The Board of Directors of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA) voted earlier this evening to invalidate the results of last Monday’s Special Membership Meeting.
That earlier meeting (here) had voted in favor of certain bylaws changes opposed by a majority of the directors. Foremost among those was a provision that would have allowed the members of the organization — rather than the directors themselves — to elect the group’s President and Vice-President.
However, MTHA General Counsel Alan Foreman advised the Board, which met tonight on short notice and in executive session, that there had been a flaw in voting procedures. Foreman asserted that MTHA voting procedures allow only members current as of the date the meeting was noticed — in this case, April 18 — to vote. However, the checklists used by the organization included names of members who had joined subsequent to April 18 and were thus unable to vote.
It has not been determined how many — if any — ineligible members voted.
Instead of scheduling another special meeting, the Board voted instead to hold a vote by mail and agreed to set the date of notice to May 7.
Multiple sources reported that the vote to invalidate the action of the Special Meeting was 9-5, with one Board member unable to attend. Those sources indicated that the decision to make the follow-up election a mail, rather than in-person, vote was reached by a 10-4 margin.
The meeting was described as “contentious.”
Details to follow tomorrow.
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3 comments
Ann W Merryman
May 8, 2012 at 7:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
this is so unreal
Robbie
May 8, 2012 at 12:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
… and if the vote had gone the other way, ask yourself this question: would esteemed counsel and his cohorts have been thoughtful enough to even raise this “issue”?
The nine (9) Board members who voted in support of this travesty should be ashamed … and should resign.
(@turfbloggers) (@turfbloggers)
May 8, 2012 at 12:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
MTHA board of directors invalidate recent Maryland vote, claiming flaw in procedure; @ThatsAmoreStabl reports http://t.co/gQPjFoFH