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At our annual spring meeting to elect new board officers a group of people were unhappy with the work of the nominating committee (outlined in our "Articles of Incorporation"). The election was in process when objection was made and a debate ensued that admittedly was not handled well by the chair. The assembly moved to suspend elections to a later date. It was unclear whether it was to allow for more nominations by "written petition" or for clarification on our procedures. Since the Nominating Committee presented a full list of nominees to satisfy the slate and nominations were closed two weeks before the annual meeting, can the assembly circumvent the procedure to reopen nominations or take nominations from the floor at the meeting? Here are the pertinent places outlining elections and the nomination process in our Articles of Incorporation. By the way, our constitution reads: "In all matters not specifically provided for, procedure shall be according to Robert's Rules of Order." Yes, we have both a constitution and Articles of Incorporation. The election procedures are outlined in the Articles of Incorporation under the following article: Article 5: Extended Executive Board/ (B) Elections to the Church Council (1) Elections shall be conducted at the Spring Congregational Meeting, the date of which shall be announced two months in advance. (2) Two weeks before the Spring Congregational Meeting, the Nominating Committee (see below, Article 6(B)(f)) shall present the slate of nominees to the membership in writing, at which time the slate shall be closed. Our Articles of Incorporation call for a Nominating Committee (Article 6: General Assemblies/ (B) Meetings/ (5) Procedures/(f) The Nominating Committee). Types of Nominations: · Proposals by the Committee; · Proposals by the General Assembly: Upon written petition, a candidate shall be placed on the slate of nominees when he/she signifies his/her intent with the signatures of five members of the General Assembly. The committee must receive all written petitions three weeks prior to the date of the election. For anyone interested, I have attached our articles of incorporation. Articles-Incorporation-Revised_November-2015.doc