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Why is it 6 months?
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Why do we have so long to submit our groups/meetings’ votes/ballot responses?
The response is same for the 2 questions above:
The process for the fellowship-wide vote is based on MA’s Service Manual, the guidebook that helps MA function and serve our primary purpose. The Service Manual explains the, “Procedure for Approval of Changes in the Language of the Steps, Traditions, and/or General Warranties.” This can be found in Service Manual version 7.1 on page 62:
“Should a conference motion pass which seeks to change the text of the Steps, Traditions, and/or General Warranties, the written consent of three-quarters of all groups, as required by the Conference Charter, shall be obtained as follows: The proposed change shall be sent to all meetings registered with World Services and, after no less than 6 months, those ballots returned shall be counted. A yes vote of three-quarters of the returned ballots shall be sufficient to meet the requirement of the Conference Charter to implement the proposed change(s).”
In other words, with changes significant to the core of the MA program and literature, such as these proposed changes to the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, it was decided that a fellowship-wide group conscience must be taken, and that groups should have no less than six months to return their ballots with their group/meetings’ group conscience vote.