At the Executive Council meeting of May 2, 1974, Dr. Raymond Raskin, President of the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine proposed a modification in the voting procedure of the Executive Council. The change would enable the weight of votes by each Society roughly to represent the actual number of members.
Within the past four years, he pointed out, eleven societies have joined the Council, making a total of 31. Each society has one vote, whether it is one of the eleven smaller societies with a total of fewer than 200 members, or the New York Society with over 250 members. The addition of Councilors-at-Large to afford the membership more representation has not worked to the advantage of the larger societies as originally anticipated.
Therefore, he proposed a form of weighted voting, in which a delegate would have one vote for every twenty members of the society he represents. New societies with 10 to 39 members would have one vote. His society stressed the urgency of adopting a system of proportional representation so that measures passed by the Council would surely reflect the wishes of a majority of members. He felt this was in doubt under the present system.
The Council approved the appointment of a committee to consider proportional voting in the Executive Council and other matters relating to the structure of the Council and will report back in 12 to 18 months.
Eugene L. Goldberg, M.D.