Re: A troubling OA Election Team Situation
Branden Morris (bmorris@NEBS.COM)
Thu, 6 Mar 1997 09:29:42 -0500
>From: Ed Henderson <BigEdBSA@AOL.COM>
>Subject: A troubling OA Election Team Situation - Did we do the
>right thing?
(Snipped Ed's story of how a unit leader pressured an Order of the
Arrow Election team to forge election results to include a Scout who
wasn't elected during the election.)
And people wonder why adults don't have a vote in OA matters! Sheesh.
:) This unfortunate situation wasn't about the boys, but about the
adults. What happened IMO shouldn't have.
>I huddled with my election team scouts, explained the situation, and,
>with the arrival of three late arriving scouts, we decided to again
>fully explain that each scout had up to five votes but could withhold
>a vote from anyone not deserving the honor. We redid the ballots and
>the results were the same.
Election rules clearly state that you only hold an election _once_. If
you had 50% of the troop membership there (which you would have had to
have in order to run the election in the first place), then you run
the one election and THAT'S IT. If you're late, you're late. Once the
results are in, that's it. The Order of the Arrow Handbook is _very_
clear on this.
>I guess right now I don't have quite as much respect for that troop
>as I did before, I, as well as my team members, feel proud that we
>did not make a politically expedient change to soothe internal adult
>relation problems in this troop
Well, you _almost_ did. What would you have done if the excluded Scout
had made it the 2nd time? He still would have been elected illegally.
The only way to keep the integrity of the election is to follow the
rules exactly.
>I also wonder if I should mention this to our Chapter Chief and
>Advisor. This is overall a very active troop (they are going to the
>Sommers Canoe Base this June) and I don't want to stir up a hornets
>nest for them.
Not only the chapter adviser, but probably the lodge adviser as well.
Don't worry about the hornet's nest; if this troop is "active," they
need to know the _right_ ways to do things.
Once the Scoutmaster declares that at least half the troop is present,
and once he gives his approval (or dis-approval) to any of the
eligible candidates, he is completely out of the picture -- it's then
up to the youth to make their vote. After they vote, that's it. No
adult should ever pressure anyone to re-run the election, and election
teams shouldn't cave into that pressure.
(I don't mean to come down on you personally, Ed. I know (having had
it happen to me) that it's an uncomfortable situation. But if we're
going to be examples to the youth we advise, we need to stick to our
guns.)
Yours in Brotherhood,
Branden Morris
Associate Section Adviser, Section NE-1B, Order of the Arrow BSA
bmorris@nebs.com
morris@net1plus.com
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