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Thank you for tolerating a question from an old rusty mostly amatuer parliamentarian. I have been asked by a non-profit to help with some bylaw amendments and unfortunately I gave away my RRONR and am relying on a set from 1914 that is posted online. My question is that I believe Robert does not like a President to appoint the Nominating Committee nor to serve on it. Would you be able to refer me to where he has put this in writing if indeed this is true. I have explained to them why, in general, that this is not a good idea. However I am hoping to have some back up in writing. Thank you for your assistance.

I belong to a membership organization that uses a nominating committee as part of its leadership election process. The bylaws require a ballot vote. This year we have independent candidates in addition to the nominated candidates. The bylaws state: “Except as otherwise provided by statute or these Bylaws, two-thirds (2/3) of affirmative votes cast by the members entitled to vote, if a quorum is present at such time, shall be the act of the membership of the League”. In the event that no candidate receives 2/3 vote do we re ballot until a candidate receives the required number of votes? The bylaws allow for absentee ballots to be submitted 24 hours prior to the voting meeting. Thank you for your advice.

Hi. Our club has elections coming up at our next meeting. The nominating committee's report was just emailed out to the members, but seems to me they must have screwed up royally. At least one person who I know was nominated for president does not appear on the list and has told me she doesn't know why she isn't. At least one other person who is on the list, says she was never asked if she was going to run again for this office. There are probably other errors I'm not necessarily privy to. I'm not on the board or anything, just a general member, but I can't let this slide by. The current president has no grasp of parliamentary procedure and has said he didn't want to run again yet his name is on the report as the sole nominee for president. It's not a mistake, this is the report the president forwarded to the webmaster for distribution to the membership. I'm not finding anything in our bylaws or Robert's Rules about what to do when the nominating committee screws up like this. What to do in this situation? I can't feel any confidence that the current president knows to call for nominations from the floor. Do I try to move that the election be postponed until the error can be fixed? Do I try to force the president to call for nominations from the floor? that's all I've been able to come up with. It's a mess and no one wants to create a stink but this is too much to let slide. Thanks for any suggestions.

If a nominating committee is to come up with a slate of officers, what if no one volunteers to be part of that nominating committee? How do elections take place? Can they?

Can a member of a nominating committee nominate himself for a position?

proposed amendment: "The members of the Church Council shall be elected for a term of two years, and may not succeed themselves more than two consecutive full terms in the same office unless the nominating committee can find no suitable and no one is nominated from the floor of the congregational meeting. If the previous office holder is willing to assume another two year term, then they may be allowed with the approval of the congregation." existing bylaw: "The members of the Church Council shall be elected for a term of two years, and may not succeed themselves more than two consecutive full terms in the same office." People, what are your thoughts? thanks, Jan

Our organization has a bylaws requirement for the NomCom's report to be published to the voting members prior to the annual meeting. Specifically, the bylaws state: "The director shall submit the nominating committee report to the members of the district council at least four weeks prior to the annual meeting." For the first time in our 50+ year history, this notice requirement was not met. I understand from previous posts that the prevailing wisdom on this scenario is that the "report" of the NomCom is "invalidated" at the annual meeting. My naive conceptualization of a NomCom report is that it is functionally consists of two parts: a] an informational report consisting of summary of the committee's work and 'recommendations' (e.g. nominations) much like any report and b] an implied incidental main motion to actually place the slate into nomination (I theorize that it is implied because the report affects this outcome despite no explicit motion being made). Questions: Is this a correct understanding? If so, should not the 'invalidation' only apply to the implied motion and not the whole report? (i.e. the report can be given but the committee cannot place names into nomination) If not, how can a procedural provision of the bylaws silence the work of a whole committee who has correctly executed their duty? Speaking of procedural provisions... would this notice requirement be exempt from being overridden by suspending the rules? What has been proposed is to have the NomCom report that they nominated X, Y, Z candidates but that the lack of notice prevents these people from being nominated by the committee and, thus, they are merely recommendations. (Our election protocol includes a section that requires the NomCom Chair's report to include the oral reading of each office and each candidate(s).) Then, we would proceed with taking nominations from the floor - including those people who would otherwise have been nominated by the committee. Does this make sense? Any other thoughts, input, or ideas? I, as relatively new parliamentarian, will likely have to help the Chair with many questions from an unhappy crowd. I'd like to be fully prepared as well as having an easily understandable explanation for a membership not versed in parli pro. Thanks, in advance, for any thoughts, advice, and help.

Our local organization is a subset of both a state and national organization. The rules of the national organization supersede local rules if there is a conflict. I have reviewed all three sets of bylaws and cannot find any conflicting information. We are in an election year and I am on the nominating committee. This is my first election in the organization. Initially all offices were unopposed but we had a late nomination for the position that heads our local organization. Since the announcement of the second candidate, nominees in the unopposed positions have been addressing one of the members of the nominating committee with questions and concerns but these concerns are not being brought up to the nominating committee chairperson (who happens to be the second nominee for the leadership position in our organization). That committee member has been bringing those issues up to the chairperson and me. Since I am a new member to the organization (the others have all gone through multiple elections), I have been diligently researching the questions and concerns. I have read and re-read the national, state and local bylaws and have not found any validity to any of the concerns. The questions have been addressed directly by the nominating committee chairperson. One of the questions was “can the nominees submit information for the membership to review”. Although I could not find any evidence of this having been done before on a local level, the nominating committee chairperson agreed and requested bios from all nominees in a group e-mail. One of the nominees immediately responded back in a reply all fashion asking for resumes. Although I am not the chairperson I replied all back that any responses need to be addressed to the nominating committee only and restated that the nominating chairperson has requested bios not resumes. The person who made the resume request replied back only to me in an e-mail stating that she was not aware that the nominating chairperson has asked for bios….of course that was a reply to the original message that stated bios were being requested but she conveniently deleted the original portion of the message out about the bios the chairperson requested. The next day this same nominee (who incidentally is running unopposed) sent a 3 page resume to the nominating committee stating that she had talked to the head of our local organization asking if she could submit a resume instead of the bio the committee chairperson requested and stated that the head of the local organization told her it was okay. Personally I have an issue with this since the bylaws are very clear and state that the local leader “be ex-officio a member of all committees except the nominating committee”. My interpretation of that statement is that what the chair of the nominating committee asks for is what should be done and the local leader should not circumvent her authority. As an aside, the nominating committee was voted for by the organization’s members who were present at the meeting and the local leader personally selected the chair person for the nominating committee. All this was done according to the bylaws of the organization. I expressed my concern directly with the nominating committee chairperson about the ex parte communication the nominee had with the local leader and stated that I thought the chairperson should reinforce her original request. I am not in charge and merely expressed my opinion. The chairperson makes the final decision. Today we received a second resume from a candidate. This candidate is running in the contested race against the nominating committee chairperson. We are planning to send out the bios to the membership before the meeting we will be voting at. My question is this….should we send the resumes along with the bios? The nominating committee chairperson has remained silent on the subject of resumes verses bios. It is my personal opinion that there will be backlash if some are allowed to submit their work history and fear that someone will challenge the election. I cannot find any information in the national, state or local bylaws regarding invalidating an election or challenging the results of an election. Any advice would be welcomed. Thank you for your consideration.

I have a question about the Nominating Committee: On page 433 of RONR, it states: "Members of the nominating committee are not barred from becoming nominees for office themselves. To make such a requirement would mean, first, that service on the nominating committee carried a penalty by depriving its members of one of their privileges; and second, that appointment or election to the nominating committee could be used to prevent a member from becoming a nominee. " My question is how would the appointment/election stop a person from being a candidate - I mean if being a member of the committee would bar me from running for office, and I was interested in doing so, then why would I accept the appointment or election to the committee? Or, if after accepting to be on the committee I decided to run for office, what would stop me from resigning from the committee in order to run? Or volunteer from the floor - as the committee is discharged as soon as it makes its report. Thanks in advance.

Can a member of the nominating committee also be nominated for an office? I am a member small private organization that will elect officers and I am looking for the texts in Roberts Rule that address the question above . Our bylaws are silent on this issue. Please guide me to the text in RRO

Does the nominating committee (who is proposing candidates for election by the membership) have to be elected by the membership themselves? I am working with a board who is revising their bylaws regarding how their nominations will work and the nominating committee chair is firm that RONR states that the nominating committee MUST be elected by the membership. My reading of RONR tells me that there are multiple ways for an organization to handle nominations (by committee, ballot, etc). So if the organization decides it is a nominating committee, isn't it reasonable that the bylaws can clarify how the committee is assembled so it meets the specific needs of the community? For instance, it could state that it's the board chair who selects the nominating committee chair and then s/he selects the rest of the committee. Of course we would clarify the other details (must be members in good standing, the # of people, etc). The critical point is whether it is a requirement (if you have a nominating committee) that the committee is elected by the membership. Many thanks! Laurie

Can a member if a nominating committee nominate himself/herself to a position on the board?

Our organization states in the bylaws that a nominating committee is to be elected at the January meeting and a slate of officers presented at the February meeting. Both of these deadlines have passed. What do we do now?

What does Robert's Rules recommend when the nominating committee can't find a replacement for an officer in the time allotted by the bylaws? We have a 200+ member organization and it is getting harder and harder to find a president or vice-president, etc. when their term is up. They had one month to find people willing to serve. We offered nominations/volunteers from the floor, but I would not have chosen the one who did volunteer. Too late now, but my term as president is up next year, and I'd like a guarantee I won't be forced to accept another term via a change in our bylaws to keep the organization functioning. New VP does not do computers and would have trouble moving up to President even though she might be willing. We do not have a President elect or a bylaw/standing rule that states VP becomes President at end of term. Do we need to make that a part of our bylaws? I am afraid if we have a VP/President elect we won't ever get another VP as she won't be willing to serve as president eventually. Appreciate any advice you can offer. LSUBOOKWRM@hotmail.com

A slate of nominees was presented to the full membership for approval. What vote is required to approve the ballot? A simple majority or a 2/3 majority?

Can a member of nominating committee run for office

Is it proper for a nominating committee to nominate more than one person for a Board vacancy?

Our nominating committee was unable to fill all the positions on the slate by the appointed timeline. About a week after the nom. comm interviews had been completed and well past the deadline to submit, two candidates came forward for the 2 vacancies. Does the NC need to schedule interviews for these belated two candidates for the vacant positions or do they simply run from the floor at our Convention? (Missing positions are the 2nd & 3rd VP's--2 out of 6 elected officers) Thanks for your help! Mary Williams, President

2 Questions: Does a nominating committe have to be voted on by the current Board Members before the nominating committee can begin slating the new board? Can a memeber of the nominating committee also be slated as a potential new Board Member, or is this a conflict of interest? Is this situation allowed according to Roberts Rules?

I am the president of a small board. Per our bylaws, I appointed a nominating committee to nominate officers for 2013. The committee consists of three board members, and one member agreed to serve as chair of the committee. Before calling a meeting of the committee, the chair spoke with possible nominees and had a slate already in mind, which he then presented to the committee at its meeting. One committee member was very unhappy with this and complained to me. Are there any rules about identifying and contacting potential nominees before a nominating committee meeting? Was it OK for the chair to do so, and then present a slate for consideration to the committee members? (I am stepping down at the end of my term, December 31 2012, so I am not running in this election.)

Our Nominating Committee slated a person in a Director Position (3 year appointment) and that persopn was duly elected. Our subsidiary corporation was in need of Officers and this Director was a better fit for that position. According to our by-laws an officer or director cannot sit on both boards except for the Presidents of both Boards. The Director has submitted his resignation. In our by-laws, a director who has resigned is replaced with a simple majority vote of the board of directors and serves until the next election. Since the director has not been formally installed, can we not have the nominating committee slate this position and vote on it before installation? That was we preserve the three year cycle and make it easier. Since the position is technically not vacant until 1/1/13, would our current bylaws even apply?

If a member of an Association is placed on the ballot by Nomination from Petition, does the nominating committee have the right to sperate and label their candidates versus Nomination by Petition candidates on the official ballot? Thank you.

Does the Board need to approve the Nominating Committee Report?