No nominee or candidate for President

[Guest Shawn Dee]

Hello,

 

The club I belong to currently has no nominee for the office of President.

 

My interpretation of RONR is that the nominating committee has until the presentation of the slate of candidates at our April meeting to find someone (defined in our constitution/bylaws). If no one is found, nor anyone volunteers, the slot is left open.

 

My next interpretation is that if someone is found/volunteers by the time of the elections at our business meeting in May (again defined in our constitution/bylaws), the person could stand as a write-in candidate.

 

My question: if we have no one by the May business meeting, what are our options?

 

My thoughts are to:

1. Offer a co-presidency.
2. A one-time deferrment of constitution/bylaws time/term constraints for the upcoming term of office.
3. Offer the current president, who is ineligible due to our constitution/bylaws, the position temporarily until a suitable person is found who would then be appointed by a majority vote of the board.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

History: we are a 60+ year-old American women's club based in a European country whose President and Vice President must be US citizens. Demographics and technology has changed our club drastically in the last 10-15 years and we are experiencing fewer new members. An option is to look at restructuring the club or even dissolving it but this requires time and energy that is obviously lacking or we would have a candidate for president.

 

[George Mervosh]

Write-in spaces should be on the ballot whether or not there is a nominee.  In your case, with no nominee, a write-in will likely win the position.   Pass out the ballot in May with write-in spaces, nominee or no.

 

Your 3 options are completely improper under the rules in RONR.

 

Amending your bylaws to ease the qualifications for holding office sounds like a good idea.

[Guest Shawn Dee]

Thanks but, worst case scenario, what if we have no nominee/candidate/volunteer who has agreed to be a write-in candidate at the time of our May business meeting?

 

The woman who has agreed to run for Vice President has categorically refused to run for President and would likely step down if there is no one running for President.

 

The current board (including elected officers) are in office until the end of the fiscal year on 30 June. Our constitution/bylaws allows for the current President to appoint someone to a vacant position (with the approval of the board). Would that also include the vacancy of President-elect?

 

Amending our bylaws is a process requiring at least about 2-3 months from notification to the membership (one month prior to discussion at an open meeting) up to the vote which must be held at either the AGM or EGM.  And we are running out of time.

 

 

[Richard Brown]

Do your bylaws not permit nominations from the floor?   They must be permitted pursuant to RONR unless your bylaws prohibit them.  RONR page 435.

 

"Call by the Chair for Further Nominations from the Floor. After the nominating committee has presented its report and before voting for the different offices takes place, the chair must call for further nominations from the floor. This is another stage of nomination and election procedure for which a number of details should be established by rule or custom of the particular organization. In many organizations, nominations from the floor are called for immediately after the presentation of the nominating committee's report—while the election is pending or earlier. When the calling for nominations from the floor is about to begin, if some time has elapsed since the presentation of the nominating committee's report, the complete list of the committee's nominations should be read again before further nominations are called for. In any case, if the nominating committee has for any reason failed to make its report at the appropriate time, this does not prevent the assembly from proceeding to nominations from the floor."
 

[Guest Shawn Dee]

Yes - nominations from the floor are allowed at the April meeting. But, our chances of having someone nominated from the floor are not good if the 5-person nominating committee has been telephoning and asking members to run and haven't found anyone yet. They are, to my knowledge, still calling and will continue to call up to the April meeting.

 

[Edgar Guest]

Until the offices of president and vice-president are filled you'll need to elect a chair pro tem (a temporary presiding officer) at the start of each meeting. Note that this person will have none of the administrative authority given to the office of President. She will simply preside during the meeting.

[Edgar Guest]

The current board (including elected officers) are in office until the end of the fiscal year on 30 June. Our constitution/bylaws allows for the current President to appoint someone to a vacant position (with the approval of the board). Would that also include the vacancy of President-elect?

 

A mid-term vacancy is not the same as an incomplete election.

 

And do you actually have an office of President-Elect? If so, you'll never vote directly for the President. At some point (e.g. after a year) the President-Elect becomes the President and you vote for a new President-Elect.

[Guest Shawn Dee]

Thanks for the information concerning "chair pro tem" - I think that will do the trick if the worst case happens.

 

No, we don not have an office of President-elect.

 

It's late here, so good night - I'll check the forum tomorrow.

 

A very big thank you to everyone's help so far. It is far beyond my knowledge.

 

Regards,

Shawn

 

[Richard Brown]

Shawn, depending on the wording of your bylaws, and also on the wording of state law if you are incorporated, it may be that your current president continues to serve until such time as a successor is elected.

 

For example, if your bylaws say something like, "officers shall  serve a term of one year", then, per RONR, the terms do in fact end (but if you are incorporated, state law might say otherwise).

 

On the other hand, if your bylaws say something like "officers shall  serve a term of one year and until  their successors are elected" (or "officers shall serve a term of one year OR until their successors are elected"), then your current president continues to serve until  such time as a successor is elected....or until he resigns.

[jstackpo]

And a perhaps more draconian approach:

 

First check the bylaws.  Officers (current ones) may be in office "until the election of their successors" - if no election, they STAY in (at least until they quit or you finally do complete the election).

Or....

Announce that because of a lack of leadership interest, the organization will dissolve itself and go out of business.  Really.  Organizations don't last forever, and it is much better to close up shop formally than just drift along, and then wonder what happened to the bank account, far too long after the fact to do anything about it.

Often enough a threat like this one will shake some people out of the woodwork who will be willing to serve after all.  But if it doesn't, there is a message there...


You might also consider WHY no one wants to be president. Perhaps you're asking too much of that position. Perhaps the past presidents have made the job appear more difficult than it has to be. Perhaps the members are making it harder on the president than they should.

Perhaps the board should be doing more. After all, the only essential role of the president is to preside at meetings. Some or all administrative responsibilities could be delegated to, or distributed among, the board members.
 

[Guest Shawn Dee]

Again - thanks for some great suggestions. I will pass on the information to the current President and board. I was simply asked for advice yesterday, short notice, and am doing my best to help.

 

Dissolution of the club is a possibility, I agree. I also do not have a copy of our Constitution/Bylaws to hand - I am physically removed from the situation and have been working from memory. The exact wording is important and I will get on it this weekend.