Grace Grieving 4: Members denied the right to vote

Letter to John Anderson, GBC member, att'y:      Hello John,  I wanted to let you know what I experienced when I went to the church vote last Sun. [Feb. 5] I met Nelline and Betty Frank when I arrived and b/f heading over to the gym, Nelline mentioned that I needed a packet to be allowed in the meeting.  She said members could pick theirs up at one of the tables in the patio, so I headed over to the one that listed Ha and asked for my member packet, which. . . wasn't there.      When I said I was a member and should have a packet, he sent me over to another table where 2 women had a tablet to sign if you didn't get a packet and felt you should have had one there.  One of them asked me if I was a current member at the church, which I replied that I'd been a member since 1947 and had not sent the church a letter of intent to remove my membership.  Also, I had not received a letter telling me that my membership at this church had been removed.  I mentioned that I had been attending Los Altos Grace Brethren Church but had not changed my membership.      The other lady told me that there were criteria for removing members from the church membership, one of which was not attending for a period of time.  The member would then be mentioned at a board of Elders meeting and they would vote to remove the name.  I was so taken back that I didn't think to reply with, "How would they know I wasn't attending here unless they have members sign in as proof"?      Anyway, standing next to me was a member, Mrs. Schilling, whom I remembered from our days together at the church at 5th and Cherry, many years ago.  She spoke up and said, "I'm a member of this church and also send in money and also attend, so why don't I have a packet?" They said they would look into the names on the tablet we were to sign.      I was told non-members could observe the meeting  from the chapel on closed circut TV.  I went into the Chapel and saw Betty Frank sitting in the back and sat down by her.  She told me that she was a member who has been attending and sending in contributions, but was told she didn't have a packet.  She wasn't told of the table with the sign-in tablet for those who felt they should have a packet.  I would like to know if removing my membership without proof of my non-attendence and not notifying me of the removal is contestable?  Do you have any suggestions for me? Thank you, Shirley Ketchum Haralson
Response from John Anderson:

     Love you Shirley! Be advised that not allowing you to vote was illegal. I corrected the Chairman during the meeting when he tried to say that was the rule. To apply the section they "cited" incorrectly to you, you would have had to have been taken through a Mt 18 discipline process. . . someone has to approach you about your "sin" (which in this case would be the man-made sin of failure to regularly come to Grace).
     If you heard me during the first part of the meeting you heard me raise the issue of denial of the right to vote. By being timely raised it does not matter whether or not your vote would have changed the outcome. It automatically voids the entire vote. They will not respond or accept this but it is correct. . . I am so sorry that you and others were abused like this and I hope that someone will raise this issue to Chairman LaBa[r]bera, the elders . . . at the EBOE meeting, and anywhere else they can. They will not provide us the exact vote or the list of people (all.  Not just those that went the extra mile they were not legally required to by signing their list) who were denied the right to vote.  John