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Overturning an election


Guest Trudy

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3 hours ago, Guest Trudy said:

Where in Roberts rules does it talk about overturning an election due to procedures not being followed by the board of directors?

What are some examples of this?

Thanks.

 

You will find information relating to contesting the announced result of an election on pages 444-446 in RONR (11th ed.).

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10 hours ago, jstackpo said:

Please be a little more specific about those "procedures" that were not followed.  What happened? Or didn't happen?

Anyone who wants to run for a board position must notify the secretary 45 days before the next Council meeting. The secretary then informs the membership on the candidates.  

February 2017 the Council changed all qualifications to run which were effectively immediately.

One candidate chose to run for a position and did not meet the requirements: they had to be on a specific committee for 2 years plus bylaw knowledge. The candidate has only been around for 2.5 years and never expressed interest in this specific committee. This past February the chair person assigned members to committees and did not put this person on that needed committee. Even so that would have only given them 4 months on that committee therefore, short 20 months. The person also said that they never wrote bylaws from scratch which is an important part of this duty although they have some experience in dealing with bylaws. Obviously they did not even read what the position entailed before running for it.

The board told the membership that they the board decided to let her run and therefore they were not going to follow the bylaws since they did not assign her to that committee but going forward everyone who runs must meet the qualifications. The board did not tell the council in advance that they made this decision. The council found out at the meeting. The board did not present any motions to change the bylaws to make them in effect at a future date. They just simply let the person run and the person won over the experienced incumbent. ( Bylaw motions must be sent in 45 days before the next meeting.)

Also, at the meeting nominations still must be done for all candidates approving them to run. The chair did not do this bylaw process.

Can this election be appealed or overturned as it was not done properly and this just happened a week ago. 

ps everyone has the bylaws and were at the February meetings when this all was changed regarding qualifications plus the bylaws are posted on the web page...no excuse!

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17 minutes ago, Guest Trudy said:

Can this election be appealed or overturned as it was not done properly and this just happened a week ago. 

A Point of Order may be raised that the election of the person who was not eligible for office is null and void, and the chair's ruling may be appealed from if necessary.

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Guest Trudy wrote:

"February 2017 the Council changed all qualifications to run which were effectively immediately."

Is the "Council" the body that is authorized in the bylaws to adopt amendments to the bylaws?

If not, what body is?  And if not, those amendments about election qualifications are themselves null and void.

If the bylaws were amended properly, then Josh's comment is entirely appropriate.  See page 247ff. for details about points of order and appeals.

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1 hour ago, jstackpo said:

Guest Trudy wrote:

"February 2017 the Council changed all qualifications to run which were effectively immediately."

Is the "Council" the body that is authorized in the bylaws to adopt amendments to the bylaws?

If not, what body is?  And if not, those amendments about election qualifications are themselves null and void.

If the bylaws were amended properly, then Josh's comment is entirely appropriate.  See page 247ff. for details about points of order and appeals.

Yes the Council is the body that adopts bylaw amendments. The board does also get a vote on any amendments. They passed new qualifications in Feb 2017 and did not present any motions to change these last week. They did not at the Feb meetings make those amendments effective for any other date except for immediately ie. Feb. 2017.

So, the qualifications were put into place by vote by the council members and this was properly done.

What was not properly done was following what was put into place by allowing someone to run who did not meet the qualifications as indicated above. The board simply said that we are allowing her to run. The board did not make a motion nor was that voted on--it was just a statement. Again, we have a criteria that motions are to be sent in 45 days before the meeting which was held July 3rd.

Again, what recourse do we have to overturn this election? To Josh's comment there is a lot there so would like to pin point this specifically. 

Thank You.

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28 minutes ago, Guest Trudy said:

Again, what recourse do we have to overturn this election?

At the next meeting of the body which conducted the election (the council?), a member should raise a Point of Order that the election of this member is null and void on the basis that he is ineligible for the office under the bylaws. If the chair rules the point not well taken, a member should appeal from the decision of the chair, and another member should second this motion. This places the question in the hands of the assembly. A majority vote is sufficient to overturn the chair's ruling.

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2 hours ago, jstackpo said:

Next meeting just raise a point of order that the election of the person was null and void since he/she didn't meet the qualifications (newly) in effect at the time of the election.

The board had no business "allowing" her to run (unless the bylaws give the board that authority).

The bylaws do empower the board to make decisions and act upon them in the best interest of the organization and then they are to report those at each meeting to the council of any such activity. 

This section though in my  opinion was not for them to mess around with elections and candidates but more of about contracts and such. They have stretched the limits on this. 

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I'm thoroughly confused as to the relationship and the various responsibilities of the membership, the council, and the board. Both the board and the council get to vote on bylaw amendments? How does that work?

Guest Trudy, a little more information about the powers and responsibilities of the board and the council as set out in your bylaws would be helpful.

I agree with the others who have said that the board cannot violate a properly enacted bylaw provision regarding qualifications for office. I have a concern as to whether these qualifications in the bylaws were validly adopted.

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Just now, Richard Brown said:

I'm thoroughly confused as to the relationship and the various responsibilities of the membership, the council, and the board. Both the board and the council get to vote on bylaw amendments? How does that work?  Also, the membership does not get to vote on bylaw amendments?

Guest Trudy, a little more information about the powers and responsibilities of the board and the council as set out in your bylaws would be helpful.

I agree with the others who have said that the board cannot violate a properly enacted bylaw provision regarding qualifications for office. I have a concern as to whether these qualifications in the bylaws were validly adopted.

 

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15 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

 

The voting Council is comprised of the delegates that represent the membership which is one delegate per member city plus the board members. In February, the delegates and board members voted in the board qualifications which took effect in February 2017. The delegates and board get to vote on bylaw amendments at the meetings. All bylaws amendments must be sent in advance to the secretary who in turn sends them to the bylaw committee. All motions are sent to the council in advance of the meetings.

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9 hours ago, Guest Trudy said:

The voting Council is comprised of the delegates that represent the membership which is one delegate per member city plus the board members. In February, the delegates and board members voted in the board qualifications which took effect in February 2017. The delegates and board get to vote on bylaw amendments at the meetings. All bylaws amendments must be sent in advance to the secretary who in turn sends them to the bylaw committee. All motions are sent to the council in advance of the meetings.

Okay, so my understanding is that this "council" is in the nature of what RONR calls a convention, and the council is the body which amends the bylaws. The board does not vote on the amendments as a body, but the members of the board are also members of the council, and may therefore vote at meetings of the council.

If this is correct, I stand by my previous responses.

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18 hours ago, Guest Trudy said:

The bylaws do empower the board to make decisions and act upon them in the best interest of the organization and then they are to report those at each meeting to the council of any such activity. 

This section though in my  opinion was not for them to mess around with elections and candidates but more of about contracts and such. They have stretched the limits on this. 

Unless the bylaws expressly give the board the power to suspend provisions in the bylaws, they can't.  When a board is given the authority to act on behalf of the organization (typically between meetings of the general assembly of organization) it is assumed that those decisions will not conflict with the bylaws.  The bylaws can only be changed by the authorized body and according to the prescribed procedure set out in the bylaws for their own amendment.

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