Today I enabled the public side of a new Board of Directors voting system. If you click on Board of Directors in the Main Menu, there are two new tabs, Activity and Resolutions.
Activity – Lists the activity of each Board member in the private Board forum and the Board voting system. You can view the individual voting record for any Board member.
Resolutions – These are all the resolutions that have been voted on and published by the Board. You can read the entire text of the resolution and see all the votes cast for or against it.
Since the election of the new Board in February, all motions (motion = potential resolution) have been entered into this system and all votes (in-person and electronic) have been recorded in it. We believe that having a formalized Board voting system will help the WGA in a number of ways by providing:
A Historical Record – We will now have a public record of what resolutions have passed and who voted for them.
Improved Clarity And Accuracy – Prior to the introduction of the voting system, electronic Board votes were conducted informally via posts in the private Board forum. Sometimes it was unclear what exactly was being voted on, and “counting” yes / no votes was done manually.
Faster Decision Making – We hope that rather than being a burden and slowing things down, using the voting system for all motions will actually speed up decision making. Board members get a notification when there are motions that they need to vote on and deadlines (automatic close dates) can be set on motions.
Increased Transparency – In the past, some WGA members indicated that they wanted to know more about the activities of the Board and the contributions and opinions of individual Board members. We feel that the voting system will help provide this transparency, as you can get an idea of what the Board is working on (by being able to see EVERY resolution passed or rejected by the Board), as well as who is participating in Board discussions (via the Board forum activity information) and what their views are (based on their voting record).
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