(The invitation was sent out on December 30, 2023.)

EBMA Extraordinary General Meeting

to be held online via Zoom, on Monday, January 29, 2024,
at 20:00 hrs Central European Time.

Agenda

1. Welcome
2. Report of interim period
3. Election of new board
4. Membership fees from 1st February 2024
5. AOB

Members who wish to attend online are asked to confirm by mail to membership@ebma.org at the latest by Sunday, 28th January 2024.

A zoom link will be sent on the morning of the meeting. It is recommended, but not essential to have the Zoom application on your computer, mobile phone or tablet, just login via the link and you will be admitted.

Voting and Approval

Voting and approval will be through the voting/polling function in Zoom.

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on October 25, 2023, the present EBMA Interim Board was appointed. Their primary responsibility is to supervise the election of a new board within 90 days and offer recommendations to the incoming EBMA Board.

A call for candidates was sent out and 14 people now apply for a board position, with a further eight people offering to serve the association without being on the board — a tremendous result so early in the life of the next generation EBMA. Members in good standing present at the EGM on January 29, may still put themselves forward for the board during the meeting if they so desire.

This protocol presents the board structure, the candidates and the election process, in which all members of the association are invited to vote.

The board

The new EBMA board will serve the European Bluegrass community as the administrative body for the association (governance, compliance and service provision) and as the steering committee for actions carried out in the community through constituency representatives. It will consist of 8 to 12 members with 1 or 2 members each representing one of 6 constituencies: Artists, Events & Bookers, Media, Membership & Development, Industry & Education, At Large.

The candidates

Anyone member in good standing of EBMA is eligible to serve on the board.
14 candidates have applied to serve one, two or three constituencies.
All candidates have provided information about their historical and current ties to Bluegrass music, their areas of expertise and their goals as board members.
You can read the individual portraits here.

The election

If the membership meeting approves, the elections will follow these rules:

Members can vote if their membership status is active on this page.
Active members are invited to vote for board members in every constituency.
Online voting will take place from 29.01.2024 until 04.02.2024 at this address [will be inserted right after EGM]. In order to access the voting form on that page, you must log in with your member account.
The system requires a vote for at minimum 1 and maximum 3 candidates in all 6 constituencies.
As candidates were able to apply for up to 3 constituencies they will appear on the ballot in each constituency they chose. This is normal and you may vote for the same candidate in two or three different constituencies.

The results

The 2 candidates with the highest number of votes in each constituency are elected.
If any candidate is in the top 2 for more than one constituency, they will be appointed to their preferred constituency (as previously chosen) and the candidate with the third-highest number of votes will be elected.
Under the association bylaws, candidates elected to the board must have at least 50% +1 of the total votes cast. It is possible to waive this rule if 50% +1 of the members at the Extraordinary General Meeting agree to it. In this case, the top two may go through however many votes they get.

Summary

• To be able to participate in the voting process, your membership status must be active ✔️
• You may vote for 1, 2 or 3 candidates in each constituency ✔️
• You may vote for the same candidate in more than one constituency ✔️