Running for an office up for election while maintaining an office that isn't up for election

[Guest Teresa]

We elect officers in odd and even years so as not to have entire board come and go. If someone is in a position now that isn't up for election, can they run for a position that is up for election? Also, then what do you do if they win, as this would allow them two positions? And what do you do if they lose the elected position, are they allowed to still keep their current position that wasn't up for election?

By-laws don't specify more than one position or running for one that is up for election.

Thank you.

[Chris Harrison]

In theory someone could hold multiple Board seats and would retain his current seat even if he loses the election for the other seat. However, unless the bylaws say otherwise this Board member can only vote once no matter how many hats he may wear.

[Guest Edgar]

In theory someone could hold multiple Board seats . . .

I'm reluctant to endorse this view though I'm not sure I could find anything in RONR to refute it. Certainly a board member may wear more than one hat (e.g. he might also be the treasurer as well as a board member), but I'm not sure one person can hold two incarnations of the same identical office. That's not to say a person with one year left in his term of office can't run for the two-year term that's open at this election and, if elected, he'd begin a new (full) two-year term and there'd be a vacancy in the (one year) remainder of his old term.

Arguing that he could keep his current term and add the new term means that, for example, a nine-member board would only have eight members. And fewer than that if enough members pursue this tactic. I'm pretty sure that when an organization stipulates a board with nine members, it means nine individual members.

Now it's also conceivable that a board member might be elected to another office which makes him an ex-officio member of the board and that would reduced the normal size of the board. But I think (or at least hope) that that's a substantially different situation.

[Gary Novosielski]

I'm reluctant to endorse this view though I'm not sure I could find anything in RONR to refute it. Certainly a board member may wear more than one hat (e.g. he might also be the treasurer as well as a board member), but I'm not sure one person can hold two incarnations of the same identical office.

I agree, thought I'm not any more able to produce a citation. Still it seems to me that a person can be both Secretary and Treasurer, for instance, but I fail to see how a person can be two Directors