Notice of International Referendum Election 2023

To all members of Mensa,

The International Board of Directors (IBD) has decided to propose a series of changes
(amendments) to the Constitution of Mensa. In order to take effect, all changes to
the Constitution have to be approved by the membership in a referendum.
The amendments were first approved by the IBD at the 2022 meeting in Montenegro,
and later finalized in IBD Motion 23-02, with the goal that the referendum should
begin in the first half of 2023. The IBD appointed a Constitutional Ballot Committee
(CBC) of three persons to administer the referendum.

In the Bylaws of Mensa International, the rules for referenda in section 16.4 require
two months’ notice of the referendum and it has therefore been decided that voting
in the referendum will begin on 10 July 2023 and it will end 15 days later, on 25 July2023.
The approved referendum texts will be sent to national Mensas for distribution to
members and sent to Direct International Members by email, together with detailed
instructions about the ballot process.

As with the previous referendum in 2020, the primary means of voting will be
electronic. An independent election agency will manage the process of voting,
supplying vote keys by e-mail to all members whose e-mail addresses have been
provided to it by the national Mensas and by Mensa International. Notwithstanding,
if a national Mensa wishes to offer their members the option of voting by paper
ballot, this is allowed.

National Mensas may submit their membership list to the election agency directly, or
to the CBC directly if they prefer, both by secure means to ensure that the data is
properly protected; in addition, current members registered on the Mensa
International website (www.mensa.org) as at 23.59 hours UTC on 10 June 2023 will
receive votekeys. It is important that such members ensure that the email address
on the website is current.

All national Mensas will shortly receive a request for them to nominate their National
Coordinator for International Elections (NCIE); this is the person who will be
responsible for interacting with the CBC and the election agency. The full referendum
rules will be sent to national Mensas and are available in the Bylaws, which can be
downloaded from the Mensa International website.
Please contact the Constitutional Ballot Committee cbc@mensa.org for all enquiries
regarding the referendum process or for clarification of the rules.

The Mensa International Constitutional Ballot Committee
Michael Feenan
Trevor Mitchell
Martyn Davies