Utah Birds Records Committee
Bylaw change proposals
(17 Jul 2015)

Name:
  

Instructions: Below are three ballots covering three different issues concerning the bylaws.

    (The deadline for your vote is August 7th)
   

  Ballot #1
 

   (Addresses the voting criteria that the Committee discussed earlier this year).

   Part I:  Should the language in section IV.C.10 of the bylaws be changed:       

        Present Language:

IV.C.10.  Decisive and Non‑decisive Votes.
     a.  First Round votes have to be 7-0, 8-0, or 9-0 in the affirmative or 0-7, 0-8, or 0-9 in the negative. If a first round record receives any of these votes then it is considered decisive and no second round is needed. If anything less than this it goes to second round.
     b. For Second Round votes to be decisive and to stop the record from going to a third round, the record would require at least 6 votes to accept or 6 votes to reject. Voting on a second-round record ends as soon as 6 votes to accept or 6 votes to reject have been cast. If, at the end of the two-month deadline the required 6 votes to either accept or reject have not been met, the record will go to a third round.
     c.  For a Third Round record to be accepted, a simple majority of the votes will be required, provided that all members have voted or that at least 7 members have voted and the two-month deadline has passed.
     d. Records that are not accepted to the species level may be encouraged to be resubmitted at a taxonomic level above species, such as a genus, provided that all members of that group are eligible for review. Records should be submitted at the finest taxonomic resolution supported by the observation.

                 (Yes or No)  Vote: 6 Yes, 2 No

   Part II:  In the case that the results in part I turns out to be "Yes,"  Please order
                the following three proposals for change in order of your preference:

Proposal A: KENNY'S AMENDMENT:

     Change the following two sections of the Bylaws (IV.C.10.b&c.):
10. Decisive and Non-decisive Votes.
       b. For Second Round votes to be decisive and to stop the record from going to a third round, the record would require at least 7 votes to accept or 6 votes to reject. Voting on a second-round record ends as soon as 7 votes to accept or 6 votes to reject have been cast. If, at the end of the two-month deadline the required 7 votes to either accept or reject have not been met, the record will go to a third round.
       c. For a Third Round record to be Accepted, the record must be 7-2 (receive no more than 2 reject votes), provided that all members have voted, or at least 7 members must have voted and the two-month deadline has passed. Records with between 3 and 5 reject votes will be classified as "Not Accepted - Split Decision". Records with 6 or more reject votes will be considered "Not Accepted".

Proposal B: RICK'S AMENDMENT:

     Change the following two sections of the Bylaws (IV.C.10.a-c. and insert d.):

IV.C.10   Decisive and Non-decisive Votes
       a. First-round votes must be unanimous either in the affirmative or negative in order to be decisive. Otherwise the record will go to a second round of review. Records decided in the first round would be considered either "strongly endorsed" or "strongly not-endorsed" for purposes of record keeping.
       b. Second-round votes will be considered decisive with at least 6 votes either in the affirmative or negative. Otherwise the record will go to a third round of review. Records decided in the second round would be considered either "strongly endorsed" or "strongly not-endorsed" for purposes of record keeping.
       c. No record will go more than three rounds. Third-round votes meeting the levels of the first or second round , would be consider either "strongly endorsed" or "strongly not-endorsed" for purposes of record keeping. Records with the majority of committee members voting affirmative will be considered "endorsed" and all other records not meeting the above criteria will be considered "not-endorsed" for purposes of record keeping.
       d. Only first state records that are "strongly endorsed" will be included on the official state checklist. Records that are either "strongly endorsed" or "endorsed" will be included on the "Official Sightings List" (for purposes of considering whether a species should be on the "Review Species List"). All records except "strongly not-endorsed" (considered to be mis-identifications) will be included in the "Comprehensive Sightings List".
       e. (change present section "d" to section "e")

Proposal C: JACK'S AMENDMENT:

    (Final wording in the Bylaws to be settled upon acceptance of this proposal).

    3. The vote total for each 'round' should be nine. The 'voting record' and summaries are the only 'DATA' provided by the committee for a record appearing in our annual publication. I don't think there should be anything less than a full nine votes recorded for each round of voting (see below).

     In order for this to happen committee members should be allowed to vote on their own record submissions (strike the contrary provision in Section IV,C.4).

     If, at the end of a voting time period, one or two committee members cannot vote there should be a mechanism to allow substitute votes (our secretary and webmaster for example (others?) are capable of providing substitute votes).

     2. Voting in rounds 1 or 2 should be automatically stopped 'ONLY' when nine votes are cast as YES or NO. I have observed less than adequate discussion to occur in round 2. Also, at present round 2 records (in both amendments voted on above and the current bylaws) are automatically advanced when accept or reject counts reach six. This could be 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; I submit this example of a 'final' vote tally for round 2 would have quite different meanings. All members should be given the fully allotted time to register their votes and opinions. Lastly, and in my opinion, only at the third round are discussions mature and consensus (or lack thereof) clear.

               (Please do not vote for the same proposal more than once).

                        A-4, B-3, C-1 

                   A-1, B-4, C-2  (one duplicate vote)

                       A-1, B-1, C-4  (one duplicate vote, one none vote)
  

  Ballot #2
 

Section VI.B of the Bylaws says that "The Committee shall review the Bylaws regularly, at least once every three years."  Jack has made a specific suggestion on how this should be carried out.  (This new sentence to be added to the one above).

Jack's suggestion: (To be added as a second sentence in Section VI.B).
  
To do this, the Secretary shall form a smaller sub-committee to discuss and revise the bylaws, review changes with the full committee, and then put the proposed changes to a final vote.
                   (Accept or Reject)  Vote: 6 Acc, 2 Reject
    

  Ballot #3
 

Proposal to change Section III.G of the Bylaws:

Present Language:   (Language to be changed is in bold)
G. Vacancies and Special Elections. If the Committee loses a Voting Member or alternate during mid‑term (through death, resignation, removal, etc.) normal election procedures will be instituted and a new member elected to a three year term.

Proposed Change:   (New proposed language is in bold)

G. Vacancies and Special Elections. If the Committee loses a Voting Member or alternate during mid‑term (through death, resignation, removal, etc.) normal election procedures will be instituted and a new member elected to a term equal to (and not to exceed) the remainder of the term of the member who vacated the position.
                  (Accept or Reject)   Vote: 7 Acc, 2 Reject
 
   
 If you have your own proposal on how to change this section of the Bylaws please write it in the blank below:
  
         
    
 

Date:

  (Must be filled in before the vote can be submitted).
 

  
When you have completed the form, click "Submit."
Your vote will be sent by e-mail to the secretary of the Records Committee.

It takes up to 30 seconds or so after you click the "Submit" request, so please be patient. 
 -- Thank You.