I write this as a personal statement as the current Chair of the Sprint Racing Committee to try and answer some of the questions around the process for electing the Chair and the proxy voting at the upcoming ACM.
The process of appointing the Chair of SRC
I understand that there is a concern about the advertisement that appeared at the beginning of the year to seek a new Chair for SRC and that this was not in line with the Terms of Reference in the handbook.
I had announced my intention to step down at the ACM in 2018 and despite lots of discussions to seek out a potential new Chair there were no candidates stepping forward to stand as Chair. The advertisement was intended to encourage people to step forward and had some limited success with one or two people making contact. This was never intended to change the fact that the ACM would elect the Chair, but was designed to try to find a candidate that wanted the role, had the skills to do the role and who may be suitable to the ACM.
The advert made it quite clear that the process of election and appointment rested with the ACM and that candidates could come through the normal channels. See extracts from the advert below.
‘The post of Chair of the SRC is one that is elected by the registered Sprint Racing Clubs at the ACM in line with the terms of reference’
‘The preferred person will then be nominated to the Annual Consultative Meeting of the clubs on 19th October 2019 for them to vote their approval. In the event of more than one nomination, the normal voting system will take place’
In the end this advert did not produce a candidate for these elections. The two candidates standing, Roland Lawler and myself both came through the normal process of being nominated by 2 members as per the Terms of Reference.
Proxy Voting
I understand there are a few concerns around proxy voting. Prior to this year to cast a vote, a member of a registered Sprint Club had to be present at the meeting.
This is the first year that proxy voting has been introduced. Proxy voting means that clubs can vote without having to attend the meeting, by sending their vote with someone else. It is designed and has been introduced to increase democracy not the opposite. The new terms of Reference [as in the handbook] allow for proxy votes and I would refer you to the 2019 handbook page A7 items 8.8 to 8.14. As per the Terms of Reference, the detail of the proxy voting system is at the discretion of the SRC and I am sure the SRC will be very happy to consider comments about how this could be improved for next year.
The Terms of Reference allow for a club attending the ACM to hold two (2) proxy votes. The guidance issued was incorrect when it stated a club could hold 1 proxy vote and this will now been adjusted to allow clubs to carry 2 proxy votes in addition to their own in line with Terms of Reference. The limitation was designed to encourage clubs to actually attend the meeting and so take part in the whole Annual Meeting process.
There is a concern that the proxy voting form does not provide for the facility for the club using the proxy to cast its vote in advance. It had been envisaged that this would have been done in conversation between the two clubs, so that the person holding the proxy would know how to cast the vote.
Proxy votes still need to be registered in advance by the deadline of Wednesday of this week.
I hope this helps to clarify the situation re the election of the Chair and the proxy voting
Your sincerely
Alan Laws
Chair SRC
