Nominations from the floor

[Abbygirl]

I am member of an organization that accepts written nominations from people who are seeking an office.    These nominations include the office the person is seeking, their qualifications and a brief bio.   There is a deadline as to when these written nominations are to be received by the Nomination commitment comprised of two people.    A couple of the members of the organizations are proposing that we accept nominations from the floor for the positions with documented nominees.   Should nominations be accepted from the floor.   

[Josh Martin]

2 hours ago, Abbygirl said:

I am member of an organization that accepts written nominations from people who are seeking an office.    These nominations include the office the person is seeking, their qualifications and a brief bio.   There is a deadline as to when these written nominations are to be received by the Nomination commitment comprised of two people.    A couple of the members of the organizations are proposing that we accept nominations from the floor for the positions with documented nominees.   Should nominations be accepted from the floor.   

It is ultimately up to your organization to interpret its own bylaws, and they will need to be read in their entirety to be properly interpreted. Some Principles of Interpretation can be found in RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 588-591.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

3 hours ago, Abbygirl said:

 Should nominations be accepted from the floor.   

Under Robert's Rules, yes, floor nominations are taken in addition to the recommendations of the Nominating Committee. The question is whether your bylaws, by prescribing a nominating process, preclude additional nominations. As Mr. Martin observes, your organization will have to make that determination.

[Josh Martin]

10 hours ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

Under Robert's Rules, yes, floor nominations are taken in addition to the recommendations of the Nominating Committee. The question is whether your bylaws, by prescribing a nominating process, preclude additional nominations. As Mr. Martin observes, your organization will have to make that determination.

It's not clear to me whether the organization's nominating committee functions in the same manner as the nominating committee in RONR. If the nominating committee only nominates candidates of its choice, then yes, nominations from the floor must be taken. It seems, however, as if the committee may be required to report all nominations which it receives by the deadline, in which event this process is more similar to nominations by mail. In that case, nominations from the floor are not required, but the assembly may permit them if it wishes. Of course, the bylaws take precedence in any case.

[Abbygirl]

The Nominating committee accepts nominations by either email or mail and reports to the President after the deadline is met.    Given that being the case, then based on Mr. Martin's response, then I am gathering that nominations from the floor are not required.

[Josh Martin]

23 minutes ago, Abbygirl said:

The Nominating committee accepts nominations by either email or mail and reports to the President after the deadline is met.    Given that being the case, then based on Mr. Martin's response, then I am gathering that nominations from the floor are not required.

If the nominating committee submits all nominations it receives to the assembly, then yes, nominations from the floor are not required. So far as RONR is concerned, the assembly may still choose to open nominations from the floor if it chooses to do so, but your rules may provide otherwise.

[Alexis Hunt]

On 01/05/2017 at 9:57 AM, Josh Martin said:

It's not clear to me whether the organization's nominating committee functions in the same manner as the nominating committee in RONR. If the nominating committee only nominates candidates of its choice, then yes, nominations from the floor must be taken. It seems, however, as if the committee may be required to report all nominations which it receives by the deadline, in which event this process is more similar to nominations by mail. In that case, nominations from the floor are not required, but the assembly may permit them if it wishes. Of course, the bylaws take precedence in any case.

Can you provide a citation for this? I cannot find any text saying this is the case.

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Alexis Hunt said:

Can you provide a citation for this? I cannot find any text saying this is the case.

RONR provides, in the section for the Nominating Committee "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." (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 435) In the context of RONR, however, a nominating committee is a committee which makes its own recommendations for each office, and is under no obligation to submit any other nominations it receives to the assembly.

In some organizations, however, the role of the nominating committee (either in addition to or instead of the role above), is to collect nominations made by mail, and to pass all such nominations on to the assembly. In such a case, notwithstanding the fact that there is a committee called the nominating committee, this seems less analogous to the procedure in RONR for nominations by a committee and more analogous to nominations by mail (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 437-438), which has no requirement for nominations from the floor.

[SaintCad]

What is not clear is: Is it written in the bylaws that nominations MUST pass through the committee and if so is there a deadline or could I send a quick email from my phone at the meeting to the nominating committee chair.

[Richard Brown]

I have the same question as SaintCad:  Do the bylaws require that nominations pass through this committee?  What exactly do the bylaws say about nominations?