Snow White Posted March 26, 2012 at 07:23 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 07:23 AM I was wondering if it is possible for our parliamentarian to cancel scheduled elections? I cannot find anything concerning this in RONR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Cisar Posted March 26, 2012 at 08:49 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 08:49 AM A parliamentarian is only an advisor. A parliamentarian does not set the rules and does not make a ruling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow White Posted March 26, 2012 at 09:23 AM Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 09:23 AM Can anyone in our club cancel scheduled elections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:02 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:02 AM Can anyone in our club cancel scheduled elections?Only if your rules provide that authority. RONR contains no such mechanism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trina Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:24 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:24 AM Can anyone in our club cancel scheduled elections?Not unless your bylaws grant someone this very unusual authority.At the election meeting itself, it might be possible to adjourn the meeting to a future time (thereby postponing the election).Are you, in fact, talking about an election scheduled to occur at a meeting? A few more details might help to get you better answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow White Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:02 PM Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:02 PM The voting is to take place at a social. The club's business will be conducted at the beginning of the social where ballots will be distributed, cast and then collected. Business will end, and Bingo will start.Our By-laws do state: "Voting may take place by email or telephone in special circumstances at the discretion of the Parliamentarian, or when an issue is time-critical."Can the Parliamentarian alone decide what is a "special circumstance"? Since there is some drama in our club, it is very possible that less than 1/3 of the membership will even turn out to vote. The majority of this membership may want to vote and may be more comfortable voting via e-mail as to avoid the chaos that the meeting/social may incur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:28 PM Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 at 11:28 PM The voting is to take place at a social. The club's business will be conducted at the beginning of the social where ballots will be distributed, cast and then collected. Business will end, and Bingo will start.And when does the counting of the ballots take place, and the announcement of the election winners?Our By-laws do state: "Voting may take place by email or telephone in special circumstances at the discretion of the Parliamentarian, or when an issue is time-critical."Can the Parliamentarian alone decide what is a "special circumstance"?Well, interpretation of the bylaws is not done here, so I can direct you to page 588 (RONR 11) for some principles of interpretation to guide you. But it sure seems like the Parliamentarian has a little more authority than he should. Per RONR, the parliamentarian is an advisor to the chair, and the assembly as needed, and does not make rulings and such (such as deciding how voting may take place). But, the bylaw supersede RONR, so you're stuck with what you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. J. Posted March 27, 2012 at 08:06 PM Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 at 08:06 PM The voting is to take place at a social. The club's business will be conducted at the beginning of the social where ballots will be distributed, cast and then collected. Business will end, and Bingo will start.It may be approriate to recess until the ballots are counted, return to the session briefly, and then announce the results.Our By-laws do state: "Voting may take place by email or telephone in special circumstances at the discretion of the Parliamentarian, or when an issue is time-critical."Can the Parliamentarian alone decide what is a "special circumstance"? Since there is some drama in our club, it is very possible that less than 1/3 of the membership will even turn out to vote. The majority of this membership may want to vote and may be more comfortable voting via e-mail as to avoid the chaos that the meeting/social may incur.The bylaws grant the parliamentarian wide discression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted March 28, 2012 at 01:12 AM Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 at 01:12 AM "... it is very possible that less than 1/3 of the membership will even turn out to vote." Then I wonder if you would even have a quorum and could conduct the elections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow White Posted March 29, 2012 at 09:42 AM Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 at 09:42 AM I just found out that our by-laws state we only need 30% of our membership to make the quorum for elections. In this case only 25 members, and we will probably have 25 show up.If we are shy of this number, can our parliamentarian postpone the elections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted March 29, 2012 at 11:07 AM Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 at 11:07 AM I just found out that our by-laws state we only need 30% of our membership to make the quorum for elections. In this case only 25 members, and we will probably have 25 show up.If we are shy of this number, can our parliamentarian postpone the elections?If you don't have a quorum, your options are limited to only a few actions. (see p. 347 in RONR 11) One is to create an adjourned meeting, which is a continuation of the meeting to take place at a later time/date, hopefully when a quorum will appear, and you can hold the elections. So, no need to actually postpone the elections, since you can't conduct them anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 29, 2012 at 10:47 PM Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 at 10:47 PM If we are shy of this number, can our parliamentarian postpone the elections?For any question which reads, "Can our parliamentarian do X?" it's a safe bet that the answer is "No" unless your rules say otherwise. So far as RONR is concerned, the Parliamentarian is simply an adviser on parliamentary procedure. Any authority beyond that would have to come from your customized rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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