Stan Duffy

To Gary - You have seriously misunderstood my language and intent. I said that 'the issue is moot' because the candidate who has initially said he might withdraw actually stayed on and was elected President. The 'issue' that is moot is the only issue that I brought up - what to do if the sole candidate withdraws. Since he didn't withdraw, the 'issue' is moot, by definition. How is that any indication that I don't care? It is only relief that a potentially very awkward situation has been avoided. Nowhere do I say that I am rejoicing "an invalid election". It is by no means clear to me that our election was invalid. I appreciate your opinion but please don't be rude.

Thank you for your quick responses. Our (inherited) Bylaws clearly have holes and this is why things are unclear when something unexpected happens. I technically disagree that our Bylaws state how the position is to be filled. It states that there will be someone called 'Past President' and it defines how long they will serve. While logically it should be the Immediately Past President who fills that role but it is not specifically stated. There are several former/previous/(past?) Presidents. But maybe that is splitting hairs. I do accept that it is reasonable to expect (and logical to assume) the Bylaws to mean the Immediate Past President. My biggest question was that since he resigned before the end of his term perhaps that might change things. Though technically he IS the last President of the association and therefore logically the' Immediate Past President'. We are unfortunately in the exact position warned against by Dr Stackpole - a disgruntled resigned President who may now be a challenge for a while. We are hoping he is pissed off enough that he will decline the Position of Past President. Fingers crossed. Thanks again!! You confirmed what I was thinking.

Here is an extract from our Bylaws. "Officers and Board of Directors: The Officers of this Association shall consist of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. They shall be elected at the annual general meeting and voted for separately by ballot, and shall receive the majority of all votes cast. They shall hold office for two years and until their successors are selected. They shall be eligible for re-election, with the exception of the President, who is eligible for two consecutive 2 year terms only. President The President shall appoint all standing committees. He shall be Chairman at regular meetings and Board of Directors meetings. He shall have one vote. In the event of a tie, the President has one additional vote to break the tie. Vice-President .......... Secretary.....Treasurer.... (statements of their roles) ... Past President The Past President, as long as he remains active in the Association, unless elected to the Board of Directors, shall be an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors for the duration of the incoming President’s term. He shall have one vote. Vacancies : When a vacancy occurs on the Board of Directors, the President shall appoint a member who is in good standing to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term. Such appointment shall be ratified by a majority vote of the Board of Directors. Should the vacancy occur in the Presidency, the Vice-President shall succeed for the remainder of the unexpired term. In the event these two Officers shall become unavailable, the members shall elect their successors for the remainder of the term, at the next regular meeting." Traditionally, when our President has served their 2 terms that President has become our Past President on the Board. Our President, VP and Past President all resigned recently just prior to our election for a new President and VP. A new President and VP have been elected. We are wondering what happens to the position of Past President. Does the President who resigned have a rightful claim to becoming the Past President since he did not serve out his term but resigned before he was replaced? Should the new President appoint someone to fill that position? Should the position remain vacant until our new president is himself replaced? Our Bylaws do not state how the position of Past President is filled. I have read other posts related to a Past President but none seem to answer this particular question.

Wow! Thanks everybody for these diverse comments. I don't feel it is fair to say that I don't care though. I truly DO care and is exactly why I asked the question - to try and make sure we do the right thing. Fortunately our candidate for President decided to stay on as a candidate and he won the election, so (for us) the issue is moot. One thing is clear to me - if we are to permit electronic voting in future we need a Bylaw amendment to expressly allow this and we will pursue that. With the reluctance of many people to gather in large groups at present, as a board (and I believe as an organization) there is preference to avoid having to put one's health/life at risk in order to exercise one's democratic right to vote. We will find out when we put the Bylaw amendment to the membership for approval. Again, thanks SO much for your input. Stay safe!

The candidate presented himself as a candidate, so no question about that. I don't see how it can be "too late for the candidate to decline" - we cannot force him to become President if he now doesn't want to. So the board position of President is vacant by default. The question is how do we proceed to fill it. I have to get past the question of whether or not an electronic election is kosher. The electronic process is how we have done elections for 3 years. 3 years ago the Board voted to interpret 'by ballot' to be vague/no-specific and that it was open enough to interpretation that we could vote electronically. With the goal of being more democratic and enabling ALL members to vote. With the current restrictions on in-person meetings it is not possible to hold in-person balloting anyways. The exigent circumstances combined with precedent, combined with I'm sure no-one is going to try to invalidate the election because of us conducting it electronically leads me past that as an obstacle. The only issue (for me) is how we deal with him either withdrawing before the election ends, or declining the position once it has ended. I'm leaning towards "if the winning candidate for President were to immediately decline upon being elected, a new election would be held for the office of President." and "If he does decline, the election is incomplete, and another vote can be taken". If we say that an election is not complete until an elected person accepts the position, then the election is 'incomplete'. I think that is our safest bet and the action least likely to be contested. Thanks again to all of you for your wisdom and guidance. It has been truly helpful.

Thanks again. I think I am going to go with "if the winning candidate for President were to immediately decline upon being elected, a new election would be held for the office of President."

Voting over a 3 day period to give maximum voting opportunity to everyone. It closes at midnight PST tomorrow. A planned Bylaw amendment is to clarify that electronic voting is permitted. We have run elections this way for 2 prior elections. With the current situation in person is not possible and we have an urgent need because the previous President and VP quit.

Crazy situation, but this is where we are. He told me 2 days before the election that he was solidly on board. I have to do the best I can with a bad situation. My gut says we have to redo the election for President since the election wasn't completed if the guy doesn't accept - we don't have a President if he doesn't accept, therefore we need to elect one.... ?

Thanks SO much for your quick replies. We manage our elections online via a 3rd party anonymous product called ElectionBuddy Our Bylaws only say that we are to run elections 'by ballot' which we interpreted a couple of years ago to mean either in person show of hands, in-person paper ballot, or (for greater convenience and to allow everyone the democratic opportunity to vote, via an online tool. So there is precedent. I was also thinking that if he declines the position, or if he withdraws before the election is complete, then he is not resigning per se.

We are a 250 member association. Our President and VP resigned. After call for candidates we had ONE candidate step forward for each position. The online election started 2 days ago and ends tomorrow night. The ONE Presidential candidate just told me he is no longer interested. As Secretary, and the only remaining Board member, how do you recommend I handle this? Is the VP candidate elected as VP and we put out a new call for Presidential candidates and have a NEW election election for President? Or is the Presidential candidate assumed to have won the election and then resigned, in which case our Bylaws state that the VP becomes President and appoints a VP for the remainder of the VP term of 3 years?