Proxy voting mooted for council meetings

The Orkney Manifesto Group — OIC councillors Alistair Gordon, John Richards and Bill Stout — has asked the local authority’s chief executive, Albert Tait, to look into the possibility of introducing distance participation and voting to council meetings.

According to the OMG, participating and voting from outwith the chamber would only be used to cover full meetings of the council or special general meetings in the first instance.

Councillor Gordon said: “There are occasions when issues which are of high local interest, such as affordable housing, come up and where all councillors could input directly, and vote whilst not necessarily being in the chamber. I don’t see this as being the norm but the facility should be available for those special occasions.”

He cited a recent example in Shetland, where two councillors took part and voted in a debate on possible school closures in Shetland. One of the councillors was in Canada at the time of the meeting and participated and voted, allowing not only his vote to count, but also indicating to his electorate where he stood on the issue.