Late Committee Report

[JayW]

This is another one of those "nobody" questions (who will know/who will care), but I'd like to clarify the proper procedure anyway!

Our Bylaws state the Nominating Committee meets in October, sends its report with Officer nominee recommendations to the Secretary after the meeting, and the Secretary sends the Committee's recommendations to all members at least one week before the November meeting.

If the Committee's recommendations are not sent to the members at least one week in advance -- say they're sent five days in advance, instead -- someone could raise a Point of Order at the November meeting that the Committee's nominees were not properly presented; if this is ruled well taken (as it should be), then what? The Committee's recommendations are null and void, and we have no "pre-selected" nominees for office?

We also take nominations from the floor at our November meeting, so if the above is correct we would just start with a blank slate instead of a slate with one nominee for each office, and a member of the Nominating Committee, or any member, could nominate the Committee's recommended candidate from the floor. (Or other candidates, of course; my point is that the nominees would still be eligible even if their names were not presented properly during the Committee process.)

If no one raises a Point of Order at the November meeting (at any time during the meeting, or only before or just after the Committee's recommendations are voted on?), then it's too late to do anything about it, and the fact that the nominees were not presented properly does not have any effect on their placement on the ballots at our December meeting when we vote, is that right?

Thanks, as always. We did have an argument a couple of years ago when someone tried to nominate from the floor at our December meeting, but since our Bylaws clearly state no nominations may be made after the November meeting they had no leg on which to stand. It's possible an invalid Committee report might stir up some trouble, if certain members were in the mood, I doubt it, since no one is clamoring to hold office anyway, but I'd rather be prepared.

[Tim Wynn]

This is another one of those "nobody" questions (who will know/who will care), but I'd like to clarify the proper procedure anyway!

Our Bylaws state the Nominating Committee meets in October, sends its report with Officer nominee recommendations to the Secretary after the meeting, and the Secretary sends the Committee's recommendations to all members at least one week before the November meeting.

If the Committee's recommendations are not sent to the members at least one week in advance -- say they're sent five days in advance, instead -- someone could raise a Point of Order at the November meeting that the Committee's nominees were not properly presented; if this is ruled well taken (as it should be), then what? The Committee's recommendations are null and void, and we have no "pre-selected" nominees for office?

We also take nominations from the floor at our November meeting, so if the above is correct we would just start with a blank slate instead of a slate with one nominee for each office, and a member of the Nominating Committee, or any member, could nominate the Committee's recommended candidate from the floor. (Or other candidates, of course; my point is that the nominees would still be eligible even if their names were not presented properly during the Committee process.)

If no one raises a Point of Order at the November meeting (at any time during the meeting, or only before or just after the Committee's recommendations are voted on?), then it's too late to do anything about it, and the fact that the nominees were not presented properly does not have any effect on their placement on the ballots at our December meeting when we vote, is that right?

Thanks, as always. We did have an argument a couple of years ago when someone tried to nominate from the floor at our December meeting, but since our Bylaws clearly state no nominations may be made after the November meeting they had no leg on which to stand. It's possible an invalid Committee report might stir up some trouble, if certain members were in the mood, I doubt it, since no one is clamoring to hold office anyway, but I'd rather be prepared.

I can't speak to the specific rules contained in your bylaws, because I haven't read them, but, in general, I don't see where failure to send advanced copies of a report invalidates the report or the nomination contained therein. Even if it did, see RONR (11th ed.), p. 435, ll. 23-26.