). Bear in mind that the BCA relies on YOU as a member to keep your contact details up to date; we can only go off the details we are provided either by yourself directly (DIMs) or by your club (CIMs).
Check your junk/spam email folders for the ballot; it is very hard to email 4000+ people without this getting marked as spam.
The postal ballot (which is more or less identical to the email text) will be arriving no later than the middle of this coming week, and will include a ballot ID in exactly the same way as the email does, and will allow use of the online system. The postal ballot also includes a voting slip which can be used to cast your ballot by return post (at your own expense for postage).
If you receive a postal ballot this means the BCA does not have your email address. PLEASE considering providing the BCA with your email address upon 2020 membership renewal; the cost of posting 2000+ ballots (some of them internationally) is high and ultimately comes out of our member's pockets, as well as wiping out over a week of work for our Membership Administrator who is already extremely busy.
For Groups, we have email contact details for all but a few, so most groups will receive an email with their ballot ID; typically this will come to the club Secretary or whoever manages the club's BCA membership. Make sure your club Secretary has checked their junk/spam folder! Group ballots will be addressed to the Group (e.g. Dear British Caving Club), whereas individual ballots will be addressed to a specific person (e.g. Dear Joe Bloggs). The text is also slightly different to indicate whether that ballot is for a group or an individual.
How a club uses its ballot (i.e. whether this is left to discretion of just a few people who run the club, or the entire club committee, or whether the club wishes to enlist feedback from its entire membership) is no business of the BCA.
In response to the question from Nearlywhite. The voting system does contain a summary message from BCA Executive which may help. Essentially, the constitutional changes put forward are intended to remove the current two-house voting system, and instead implement a one-individual member-one-vote system. All proposals at BCA AGMs that currently go to a two-house system would in future go to an online ballot using an online voting system similar to the one use in this ballot. There would no longer be a group vote. The current two-house system is so entangled into the constitution, that a large number of constitutional changes are needed to remove it and implement the alternative, hence the complexity. Read the proposal carefully!
Matt Ewles
BCA Secretary
All BCA members (CIMs, DIMs and Groups, the latter including regional councils, consistuent bodies and clubs), have a vote in this ballot under the existing two-house voting system. The individual members (CIMs and DIMs) vote in the House of Individuals, and the Groups in the House of Groups, and both must pass for a vote to be successful. For non-constitution related proposals, this must achieve >50% in both houses, but as this relates to the constitution, it must achieve >70% in both houses... a difficult thing to achieve indeed!
I believe someone commented at the AGM this year that the two houses have never voted in opposite ways (I have not fact-checked this).
All BCA members have received a ballot. For Individuals (CIMs and DIMs), this will have come by email, if you have provided the BCA with your email address (about 4000-4500 of our members). If we do not have your email address it will come by post (about 2000+ members). Bear in mind that the BCA relies on YOU as a member to keep your contact details up to date; we can only go off the details we are provided either by yourself directly (DIMs) or by your club (CIMs).
Check your junk/spam email folders for the ballot; it is very hard to email 4000+ people without this getting marked as spam.
The postal ballot (which is more or less identical to the email text) will be arriving no later than the middle of this coming week, and will include a ballot ID in exactly the same way as the email does, and will allow use of the online system. The postal ballot also includes a voting slip which can be used to cast your ballot by return post (at your own expense for postage).
If you receive a postal ballot this means the BCA does not have your email address. PLEASE considering providing the BCA with your email address upon 2020 membership renewal; the cost of posting 2000+ ballots (some of them internationally) is high and ultimately comes out of our member's pockets, as well as wiping out over a week of work for our Membership Administrator who is already extremely busy.
For Groups, we have email contact details for all but a few, so most groups will receive an email with their ballot ID; typically this will come to the club Secretary or whoever manages the club's BCA membership. Make sure your club Secretary has checked their junk/spam folder! Group ballots will be addressed to the Group (e.g. Dear British Caving Club), whereas individual ballots will be addressed to a specific person (e.g. Dear Joe Bloggs). The text is also slightly different to indicate whether that ballot is for a group or an individual.
How a club uses its ballot (i.e. whether this is left to discretion of just a few people who run the club, or the entire club committee, or whether the club wishes to enlist feedback from its entire membership) is no business of the BCA.
In response to the question from Nearlywhite. The voting system does contain a summary message from BCA Executive which may help. Essentially, the constitutional changes put forward are intended to remove the current two-house voting system, and instead implement a one-individual member-one-vote system. All proposals at BCA AGMs that currently go to a two-house system would in future go to an online ballot using an online voting system similar to the one use in this ballot. There would no longer be a group vote. The current two-house system is so entangled into the constitution, that a large number of constitutional changes are needed to remove it and implement the alternative, hence the complexity. Read the proposal carefully!
Matt Ewles
BCA Secretary
