Request By:
Honorable Charles T. Mattingly
Marion County Attorney
14 Court Square
Lebanon, Kentucky
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of March 3 in which you raise the question as to whether or not a proxy vote cast on behalf of a member of the Board of Trustees of Bradfordsville, a city of the sixth class, at either a regular or special called meeting would be considered a valid vote.
Our response to your question would be in the negative on the grounds that no specific statutory authority exists granting members of the board of trustees of a sixth class city the right to vote by proxy. Referring to Roberts Rules of Order, § 44, regarding voting procedure, we quote the following:
"It is a fundamental principle of parliamentary law that the right to vote is limited to the members of an organization who are actually present at the time the vote is taken in a legal meeting. . . ."
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". . . Proxy voting is not permitted in ordinary deliberative assemblies unless the laws of the state in which the society is incorporated require it, . . . Ordinarily it should neither be allowed nor required, because proxy voting is incompatible with the essential characteristics of a deliberative assembly in which membership is individual, personal, and nontransferable . . ."
Next referring to McQuillin, Mun. Corps., Vol. 4, § 13.30, dealing with municipal bodies, commissions, and committees, we find the following:
". . . if the act is one which requires the exercise of discretion and judgment, in which case it is usually termed a judicial act, unless provision is otherwise made by law, the persons to whom the authority is given must meet and confer and be present when the act is performed, . . ."
See also C.J.S., States, § 33, and the case of State ex rel Grant v. Eaton, 133 P. 2d 588, 114 Mont. 199, holding that proxy voting is not authorized under American parlimentary practice.
Under the circumstances, we are of the opinion that no member of the Board of Trustees of the city of Bradfordsville, a city of the sixth class, may appoint a proxy or give his proxy to another member of the board for voting purposes at any regular or special meeting.