NO

The question, “Should NCBA use a mail-out ballot to all members for some issues?” is a complex question. It involves more than each member being able to vote on certain issues. It goes beyond the grassroots origins of our organization.

We live in a democratic society of representative government. NCBA is made up of many diverse groups that have banded together for a common cause. Each group sends a representative to the national meeting to vote on their issues. At the annual meeting the decisions of the board of directors are sent to the general membership for approval.

These decisions do not come lightly, they are debated and generally are the result of all sides compromising for the best of the industry as a whole. Those members at the meeting have been exposed to the debate and probably have taken part in it. They have become educated and understand how and why issues have evolved to where they are when they come up for final approval.

If the process were to stop at this point and the resulting issue sent to the membership for a vote, the process of rule making (i.e. compromise, give and take) would be eliminated. In addition NCBA would be incurring an additional expense of the mail-out ballot.

Verification is another problem. There would be a delay in getting the results and enacting the resulting policy. Valuable time may have been wasted and a window of opportunity missed. All this so that an uninformed member can vote on an issue he may not understand nor care about. Most members do not take time off work to come to the annual meeting. This is an opportunity to interact with his fellow producers and members, an opportunity to exchange ideas and come to agreement on the direction the organization should take. Those members who do attend the meeting benefit from this interaction and have a chance to contribute to the results.

Tom Kibler is a cow/calf producer from Sarasota, Fla.