Constitutional Column 2024: Issue 2 | Page 5

5

Article vii /

Electronic

Meetings

The NJCL Constitution has a separate article detailing the rules of virtual meetings over the Internet .

What services can be used ?

The NJCL President and the Chairperson of the National Committee can approve any meeting service that does the following : > supports anonymous voting ; > shows participants ; > shows people seeking permission to speak ( e . g ., through a hand raise feature ); > shows text of pending motions ( e . g ., through chat ); > shows vote results .
In practice , the NJCL uses Zoom , which satisfies these requirements . Google and Microsoft Forms are often used for voting to save results and to make extra sure that votes are anonymous .

WHAT ARE THE RULES FOR ELECTRONIC MEETINGS ?

The Constitution doesn ’ t specify exact rules for electronic meetings . Rather , it just gives some parameters for whatever the NJCL adopts : > The rules can include participation requirements . > They supersede Robert ’ s Rules of Order . > Anonymous electronic votes should be treated like typical ballot votes .
The vagueness here might seem odd ; you ' d think that the rule-establishing document would establish all the rules . But by being open-ended , the NJCL can change rules for online meetings without an entire constitutional amendment .