In an appeal of the lower court's decision to dismiss his lawsuit, John MacGovern '80 alleged before the New Hampshire Supreme Court on March 22 that October 2005 elections for the executive committee and officers of the Dartmouth Association of Alumni were improper. He argued that the elections did not take into account the 420 proxy votes he had collected. Such proxies allow individuals to vote on behalf of someone who is not able to attend the election proceedings.
"There ought to be fair elections for the executive council of the Alumni Association," Bill Clauson, who represented MacGovern in the suit, said.
Founder of the Hanover Institute, a non-profit organization often critical of the association and the College administration, MacGovern originally petitioned the courts in November 2005. The Grafton County Superior Court dismissed the case in August 2006.
"Since there is no statute applicable to the Association that authorizes proxy voting, the Association's Constitution does not provide for proxy voting, and the Association has no bylaw authorizing proxy voting, the Court concludes that the common law rule that members may not vote by proxy applies," the Superior Court said. "Accordingly, Mr. MacGovern's claims fail as a matter of law, and the Association's motion to dismiss is granted."
MacGovern argued, both in the Superior and Supreme Courts, that the Association constitution "expressly forbids proxy voting for Dartmouth trustees where there is universal voting," Clauson explained.
With executive committee elections, where there is no statement about proxy voting and the voting itself is not universal, "his claim was that that implies that for the executive committee, voting proxies ought to be allowed because most alumni can't show up," Clauson said.
At the time of the election in question, alumni were required to be present in Hanover to vote. MacGovern believed that "there ought to be proxy voting where there is no universal voting," Clauson explained.
MacGovern also took issue with the nomination process associated with the elected positions in the Association.
"It would appear from the constitution that the executive committee is supposed to act in the best interest of all alumni," Clauson said.
"The only people elected were people nominated by the executive committee -- they wanted to ensure the election of their nominees and not other nominees."
The Association, in countering MacGovern's claims, "argued that proxies are not required under N.H. law or the Association constitution, that this sort of dispute ought not to be in court," Steve Winer '77, who represented the Association, said.
"N.H. law is pretty clear that the N.H. courts will not interfere with the internal mechanisms of unincorporated organization absent some sort of extraordinary circumstances," Winer said. "We're confident that the Association acted correctly and that it acted in a lawful manner."
Since the filing of the lawsuit, however, the association's constitution was amended to allow for all-media voting, whereby alumni can transmit their votes electronically, and for the nomination of candidates other than those suggested by the executive committee. All-media voting removes the need for proxy voting.
"I think the principles are important but as a practical matter my understanding is that alumni can vote from anywhere and that is a good thing," Clauson said. "As a practical matter I think MacGovern won his point."
The case should be decided within the next couple of months, Winer said.Messages left for MacGovern were not returned at press time.
