| Groundrules and Voting Process Meeting Groundrules: 1. Stay in speaking order. Only the facilitator can interrupt a speaker. Raise hands after a person is done speaking. Use "point of process" or "point of clarification" to speak out of turn. 2. Stay on subject. Don't discuss items off the agenda item. 3. Be concise. Don't repeat yourself or others. 4. Be polite and respectful to everyone. Voting Process (if needed): (Note: This process was used well at the 1999 CA Urban Forest Summit ) Original Document 1. Voting rights: All participants who sign in agreeing, in general, to the draft mission, goals and principles will be eligible to vote. 2. Calling the Question: Anyone, including the facilitator, can use "point of process" to call the question and request a formal vote on a proposal. Upon such a call, the facilitator asks for a clarification of the proposal to be voted on. Once the proposal is clear, the facilitator asks for a show of hands of those ready to end discussion. If 51% the hands raised are in support of an immediate vote, discussion is over and a vote occurs. If less than 50% of those voting don't support calling the question, debate continues. 3. Voting: Once the question has been successfully called, the facilitators conduct a vote. A 75% supermajority of the number of the combined Yes and No votes cast, passes any proposal. Participants abstaining from the vote are not counted in the total. Thus, if 45 participants vote Yes and 15 vote No, a motion passes with no votes to spare. A second show of hands may be requested any time a vote is close. When facilitators feel that near-consensus is reached, they can call for a voice vote. If it is not immediately obvious that a supermajority plus has been reached through a voice vote, a hand-raising vote can be called for by any participant using Point of Process. |
