Election/Appointment of a temporary Commander

[HAWVET]

In one of our veterans organization, the Commander passed away. He was supposed to have appointed a Vice Commander, but it was vacant at the time of his passing. Our election month is June and the newly appointed officers assume their duties on July 1^st.

What is the procedure to fill the position of the Commander pending the elections this June?

For those unfamiliar, the commander is actually the President of the organization and the organization has by-laws and uses RONR as its authority.

[David A Foulkes]

As you suspect (I believe) the Vice Commander would have become the Commander upon his passing, unless the bylaws provide for some other means of filling that position. That is the only automatic ascendancy in RONR. If the bylaws include a vacancy filling provision, that should be followed. Otherwise, a special election of the membership (requires notice) would be held to fill it prior to the annual election.

A small wrinkle in this -- RONR actually speaks of the offices of President and Vice President, especially as regards the automatic elevation of VP to P. If the position of President is different (as it seems) from Commander, that provision may not necessarily apply. Stay tuned to see what others think.