Conflicting rules

[Guest ATRSC]

There is a challenge to one of the candidates in our upcoming club elections. We discovered there are two conflicting guidelines - one is found in the consitution, the other in the bylaws. Both have a different eligibility criteria. One of the candidates has been a member for a year. The other has been a member for four but let her membership lapse a couple of months before renewing. One person is insisting neither can run for office. When we checked the constitution and bylaws, we discovered the conflict. So what do we do? (besides the obvious fix it which will require a vote by the members). Our election ballots are required to be mailed out by July 15th.

IN OUR CONSTITUTION:

ARTICLE V – OFFICERS

Section 3: To be eligible for election to office, a member must own and be actively engaged in breeding and/or showing Tan Rabbits. In addition, any person wishing to run for office must have been a member of the American Tan Rabbit Specialty Club for at least two (2) years.

IN OUR BYLAWS:

ARTICLE IV – VOTING PROCEDURE

Section 1: Any member of this Association in good standing, wishing to become a candidate for any elective office of the Association, shall write to the Secretary/Treasurer for a nominating petition, which the Secretary/Treasurer shall supply. The nominating petition shall be completed by the member and shall show the member’s name and the office for which he/she desires to be a candidate, and shall, in addition, be signed by one (1) member of this association in good standing. The petition shall be mailed to the Secretary/Treasurer of the association with a postmark of not later than midnight of May 31

st

. The Secretary/Treasurer shall place the name of the member appearing on the petition and the office for which he/she is a candidate on the election ballot. Election ballots shall be numbered consecutively and mailed on July 15

th

of each year to each member of the association in good standing on that date. The ballots shall have a postmark mailing deadline. An envelope addressed to the chairperson of the ballot committee, by name and address, shall accompany each ballot with the word “ballot” written in the lower left-hand corner. Each voting member shall mark his/her ballot, place it in the envelope mailed with the ballot, seal same and mail directly to the chairperson of the ballot committee. The ballot committee shall count all ballots received, counting to be done on the 10

th

day following the postmark deadline. A certified copy of the results is to be sent to the President and Secretary/Treasurer within ten (10) days of the counting date. Any ballot having a late postmark is not to be opened, but placed in a sealed envelope along with the ballots and forwarded to the Secretary/Treasurer. Ballots are to be kept by the Secretary/Treasurer for one (1) year, to be opened only in the event that there is a demand for a recount.

[Gary c Tesser]

Guest_ATRSC_*, this is all about your bylaws, and Robert's Rules itself will not specifically help you, so I'm afraid this website forum will not help you much. Let me suggest you ask this question over on the nearby website, not related to this one but very friendly, where you can get some sensible advice, or maybe even mine. (In case I'm allowed to mention it,it's at bylawsandsuch.lefora.com/ .)

[SaintCad]

Incidently, the member that let her membership lapse, I noticed that your Constitution does not say 2 continuous years.

[Guest Guest]

Incidently, the member that let her membership lapse, I noticed that your Constitution does not say 2 continuous years.

They may feel it doesn't have to, which is why this isn't the place for interpretations, as Mr. Tesser notes.

[Guest atrsc]

Thanks. I'll look in to the other website.