Ballot election

[Guest Jenny]

Our club's bylaws don't specify a "parliamentary authority", so I am not sure this group is the right place. We had an election last week. There was only one nominee for president, so the (old) president asked for a show of hands to elect the one candidate. Everyone voted yes.  However, one of our members is now saying that because the bylaws require a ballot vote, the election of the president was invalid. Shouldn't someone have objected at the time? I think we have been doing this for years.

[Josh Martin]

Our club's bylaws don't specify a "parliamentary authority", so I am not sure this group is the right place.

 

Your club is still bound by the common parliamentary law, and a recognized authority such as RONR can be considered persuasive. It would be preferable, however, for your club to formally adopt RONR.

 

We had an election last week. There was only one nominee for president, so the (old) president asked for a show of hands to elect the one candidate. Everyone voted yes.  However, one of our members is now saying that because the bylaws require a ballot vote, the election of the president was invalid. Shouldn't someone have objected at the time? I think we have been doing this for years.

 

So far as RONR is concerned, the member is correct that the election is invalid and must be redone. While it is generally true that a Point of Order must be raised at the time of the breach (and it is certainly preferable to raise a Point of Order at the time of the breach in any case), there are some violations that are so severe that they constitute a "continuing breach," and this is one of them. In such cases, a Point of Order can be raised at any time during the continuance of the breach. The fact that you've been doing this for years just means you've been doing it wrong for years.

 

If the club wishes for a ballot vote to be waived when there is only one candidate, it would need to amend the bylaws to provide for that.

[George Mervosh]

If the rules in RONR applied, and the bylaws required a vote by ballot and you took a show of hands or anything other than a ballot vote, the election would be null and void.

 

Your organization should look to adopt RONR.  http://www.robertsrules.com/authority.html

[DrEntropy]

It is up to your organization to interpret it's own bylaws. If RONR was your adopted parliamentary authority (and it should be!) there would be no cause for interpretation, the rule is clear. However, even in your case I think the answer is clear (but up to your organization to decide after careful review of the full bylaws!). The bylaws require a ballot vote. The reason for requiring a ballot vote is so that members do not have to reveal their vote. How can a member object to the failure to use a ballot vote without revealing something about his vote?