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This issue of Board Walk and Talk focuses on access to voting (Article 5, sections 2 and 3) at a meeting to call (or dismiss) a settled minister.
After the May 2022 all congregation meeting, we heard that many of you had serious concerns about the barriers that kept you from voting. Our bylaws and policies committee spent the past year working with our general counsel to ensure we could present — for your vote — suggested changes to our bylaws at the Annual Meeting of the Congregation to be held on Saturday, November 18, 2023.
We had robust discussions about the proposed changes during the September learning and listening sessions. Learning and listening went both ways. Based on congregant input, trustees (who are congregants too!) agreed to change the proposed bylaws from “limited proxy voting” to “limited absentee voting.”
Proxy voting is where a member entrusts their unmarked ballot to another person to fill in for them. Instead, our intent — and the preference of congregants who spoke at the listening sessions — was to permit a person to mark their ballot and deliver it before the vote was called, even though they were not present at the time of the vote. Details about this will be forthcoming.
Here are the reasons for which an absentee ballot might be used:
- because the member must leave the meeting, or
- because illness or disability prevents them from attending, and participating remotely is not an option for them.
The conversation at these meetings is central to who we are as a congregation that practices congregational polity. Unitarian Universalism is not a hierarchical religion. We don’t have a pope or bishops. Each congregation chooses its own minister.
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) helps to facilitate the search process, but the choice is ours! The Ministerial Search Team will bring forward a settled minister candidate for us to vote on in April, after their search and discernment period.
The proposed bylaw changes recognize that voting members may have to leave a meeting before the vote is called or may be unable to attend in person or online. Because the shared discernment that takes place at this gathering is important, we hope the absentee voting mechanism will be used infrequently.
We encourage you to read the proposed language changes for all four bylaws that we will vote on during the November meeting. The pancake breakfast starts at 8:30 in Parish Hall, and the meeting begins at 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary and online. Please arrive early so we can get everyone checked in and begin the meeting on time. If you plan to attend online, please register.
We hope to see you there!
Yours in service,
Unity Church Board of Trustees
PS: Please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns about this email or anything else that is on your mind at board@unityunitarian.org.
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