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The UUCC Annual Meeting is upon us and we want to share some important updates and information with you. The Annual Meeting will be held in-person at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center in Sanctuary C and virtually on Zoom. For those attending in-person, you are invited to arrive early and enjoy food and fellowship at the congregational potluck that begins at 5:30 PM. You do not have to attend the potluck to attend the meeting.

For those who will participate virtually, you will be able to log on at 6:00 PM. You must register to receive the Zoom link. Only register if you will be attending virtually. 

NOT with PollEV! Each member will use their giving number to confidentially certify their vote using a simple electronic ballot. Your number is not available. Reply to this email for assistance. and is also at the top of this message. Sara and Hannah will also have these numbers available for you at check-in on Sunday. You do not have to pre-register or have an account to complete your ballot. There will also be Board members around to assist you if necessary.  

If there are nominations from the floor, the nominee will have an opportunity to present a brief statement. In accordance with the Bylaws, “for motions from the floor, voting will be by voice vote or a show of hands or, upon request by at least 10% of the members present.” 

As in years past, we will use a simple “yes-no-abstain" format for approving the slate of nominees, the bylaws revisions, and the proposed budget. We will be using ranked choice voting (RCV) for our ministerial search committee! This is an exciting opportunity to live deeper into our commitment to representation and inclusion.  

What is ranked choice voting?  

Some of you may have attended the Ranked Choice Voting Event hosted by our Democracy in Action Team in January. As of last fall, 14 major cities and counties across seven states used ranked choice voting (RCV) in their elections, including New York City. Greenbelt and Takoma Park use RCV here in Maryland. To help education the 5.3 million registered voters in NYC, they created some helpful tools. You can watch an intro to RCV below.

Multi-winner or proportional ranked choice voting (RCV) allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference to elect multiple winners proportionally, ensuring broader representation. This video from Portland, Oregon goes into greater detail about how the rounds are tabulated in a multi-winner scenario.

If you want to dig a little deeper on this, Represent Us has a great resource. With four candidates being elected, a candidate must receive 20% of the vote (plus 1) to be elected to the Ministerial Search Committee. (The Portland video explains this.)

There are several ways that ranked choice voting could benefit our voting processes.  

It gives you more say in who gets elected. Even if your top choice candidate does not get appointed, you can still help choose who does. Cities that have implemented ranked choice voting have elected more women and people of color, making their elected officials more representative of their communities. 

In your electronic ballot you will see ten candidates for the Ministerial Search Committee. You’ll choose your top four candidates and rank them 1-4, first being the highest. This question is set up to randomly shuffle. This way, no single candidate will benefit from an alphabetical, age, or tenured order.  

After the vote on Sunday, the Board Secretary and Executive Director will use Ranked Vote, an online ranked choice voting software, to automate the multi-round voting calculation. This software was highly recommended by the deputy director of Ranked Choice Voting Maryland (thanks Ken Rock for the intro!). In addition to the four candidates elected by the congregation, the Board will appoint three members from the candidate list to the committee at the Board meeting on Tuesday, June 9. They will have access to all the results to help in their determination. The results will be released on Wednesday, June 10.  

To see the Ranked Vote tech in action, you can participate in a demo then view the preliminary results. 

We have created a practice ballot using the exact format of Sunday’s meeting. We recommend trying it on the device you plan on having at the meeting and one other portable device to see if one is easier. Remember, we’ll be around to help and will have computers, tablets, and phones that you can use if necessary/helpful!  

If you are unable to attend the Annual Meeting and would like to designate someone to vote on your behalf, please complete the proxy form on the Annual Meeting info page. We are extending proxy registration to 11:59 tonight (Wednesday, June 3). Proxies will be given the certification number of each member they are representing when they check-in on Sunday. Laurice will be in touch with those voting by proxy and those serving as proxy with further instructions.  

Materials for the Annual Meeting (including agenda, minutes, nominees, draft budget for review, etc.) are available for your review on the on the Annual Meeting info page.

We look forward to this opportunity to be in community with you all as we put our shared UU value of Justice into action! 

We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive. We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large. 

Don't forget the practice ballot!