Part of our jobs as journalists is to give voice to the voiceless. It’s stated in the Society of Professional Journalists‘ own Code of Ethics. So it only makes sense that we offer the same opportunity to members of the society.

A proposed amendment to the society’s bylaws — supported by 10 chapters across the country — will be presented at the Excellence in Journalism Convention in New Orleans. It would provide individual members a greater say in the governance of SPJ.

Currently, chapter delegates at the convention vote for national officers and directors. Each chapter receives one vote for every 50 members or fraction of 50 members (a chapter with up to 50 members has 1 vote and a chapter with 51 – 100 members has 2 votes). This leaves out many members who are not affiliated with a chapter.

The proposal, commonly referred to as “0ne-member, one-vote,” would would permit all members of the society to cast ballots for national officers and directors and would encourage candidates to reach out to a wider membership audience.

According to the proposal, “the vote would be conducted electronically by secret ballot beginning at the end of the opening business meeting of the convention and ending one hour before the start of the final business meeting of the convention.”

I strongly support this amendment and hope others will, too, when it comes up for discussion at the convention.

To find out more about the measure, check http://spj.org/proposedamendments.asp.