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Conducting elections of board members


Guest Randon Randolph

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Guest Randon Randolph

Our bylaws call for the chair of the elections committee, appointed by the president, to conduct the election of board members at our annual meeting.  This year no one from the elections committee will be able to attend the annual meeting.  My thought was that the president could appoint a current board member not on the ballot to do so. 

 

Suggestions for appointing someone to conduct the elections. 

 

Thanks.

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In theory unless the bylaws say otherwise the President can appoint anyone he sees fit whether it is a General Member, Board Member (whether on the ballot or not), or nonmember.  So the President should just appoint someone.  Of course, it is probably best for the Chair of the Elections Committee not be on the ballot.

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One way around this would be for a non-board member (who will be attending the convention) to join the Elections Committee and be appointed Chair Pro Tem of the committee (by the committee) and thus conduct the election of the board members at the convention.

 

The president can simply appoint a new chair of the elections committee.

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Or, in absence of the person specified by the bylaws to chair the annual meeting, the assembly could elect someone else to serve as chairman pro tem. I don't think we need to play complex semantics with the committee!

 

One way around this would be for a non-board member (who will be attending the convention) to join the Elections Committee and be appointed Chair Pro Tem of the committee (by the committee) and thus conduct the election of the board members at the convention.

 

This would not work. The chairman pro tem of an assembly does not get any powers or responsibilities related to the office that they are filling in for, except as are relating to presiding over that assembly. In this case, the assembly is the Elections Committee, so the chairman pro tem of the Elections Committee would not thereby get to do anything which is assigned to the chair ex officio. On top of that, the appointment of a chairman pro tem is only for a single meeting, so the Elections Committee would have to be meeting concurrently with the annual meeting. This isn't explicitly forbidden, but is a bad idea.

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Or, in absence of the person specified by the bylaws to chair the annual meeting, the assembly could elect someone else to serve as chairman pro tem

 

Perhaps, but since the president can simply appoint someone who will be present, that seems to me to be the most "direct" solution. Further, he can do this in advance of the annual meeting. Why waste time having the assembly select someone when the president is authorized to do so?

 

Additionally, there's no reason why this person can't also be a candidate. Members of the nominating committee are free to be candidates and in the usual situation where the president presides, he does so even if he's a candidate too.

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That's not what I meant.  I said Chair Pro Tem of the committee, not the assembly.  Also, please note that in some organizations, the committee itself determines the Chair of the committee, not the President.

 

The chair pro tem of the committee only presides at meetings of the committee.

 

And in this organization, the president appoints the chair of the elections committee. So that's what he should do.

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Yes, Mr. Guest, in this organization the president appoints the chair of the elections committee.  If the president should not appoint members of the nominating committee (as per RONR), then why should he appoint the chair of the elections committee (if there is one)?  This strikes me as "bad practice."  The president is supposed to maintain a sense of impartiality....

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If the president should not appoint members of the nominating committee (as per RONR), then why should he appoint the chair of the elections committee (if there is one)? 

 

Because that's what the rules of this organization says he should do.

 

Further, we don't know that this election committee functions as a nominating committee (not that it's relevant in this instance).

 

Even further, the appearance of impartiality RONR requires of the presiding officer doesn't prevent the president from presiding over an election at which he is a candidate (not that that's relevant in this instance).

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Yes, Mr. Guest, in this organization the president appoints the chair of the elections committee. If the president should not appoint members of the nominating committee (as per RONR), then why should he appoint the chair of the elections committee (if there is one)? This strikes me as "bad practice." The president is supposed to maintain a sense of impartiality....

No rule in RONR prevents the President from doing all sorts of things related to the election. RONR specifically notes that the President presides even if he is a candidate. He would therefore also be the person to appoint the tellers, rule on questions of order, recognize speakers, and so on and so forth. So long as he maintains the appearance of impartiality (by not speaking in debate, etc.), he does these things even if he is a candidate.

Having a separate "Elections Committee" to handle these tasks is actually one step removed from the President's involvement in RONR. Now, one might ask that if the society wished to go this far, why not go a step further and cut the President out of the loop entirely, but that's a question for the society to settle for itself.

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