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Sadly we are dealing with a major issue on our POA Board. Our sitting President who was also our President-elect passed away unexpectedly on December 31st before the start of his new term. As per our Bylaws we held our election at a meeting in October and officers take office in January (just Jan, no specific date in our bylaws) so he never actually started the current term that he was elected to and we have no official president. As a board we have the ability to fill "non-expired" vacancies but I'm not even sure that applies in this case. What is the proper procedure to fill this vacancy? I quoted the sections I refer to below directly from our Bylaws, please help. Thanks.

Our organization follows the structure of President, President-Elect, and Immediate-Past President. Terms are for two-years with the membership electing the President-Elect on even-numbered years (last elected on 2020). Unfortunately, we had a President resign 7 months into their term. The President-elect immediately assumed their role and is currently serving the remainder of their unexpired term which is until 2022. The President-Elect seat is currently vacant but our bylaws permits us to fill the seat at our next annual business meeting held in August. The discussion now is, which appears to be 2 different thoughts: Do we elect a person to fill the original unexpired term of President-elect which would only be a 1 year term until we elect another President-Elect in 2022 (of which they would assume the President seat then and the previous President's term is cut short) or; Do we elect a person for a 3 year term to fill the unexpired term but also allow the acting President (former President-elect) to complete the vacancy and also serve their original two year term of President which was intended to be 2022-2024.

Assembly A (a student assembly) has the power to elect a certain number of representatives to assembly B (an assembly of assemblies at a university) with fixed terms. This position entails being a member of both assemblies A and B, each of which adopts Robert's Rules as their parliamentary authorities. While the bylaws of assembly A state that the position is elected by assembly A, it is silent on the method of filling vacancies. One of the representatives to assembly B has resigned, and the President of Assembly A must decide how to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term. Should this vacancy be filled according to the procedures for officer vacancies, despite not being named as such in the bylaws? If so, the assembly would choose to accept the resignation and elect a successor in the next regularly scheduled meeting. (RONR 47:57 refers to "any office or board," but these positions are called "representatives" and not 'officers.') Thank you in advance.

Our 501c3's new (first) Bylaws state that a mid year vacancy in the Executive Committee (made up of four officers) "shall be filled by the Executive Committee with the approval of the school's administration". The current three officers elected a fourth officer, with a 2-1 vote. However, the school administration (principal) is now requiring that the office be filled by a unanimous vote, and will accept/approve the same, or any other candidate, as long as the current three officers all vote in favor of the candidate. Can administrative approval impose a requirement that does not align with voting within Robert's Rules? (The 501c3 is a PTO of a public middle school.) (Don't even get me started on the additional inappropriate administrative powers that were also included in the Bylaws...) Thanks very much!

One of our directors served for a two year term and at the end of it agreed to finish the term of another director who resigned. The nominating committee has asked if she is eligible to serve another term as director. Terms are two years and are staggered with one director elected in even years and two in odd numbered years. Our bylaws state: "No person shall hold more than one office at a time and no officer shall be eligible for three consecutive terms in the same office." (emphasis added) A's initial term as director began at the election meeting in 2017. When A's term ended in 2019, one of the directors elected in 2018 (Director B) resigned and A agreed to finish her term at the 2019 election meeting. The nominating committee would like to nominate A for another term as director for the upcoming 2020 election meeting. (The 2020 meeting is when B's term as director would have expired and when A is willing to take on another term.) Assuming for the moment that A served more than half of B's term, here is the question: Is the office of "at-large director" the "same office" as that held by another at-large director at the same time? And if it is different, is a director who at the end of her term filled another director's vacancy eligible to run for a term as director? Put another way, is the office "director" a collection of responsibilities that are identical for all who hold the office or are there three identical director offices? I believe this is ambiguous in RONR. (Note that on page 452 RONR says VPs should be numbered if there is more than one so there is no confusion about who takes the chair in the president's absence.)

Our condominium board has 7 members, one has recently resigned. An initial vote for the replacement ended in a tie, 3-3, with the President voting. Out bylaws state (verbatim): "If the office of any director or directors becomes vacant by reason of death, resignation, retirement, disqualification, removal from office or otherwise, a majority of the remaining directors though less than a quorum, at a special meeting of directors duly called for this purpose, shall choose a successor or successors, who shall hold office for the unexpired term in respect to which such vacancy occurred." With this vagueness, what are the remedies to break the tie?

I am in an organization which had an elected officer resign. Our Bylaws state that "All officers are elected by ballot, except the Parliamentarian who shall be appointed by the President." Our outgoing President accepted the resignations of two elected officers and appointed their replacements before she left office. A couple of the members raised a point of order as this is a violation of our documents. The President responded that since our organization documents say that "The Election of officers shall be held at the November meeting of each year. The following offices shall be filled in the same period and in the alternate year, the following offices shall be filled " The President has taken the position that officers can only be elected once a year and as such, that she can appoint individuals to serve the resigning officer positions for full terms (one person had just been elected, but not installed in the job; the other resigned mid-term). Several members have stated that the provision she cites only deals with the election of officers for scheduled vacancies. Since the Bylaws are clear - ALL officers are to be elected by ballot, they argue that the "appointment right" is moot and that the President should only deal with WHEN the election will be held. The Bylaws are silent as to when the election should be held and she is saying that it must be in November based upon the Bylaws provision. Robert's Rules for Dummies suggests that it should be at the next regular meeting of the members. Also, Robert's Rules itself would suggest that vacancies can be filled at regular meetings in the footnote on page 654 (11th edition) which talks about coordinating a resignation with the notice to elect the replacement at the next meeting to avoid any break in service. MY QUESTION is whether there is anything more substantial that supports the contention that the right of the members to vote to elect their elected officers cannot be taken away and that the vote should be at the next meeting of the members (or at a special meeting).

Our President resigned and as stated in the bylaws a single vacancy "may be filled" by a vote of the remaining executive board (6 of 7 elected positions). A majority voted to allow the Vice President to be both acting President and Vice President. There is no provision for a member of the executive board to hold two positions. Our group is governed by bylaws first and then by Robert's Rules of Order. Can the Vice President fill both positions? Or does the Vice President give up that position when promoted to President, thus creating a vacancy?