I have to challenge Dave's recommendation of Rober'ts Rules of Order. While I don't doubt that it is the result of a lot of thought and contains a lot of worthwhile advice about how to conduct meetings, it also has major weaknesses that its advocates have never adequately considered.
First, at something like 800 pages, it is way too long. Much shorter alternatives to Robert's Rules have been written and used widely, especially outside of the U.S. One U.S. book I especially like is Cannon's Consise Guide to Rules of Order by Hugh Cannon (less than 200 pages), originally published in 1992. When meeting rules become as extensive as the latest version of Robert's Rules, they benefit people who have the time and patience to learn their details and harm people who don't. Second, Robert's was written and revised by people who weren't well informed about alternative voting methods for choosing among 3 or more options. As a result, the rules are written in such a way that they strongly encourage a series of yes or no decisions about particular motions and don't encourage votes among three or more alternative simultaneous motions. Third, Robert's appears to encourage adversarial forms of decisionmaking whereby people try to push through motions they strongly favor instead of nonadversarial forms whereby people seek to to go beyond currently favored views in an effort to achieve more consensual win-win decisions. -Ralph Suter Dave Ketchum wrote: > Strongly recommend starting with "Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised > 10th edition" (should still be current). > > There has been more thought applied here than EM owns: > Could be you are into a new kind of group. > Could be you have a better idea. > > For example, it is generally unhealthy to let the chair do most nominations. > > BTW - while Robert's has heard of IRV, they tolerate what they call > "Preferential Voting" only if you must vote by mail, and offer IRV as an > example, though not preferred among the possible methods. ---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info