ABPSC — Proxy voting provisions for F/RTF omitted in P&P

The provision for proxy votes for F/RTF members is implied in the P&P but not explicitly stated.

All mentions of proxy voting provisions in the P&P in Section 3 are specific to one kind of voting body (TC in 3.5.1, 2 and 3; AB in 3.5.4; sub-groups in 3.7). In the case of sub-groups polls in 3.7 these explicitly exclude voting provisions for F/RTFs, with 3.7.3 stating that these are fully defined in Section 4.4.1.3. which makes no explicit provision for proxy voting.

Section 4.4.1.3 paragraph 1 states (in part) “Only F/RTF members may vote”. Paragraph 7 (counting bullets as a paragraph but not counting guidance notes), states;

“A Representative on the F/RTF who fails to vote in a contiguous sequence of at least two polls that complete during a period of at least two weeks is automatically removed from the F/RTF. A proxy vote or a vote of abstain is considered a vote for this purpose.”

This implies that proxy voting is supported but this is nowhere described in Section 4.

The accepted practice at the OMG is that we have allowed it in the past and that the named voting representative needs to name a proxy via the mailing list to make it official. However this may not have been implemented in the Jira system.