minimomNC...Of course, we are aware that the vote on the floor at the Annual Meeting will be the deciding point of getting amendments passed to allow all members to have the right to vote without having to attend the annual meeting. It is hard to understand why any member would not want all members to have that right to vote. As for the $25 fee to vote by mail or internet ballot, we included that in our proposal as a means to cover the expense involved in voting. If you have attended the annual meeting, you are aware that every member is required to register and pay a $25 fee to attend the meeting and vote. That is, if you register and pay the fee before February 13, (today), if you register tomorrow it will cost you $100 to go to the meeting and vote. See the amha.org website for clarification.
It certainly was not our choice to add a voting fee to our proposal, but felt it necessary at this time to keep the fee for voting by mail or internet ballot the same fee that is currently being charged to attend the meeting in person to vote. Please remember, the Board of Directors have set this fee with the passing of a Standing Rule, and the membership had no input into charging a fee. Any member that attends the meeting this year can make a motion that the fee to attend the meeting to vote, be eliminated, and with a majority of the members voting in favor the fee is gone.
We would be most happy to amend the proposals to eliminate any fee at all, as we don't feel that the members that own and support the AMHA should have to pay anything to be allowed to have a vote on the decisions of our Association.
We are at this time, waiting on legal information to determine if charging a fee for members of a non profit 501©5 organization to vote is even legal.
As far as getting these proposals passed, it will take a lot of work this year. We encourage every member that wants the right to vote without having to attend the annual meeting, to stay in contact with your directors and let them know you support the amendments. Write to your own directors, and all officers. The directors can help a lot to get the proposals passed. It will also take members attending the meeting in 2010 to vote for the passage of the amendments.
We have been working on these amendments eleven months and will continue to do everything we can for the benefit of all members, but we certainly cannot do it without your help and support. We welcome all the support we can get from members that want to help us get our voting rights! Where there is a will there is a way.