I have drafted an amendment to the online motions bylaw.

The main addition is a section which reads:

Leave of absence

A committee member may apply for a leave of absence from participating in online motions.

• The application must be made in writing to an office holder of the Association.

• The application must specify the reason for the absence and the period of the absence.

• The office holder may accept or reject the application at their discretion.

• A person cannot approve their own application.

• The leave of absence is effective from the date it is approved in writing.

Note for this section: The office holders of the Association are as defined at s28 of the constitution; namely, the chairperson, deputy chairperson, secretary, and treasurer.

Initially I had drafted that the applications be made to the chair or deputy chair. However it's forseeable that both those people could be on leave at the same time.

I broadened this to "the office holders" so there are 4 people who can do this duty, e.g. unlikely all 4 will be on leave at once.

The section regarding the resolution of online motions is then modified to add the parts in boldface.

Closing and determining the results of online motions

In this section, committee members excludes those members who are currently on an approved leave of absence.

An online motion closes as soon as one of the following events occurs -

Event	Result
All committee members have participated in the vote.	If a) at least four committee members voted "aye", and b) if there were no "nay" votes, the motion passes. Otherwise, the motion fails.
The committee member who raised the motion decides to withdraw it.	The motion lapses.
Any committee member vetoes the motion.	The motion fails. At least 72 hours must pass before the matter can be considered as part of another online motion.
A scheduled committee meeting starts.	All outstanding online motions lapse.
The voting period expires.	If a) at least two-thirds of the commitee members (rounded up) have participated in the vote, and b) at least four committee members voted "aye", and c) there were no "nay" votes, the motion passes. Otherwise, the motion fails.

Note: Quorum for an ordinary commitee meeting is four committee members. (refer "Key Information" in the constitution.) Requiring at least four "aye" votes ensures that online motions cannot pass without assent from a quorum of committee members, i.e. that online motions cannot be used to bypass quorum requirements.

The effect is to excuse absent committee members from voting, while also requiring that at least four committe members (e.g. a quorum as defined in our constitution) must vote "aye".

This prevents improper situations occuring in circumstances where many committee members are on leave of absence.

Requiring a minimuim of 4 "aye" votes also prevents illogical situations occuring such as a motion passing when every participant abstains from the vote.

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  @Lewis Yip now has an action to implement these changes to the bylaws.

I have implemented the changes to this bylaw on the wiki. This issue is now completed. 🙂