The vote was 61-39%. There were ‘more than 1460’ delegates. Don’t know if all of them voted, I would think we would have heard about abstentions maybe? Not sure if every unit/charter group sent delegates if they had the option to do so.
You would think that at least some of the Scouting units/charters/whoever who voted against it would give details of the rules. Was it a secret ballot, is there some kind of privacy policy or something about these details.
All the searches I did seem to be drowned out by stories about the controversy, one thing I did see was the policy of the boy scouts for choosing youth delegates, which I assume is something different.
Freegards
That’s what we need. We need to understand the rules for selecting delegates and voting. There’s apparently over 80,000 troops. Did only 1460 send delegates? Or are delegates chosen at a counsel level?
That’s what we need. We need to understand the rules for selecting delegates and voting. There’s apparently over 80,000 troops. Did only 1460 send delegates? Or are delegates chosen at a counsel level?
I am a District Commissioner and can tell you from what my Council Commissioner (who voted) told me is that it was a secret ballot. The 1400+ delegates are all volunteers - no professionals had a vote. My Scout Exec told us that the meeting before the vote he was pretty sure the resolution would not pass and was shocked it passed and more so by the margin it did. My council had five votes and all were No. They surveyed us first to see what the will of the Council was, and then voted accordingly.
The excerpt I am posting below comes from a delegate who was there. He is a leftist and probably voted for the new membership standard, but I have followed his posts for some time. I believe his account.
5/24/2013 – Eyewitness Account of the annual National Council business meeting.
http://listserv.tcu.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1305&L=SCOUTS-L&T=0&F=&S=&P=382001
Subject: Re: "Say you want a resolution, well, you know ..."
From: Neil Lupton
Date: Fri, 24 May 2013, 14:10:56 -0400
>> As to the meeting, can we get any details of how it went? Was there any discussion, either from the dais or from the floor? Or was it all pretty much a "here is the resolution, go vote" situation? Was there any attempt or opportunity to bring up alternative resolutions or was Robert's Rules run roughshod over to keep things going the way they were scripted? How did the voting work out, with the multiple checks of registration and TSA-like security to get to the ballot box?
> Bruce in Blacksburg
Hello Bruce, Reporting from Texas.
There was, in my opinion, massive discussion. Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30, I believe, there was an "information meeting". For a substantial part of the meeting, any voting member that wished could stand up and speak their mind, express their reservations or support or reasoning. Many did and the discussion had to be closed only because time was up.
There was also massive hallway discussion on the topic.
Thursday, I believe that the official "annual meeting" started at 9:30AM and ran till 11AM. Toward the close of the meeting, there were 8 speakers, two from each Region selected, I believe, by the region. They ranged from a Regional President to the mother of a four Eagle Scouts, one of whom is gay. Four were in favor of the resolution and four opposed. All speakers were loudly applauded. The National President complimented all speakers and voters over the two days for their courtesy and respect.
There was no opportunity given for amendment of the resolution or for discussion of alternative resolutions.
Voting then began at 11AM and ran till 2PM. When one checked into the meeting and registered, one went to a separate area to get one's voting credentials. One had to show government issued photo ID to get those credentials. When the voting began, one stood in line. To be admitted, one had to show the paper card credential and have it checked against the photo ID again. Each credential was bar coded. When one entered, a hole was punched in the credential. One then went to a second station where the bar code was read and an individual ballot printed out for the person. The top half had the ballot and the bottom half a signed statement with the name of that individual voter indicating that they had received one ballot for the election. One signed that statement and the ballot paper was torn in two and the voter was given the top, anonymous ballot form. One went to a voting booth to mark the ballot. The resolution was printed on the ballot and one simply filled in the box by "yes" or "no." One then left the voting booth and dropped the ballot into a ballot box and left the area. One could not be readmitted.
Voting closed at 2PM. All Scout related personnel were excluded from the voting area from 2PM to 5PM as a totally private firm was handling the voting and counting. We were told that this firm were strong experts in running voting including Native American tribes, labor unions, etc. It was said that no one from Scouting would know the results until 5:15.
The "results" meeting was at 5:15PM. Again, voters and non-voters were admitted. A prayer was said and the National President asked for agreement that whatever the result were, we would all work together for Scouting and there was loud applause.
The head of the firm running the voting came forward and made his certification that his firm gave 99.9% confidence that the results were accurate. He then handed a sealed envelope to the National President. The President then opened the envelope and read the results which were, I believe,
61.3% - yes
38.7% - no
There was, I believe, mild to modest applause.
The President then said that the meeting was over and we all left.
I have not heard anyone at the meeting suggest that the reported results were anything but an accurate vote and accurate count of the votes of the voting members. There truly was zero opportunity for hanky panky.
Best wishes,
Neil Lupton