Libby, I agree with you that pretty much not matter what this election is going to end with questions and some not happy or agreeing with the results.? I also agree that it is absolutely important that our members not be disenfranchised.? Maybe it doesn't hurt anything to ask AKC for advice.? But one thing is clear, we cannot suspend or ignore our by-laws.? That would be much worse than a tainted election.? As has been already stated, we can change our by-laws with a membership vote.? Obviously, time is of the essence.??The only option (per our by-laws) is?to send out for vote to our membership, a change in our by-laws that would allow them to redo the election.?Is this even possible before October 11th??? I don't know the?answer to that.?? Letting the current election stand?when completed?may not be the most desired?end to this issue, but violating our own by-laws to make a better end result?for the membership?should never be an option. Jeff Pyle? -----Original Message----- From: Ecam2213@xxxxxxx To: Ginialtman@xxxxxxx; showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 7:25 am Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: BALLOT GATE The main thing is that members not be disenfranchised from their votes counting. There are too many members who followed the first advice and did the wrong thing on the ballot; then the ones who mailed the ballot early with no correction and they were Not returned - were they delivered or did they go to a dead letter box ,and the members who had their ballot returned and were not aware of the problem and discarded it. No one I have talked to is comfortable with this election... so Why is it wrong to go to AKC for advice and direction? What about the people who are not informed and will send their ballot late and it will be returned too late to make the deadline??? There is absolutely no way this election is not going to be in question and the members should be given every opportunity to see that their vote counts. Libby I would think that most of us knew about the problem early on and either have not yet sent the ballot in or have corrected it by crossing out the bar code or have, as Evan suggested several days ago --used another envelope and sent the whole thing in that way -- The one thing that may not been done is to communicate with those who do not have email--there is still time for that - if it is done quickly. But --ya' gotta' pay attention to the bylaws--no one can wave that one away--it bears repeating-- RULES THAT CANNOT BE SUSPENDED. Rules contained in the bylaws cannot be suspended-no matter how large the vote in favor of doing so or how inconvenient the rule in question may be .... (just a parliamentarian:..( but smarter than the average bear:-) Ginny Altman********************************* See what's new at _http://www.aol.com_ (http://www.aol.com) ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================ ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================