Amend your Professional Association's Bylaws
It is important that professional associations are able to change their bylaws. Adapting and updating the governing rules and guidelines enables a professional association to adapt to changes in their respective fields, membership base, social attitudes, or to new technologies.
Below you can find the most important aspects of amending the bylaws in your association.
How Bylaws are Amended
How bylaws can be changed ultimately comes down to the governing documents of your professional association. In the bylaws, it should clearly state how changes can be suggested, voted upon, and adopted.
In most associations, any suggested bylaw changes must be given a period of time in which the change or new bylaw can be debated and fully understood. Once this period is over, the election committee is responsible for organising a vote. Typically, the most efficient time for any bylaw changes to be voted on is the annual general meeting. Members are already there - a captive audience focused on the future and management of their professional association. While some associations require a bylaw change to have a two-thirds majority to be adopted, others just require a simple majority.
Learn more about our live voting system - designed for your AGM, it reduces any need for recounting offers a faster and more efficient election process.
Start now >Amendment Examples
In order to conduct elections online with POLYAS, your bylaws need allow online voting as part of the accepted election procedures.
Below we have a few examples as to how you could include a provision allowing online elections within your professional association
§ Board of directors elections
The board of directors is elected through in-person voting, postal voting or a similar, secure electronic voting option that upholds the secrecy of the ballot.
§ Absentee voting at an AGM
Every member has one vote at the general meeting. Absent members can cast their vote via postal voting or a secure electronic voting option.
Be sure to stipulate the requirements of an election system to ensure that any company you subcontract will be aware of your voting procedures and will be able to provide you with a valid election.
>The examples presented here are examples only. Including them is not mandatory and any amendments to your bylaws should be made in cooperation with your board of directors.
Online voting in combination with live voting at your AGM can help increase the turnout
Amend Bylaws Online
Online voting is fast becoming the accepted way of voting for institutions worldwide. Many professional associations conduct their elections, resolutions, and bylaw voting online, either at their AGMs or worldwide on their smartphone, tablet or computer.
Online voting has gained popularity in recent years as institutions have realised how easy it is to hold an online election. There is no need to compromise on security, our software is certified according to common criteria standards. This enables you to relax knowing that your bylaw changes will be legally valid.
Not only do online election systems help to reduce the workload involved when planning and implementing an election, they also help to reduce the costs.
Learn more about switching to online voting from one of our election experts today!