Recognizing that there was a lack of consensus with regards to how the reading group’s voting system should function, I wanted to reach out to understand the differing perspectives. Adri was willing to discuss their perspective which allowed us to better understand each other’s opinions on how the reading group should operate.
With that said I think we should take the time to talk about about how we make decisions as a group, and that we should take more time to ensure that everyone who is interested in a topic has a chance to voice their opinion, but also to change their opinion.
So, if you have something to contribute on this topic, or another, you are encouraged to comment and participate.
Motions can get really wordy, making it hard for membership to understand and process what is actually being put on the floor for a vote. Lengthy motions also make the job of the Secretary more difficult (See Robert’s Rules of Order: “Both for the sake of the minutes and to assist the chair during the meeting, [the Secretary] must get down the exact wording of motions, especially main motions and amendments. [The Secretary] should not hesitate to ask the chair to exercise his or her authority to require that a main motion, an amendment, or instructions to a committee be put in writing.”). If someone is having trouble repeating their motion or people are expressing confusion, it might be too long. We should strive to be concise. And, in my opinion, anyone submitting an agenda item as an action item (*by action item, I mean an item that the General Membership will be expected to vote on) should include the language of the motion that they are likely to have us consider, so that their point of view and recommended course of action are clear.