Club Constitution Update

We are proposing two changes to the club constitution.

1. A change to the way votes are handled to better represent the views of club members.

2. An update to our Intellectual Property rules to better protect the club.

There are also minor improvements to grammar and punctuation.

Changes to the constitution require us to advise and consult with members for a period of two weeks prior to adopting the change.

The changes are detailed below, with a copy of the document at the bottom of this post.

If you have feedback or suggestions, or just wish to discuss the changes, please talk to one of the directors, or comment here.

Consitution 1.1.pdf

Download PDF • 1.17MB

Voting.

Following the recent name change vote, we became aware that our constitution required the club to conduct an election which needed a majority (50+%) of votes cast to win. Therefore the first-past-the-post election we ran was in contravention of our own rules. This was a genuine mistake and we apologise.

This method of voting has served us well where we have had two candidates or options to choose from, but will often fail to produce a majority outcome with three or more options and can result in vote splitting and encourage tactical voting.

We are committed to maintaining the rights of the club members to vote on significant changes to the club. It is important that we amend the constitution to include a voting method that guarantees a clear winner and better represents the views of over 150 members.

After a period of investigation, we have amended the constitution to change the voting method to Alternative Voting, sometimes known as Instant Run-Off voting. Alternative Voting is a method designed to accommodate many candidates and to better reflect the wishes of the electorate, and reduce the impact of tactical and block voting. In an Alternative Vote, all voters are able to cast one vote. They do so by identifying their favourite candidate, second favourite, third favourite and so on, on one ballot paper.

Counting is then done in rounds.

• Round 1. All first favourites are totalled. If there is a clear winner with more than 1/2 of the vote, then a winner is declared and the vote is over. If not then the counting continues to round 2.
  

• Round 2+. The candidate with the lowest number of votes in round 1 is eliminated, and the first preference votes for those candidates are redistributed to the voters second favourite candidate. If a candidate has more than 1/2 of the vote then a winner is declared. This process continues until one candidate secures more than 1/2 of the vote.

Alternative Voting will still handle two candidates as only first preference votes will be needed with one round of counting.

You can learn more about Alternative Voting here and in this video.

Intellectual Property

We have amended the Intellectual Property statement in the constitution to clarify that any assets, processes, designs, files etc created for the use of the club belong to the club. At the end of tenure of any official of the club those assets remain the property of the club not the individual. This protects the club from bad actors refusing to hand over club materials they have created during their tenure.