Close Menu
The Baylor Lariat
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Trending
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers
    • 5 Baylor sports storylines to look forward to in 2025-26
    • Castle’s grand slam lifts baseball to 30th win of season 10-7
    • What to Do in Waco: Summer Edition
    • Liberty, justice for all: Dr. Van Gorder confronts racial oppression in new book
    • Texas math teachers strengthen skills at School of Education’s academy
    • Don’t believe myths about autism — reduce stigma by learning facts
    • About us
      • Spring 2025 Staff Page
      • Copyright Information
    • Contact
      • Contact Information
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Subscribe to The Morning Buzz
      • Department of Student Media
    • Employment
    • PDF Archives
    • RSS Feeds
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    The Baylor LariatThe Baylor Lariat
    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz
    Friday, May 23
    • News
      • State and National News
        • State
        • National
      • Politics
        • 2025 Inauguration Page
        • Election Page
      • Homecoming Page
      • Baylor News
      • Waco Updates
      • Campus and Waco Crime
    • Arts & Life
      • Wedding Edition 2025
      • What to Do in Waco
      • Campus Culture
      • Indy and Belle
      • Sing 2025
      • Leisure and Travel
        • Leisure
        • Travel
          • Baylor in Ireland
      • Student Spotlight
      • Local Scene
        • Small Businesses
        • Social Media
      • Arts and Entertainment
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Food
        • Literature
        • Music
        • Film and Television
    • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Points of View
      • Lariat Letters
    • Sports
      • March Madness 2025
      • Football
      • Basketball
        • Men’s Basketball
        • Women’s Basketball
      • Soccer
      • Baseball
      • Softball
      • Volleyball
      • Equestrian
      • Cross Country and Track & Field
      • Acrobatics & Tumbling
      • Tennis
      • Golf
      • Pro Sports
      • Sports Takes
      • Club Sports
    • Lariat TV News
    • Multimedia
      • Video Features
      • Podcasts
        • Don’t Feed the Bears
      • Slideshows
    • Advertising
    The Baylor Lariat
    Home»News»Baylor News

    BAA amends bylaws to allow other voting methods

    webmasterBy webmasterDecember 7, 2013 Baylor News No Comments3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    By Paula Solis
    Staff Writer

    Baylor Alumni Association members around the globe can now vote without having to be present after amendments to BAA bylaws were made Saturday that allow for electronic, mail and proxy voting.

    “This is a good idea to expand the number of members that can vote,” said BAA President George Cowden III before the decision was put to a vote during the meeting at the Paul W. Powell Chapel in Truett Seminary on Baylor’s campus.

    “I feel like at the last vote that we were not in a position to include obviously tens of thousands or maybe just ten thousand voters and I regretted that because I wanted to hear more from the members on the subject being proposed,” Cowden said. “This, I think, addresses that.”

    Article III of the BAA bylaws was amended in Section 5 and 6. Section 5 previously called “Quorum” is now called “Quorum and Voting,” and allows that a member vote on any matter can be conducted in person, by mail, by facsimile transmission, electronic message, by a proxy or any combination of those options. Section 6, which previously required a member be present to vote, was eliminated.

    The terminology in Article XVII that also required member presence during voting was omitted to allow for the changes in Article III to take effect.

    Before the vote, members discussed their concerns with the possibility of electronic voting and what it could mean in regards to security. BAA member Mitchell Wren said the terminology “electronic message,” was too vague and could include text messages or email, which Wren said are not protected forms of voting.

    Cad Wooten, the chief operating officer, said the BAA has considered for sometime, even before the Sept. 7 meeting to vote for a transition, the possibility of electronic voting and has taken measures to safeguard against voting violations.

    “We did some research and we actually got in touch with a company that provides online voting,” Wooten said. “If the case happened where we had a vote that was electronic we would probably hire this vendor or another vendor that has a very strict set of guidelines.”

    Wooten said voters would use unique identification numbers and the votes would be audited to allow for only one vote per member.

    After the vote, members discussed what electronic voting could mean in terms of addressing the September vote that did not allow the BAA and the Baylor Alumni Network to merge, which consequently led to the official termination of the BAA license to use the Baylor name. Several members were hopeful that a new vote could take place and would change the relationship between Baylor and the BAA, however with the 90-day phase of the Baylor name by the BAA ending Sunday, a new vote is not a probable option, Cowden said.

    Lyndon Olson, BAA member and a 1976 Baylor graduate, said after the meeting that the BAA, new electronic voting or not, has hard times ahead.

    “There are several regents that don’t like this association,” Olson said. “They have essentially taken away our staff, our people and are taking away the right of speech by a 150-year-oldalumni association. To abolish this organization because they don’t want anybody to speak that they can’t control is fundamentally and constitutionally wrong in a democratic institution like Baylor.”

    The BAA will continue to function with “Baylor” in their name and as a separate entity from the university and the decision to dissolve is one that only the BAA can make, not the university, Cowden said.

    Baylor Alumni Association
    webmaster

    Keep Reading

    How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings

    Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers

    Liberty, justice for all: Dr. Van Gorder confronts racial oppression in new book

    Texas math teachers strengthen skills at School of Education’s academy

    Prices could rise throughout 2025 due to tariffs, reciprocal actions

    Baylor professor, ambassador co-author novel, celebrate gospel music legend

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Recent Posts
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings May 6, 2025
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers May 6, 2025
    About

    The award-winning student newspaper of Baylor University since 1900.

    Articles, photos, and other works by staff of The Baylor Lariat are Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz

    Get the latest Lariat News by just Clicking Subscribe!

    Follow the Live Coverage
    Tweets by @bulariat

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    • Featured
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Arts and Life
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.