Elections - do you vote for each position or vote at the end for all positions at once?

[Guest Bekah]

We will be having an annual meeting soon where we have several vacancies on the board.  Our nominating committee only nominated 2 positions of 5 - so we have three vacant positions.  We will be taking nominations from the floor for those vacant positions.  

As we take nominations, do you call for a vote after nominations are closed for each vacant position or do you wait to do them all at the end?  Is there a preference ?

[Bruce Lages]

Assuming the vacant positions are all identical with respect to description and term of office, then there should be one ballot for all vacancies instructing voters to vote for up to five candidates. Using this method, you just might be able to fill all positions on one ballot. If less than five candidates receive a majority vote, you would declare those receiving a majority elected, and then conduct a second ballot (and subsequent ballots if necessary) with all remaining candidates listed for the positions not already filled.

However, if these positions are not all identical, then it would be preferable to use different ballots for any non-identical positions. This would apply to positions with differing titles or with differing terms of office.

[Gary Novosielski]

For individual offices, it is up to your organization to determine (by motion, rule, or custom) whether to hold an election for each officer (in the order they are listed in the bylaws), or to have one combined ballot listing multiple offices.  There are pros and cons to both methods.

For a multiple office (such as three equivalent directors with identical terms) that would be treated similarly to a single office, but with the instruction Vote for three, although that instruction actually means up to three.  This might be done separately, or on combination ballot.

In all cases, RONR requires a majority vote for election.  That is, one candidate must receive more votes than all the other candidates combined.  For a multiple office, successful candidates must receive a vote on more than half of the non-blank ballots cast for that office.

 

Edited March 20, 2018 at 10:36 PM by Gary Novosielski