Chess Scotland Constitution

[Ianbrownlee]

unfortunately proxy votes are a necessity due the large area covered by Chess Scotland. At the risk of chicken and the egg scenario , we need online voting in place and passed before it can be used, At the moment proxy votes are sent to the executive director and registered before the AGM. I havent heard any issue with this therefore the online voting issue isnt as important as the issue or the right of the person (proxee/delegate) carrying the proxy. What needs to be decided is whether the delegate represents the specific requests of the voter on specific agenda items by voting accordingly, or whether the delegate should also carry the voting of any items which may require voting on at the AGM. My understanding is that it is the latter which is the case, therefore there is no point going on about online voting although I personally would like to see introduced in a bid to engage more members.

If a member gives his vote to a delegate then he is trusting his delegate to vote accordingly. I have never seen a delegate to act inappropriately and the delegate wouldnt be allowed to anyway.

The basic question is whether a delegate be restricted to vote on agenda items alone assuming the voter has already instructed how to vote. In my opinion the voter , by giving his proxy to the delegate has indicated his level of trust to the delegate. The potential issue is that in the past that solicitation of votes has taken place. However that is the name of the game in politics and if its good enough for our democracy its good enough for Chess Scotland