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Church Elections


Guest Delilah

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Our church constitution describes our annual business meeting as follows: 

 

Nominations for officer and committee positions will include those presented by the Nominating Committee. Nominees to fill vacant positions on the Nominating Committee slate will be accepted from the floor and referred back to the Nominating Committee for consideration at a called business meeting (to be held prior to the beginning of the term of office).

All of the descriptions of our leadership structure include some slight variation of this phrase: 

Chairpersons are elected at the annual business meeting for a term of two years or such shorter term as the assembly may specify, or until death, resignation, removal from office, or their successors are elected.

For at least the last 15 years, the church has approved the slate of leadership candidates (almost 30 newly elected leaders some years), in one overwhelming vote without much discussion or controversy. The motion that has always been placed on the floor is to approve the slate of candidates. My question is, in the event that a member disagrees with a particular nomination, what options would that member have? Could they divide the question and call for a separate election for a particular position? Or would this process/procedure be analagous to Nominations by the chair (RONR, (11th ed.), p. 494-495)? 

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40 minutes ago, Guest Delilah said:

My question is, in the event that a member disagrees with a particular nomination, what options would that member have? Could they divide the question and call for a separate election for a particular position?

Yes, a single member may demand a separate election for a particular position. Nominations from the floor are in order. A member could also move for a ballot vote. This is especially desirable if there are more than two candidates, as the procedure for a voice vote in an election can be confusing for members.

I also take it that your bylaws do not require a vote by ballot, or if they do, provide an exception for uncontested positions.

41 minutes ago, Guest Delilah said:

Or would this process/procedure be analagous to Nominations by the chair (RONR, (11th ed.), p. 494-495)? 

Nope.

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Guest Delilah: Can you tell me what on earth this provision in your bylaws means?

51 minutes ago, Guest Delilah said:

Nominations for officer and committee positions will include those presented by the Nominating Committee. Nominees to fill vacant positions on the Nominating Committee slate will be accepted from the floor and referred back to the Nominating Committee for consideration at a called business meeting (to be held prior to the beginning of the term of office).  (Emphasis added)

 

What on earth does that provision mean?  How does your Church interpret it?  It makes no sense to me.

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26 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Guest Delilah: Can you tell me what on earth this provision in your bylaws means?

What on earth does that provision mean?  How does your Church interpret it?  It makes no sense to me.

It's never happened, but I believe that it is a convoluted way of referring the open positions back to the leadership council. Nominees will be accepted from the floor, but those names are ultimately sent to the committee for consideration. This looks like a provision that would give the membership a chance to bring names up for consideration, but leaves responsibility in the hands of the nominating committee. 

And as I attempt to type all that, your point about the lack of clarity is well taken!

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It appears to me that the nominating committee has unwarranted power to decide who will be elected, as nominations from the floor are only allowed for offices the nominating committee failed to report on.

RONR allows nominations from the floor for any office,  and elections for each office are considered to be separate questions.  The word "slate" does not appear in the Work.  Your bylaws supersede these rules, but I would give them a close inspection to make sure they really say what you've indicated.

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2 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

It appears to me that the nominating committee has unwarranted power to decide who will be elected, as nominations from the floor are only allowed for offices the nominating committee failed to report on.

Well, that’s one way to read it. The other interpretation would be that only nominations from the floor for vacant offices are sent back to the nominating committee.

Either way, I agree that this grants the nominating committee an unusual and unfortunate degree of power.

2 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

RONR allows nominations from the floor for any office,  and elections for each office are considered to be separate questions.  The word "slate" does not appear in the Work.  Your bylaws supersede these rules, but I would give them a close inspection to make sure they really say what you've indicated.

If multiple offices are uncontested, however, and the bylaws do not require a ballot vote, it would seem to me that the chair could declare the candidates for all of the uncontested offices elected simultaneously, provided there is no objection. I do not think it is required to make the announcement for each election individually. Certainly for those positions where an election is required, each election must be conducted separately.

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8 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

Well, that’s one way to read it. The other interpretation would be that only nominations from the floor for vacant offices are sent back to the nominating committee.

Either way, I agree that this grants the nominating committee an unusual and unfortunate degree of power.

If multiple offices are uncontested, however, and the bylaws do not require a ballot vote, it would seem to me that the chair could declare the candidates for all of the uncontested offices elected simultaneously, provided there is no objection. I do not think it is required to make the announcement for each election individually. Certainly for those positions where an election is required, each election must be conducted separately.

Sure, I'd agree with that. 

The problem in this case, it seems to me, is that if the customary procedures are followed, all seats will end up uncontested.  The NomCom provides at most one name per office, and any nominations from the floor (only if the NomCom does not provide a name) go back for paring down to one name.  The membership apparently never has a choice, unless a ballot is mandatory and write-ins are allowed.  But  I would not be surprised to find that they aren't  :(  

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22 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

The problem in this case, it seems to me, is that if the customary procedures are followed, all seats will end up uncontested.  The NomCom provides at most one name per office, and any nominations from the floor (only if the NomCom does not provide a name) go back for paring down to one name.  The membership apparently never has a choice, unless a ballot is mandatory and write-ins are allowed.  But  I would not be surprised to find that they aren't  :(  

It is not entirely clear to me that nominations from the floor are prohibited.

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On 2/18/2018 at 5:38 PM, Josh Martin said:

It is not entirely clear to me that nominations from the floor are prohibited.

Granted it's not perfectly clear, but as I read the language, nominations from the floor are only permitted for offices which the nominating committee has failed to report upon, and then they get referred back to the committee, which arguably makes them something less than an actual nomination.

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23 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

Granted it's not perfectly clear, but as I read the language, nominations from the floor are only permitted for offices which the nominating committee has failed to report upon, and then they get referred back to the committee, which arguably makes them something less than an actual nomination.

If this is in fact the case, a member’s only recourse would be to suspend the rules to permit nominations from the floor, and/or to make a motion to order a ballot vote for a particular office. As of yet, I do not see anything to suggest that write-in votes are prohibited, nor do I see anything in the rule on nominations which would prevent suspending it to permit nominations from the floor.

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