acthomas Posted June 30, 2012 at 01:52 AM Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 at 01:52 AM We have a national club, and some of our business is conducted by mail. Per our bylaws, any contested elections must be conducted by mail. In compiling it's slate of candidates, the nominating committee must also collect letters of intent to run and serve by each candidate, and these must be submitted to the secretary along with the list of candidates.Instead of nominations from the floor (an impossibility), additional candidates may be nominated by petition.Our bylaws on that process read: "Additional nominations of eligible members may be made by written petition, signed by five regular members other than by the nominees, addressed to the Secretary and be received by the Secretary at his/her regular address on or before July 1st. The additional nominee must also send to the Secretary's regular address their written acceptance of their willingness to be a candidate."My question is, is it either a stipulation or a reasonable interpretation that the nominee's written acceptance must also be received by the Secretary by July 1st? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted June 30, 2012 at 01:57 AM Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 at 01:57 AM I think that is a pretty reasonable interpretation though other interpretations can be reasonable as well so it will be up to you all to decide what is more reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:01 AM Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:01 AM We have a national club, and some of our business is conducted by mail. Per our bylaws, any contested elections must be conducted by mail. In compiling it's slate of candidates, the nominating committee must also collect letters of intent to run and serve by each candidate, and these must be submitted to the secretary along with the list of candidates.Instead of nominations from the floor (an impossibility), additional candidates may be nominated by petition.Our bylaws on that process read: "Additional nominations of eligible members may be made by written petition, signed by five regular members other than by the nominees, addressed to the Secretary and be received by the Secretary at his/her regular address on or before July 1st. The additional nominee must also send to the Secretary's regular address their written acceptance of their willingness to be a candidate."My question is, is it either a stipulation or a reasonable interpretation that the nominee's written acceptance must also be received by the Secretary by July 1st?A valid opinion of the meaning of your bylaws can only be formed after reading them (and any other applicable documents) in their entirety, which is beyond the scope of this forum. What interests me is the concept of someone possibly not accepting their own willingness to be a candidate. See RONR (11th ed.), pp. 588-91 for Some Principles of Interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acthomas Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:13 AM Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:13 AM The main problem is one of time. There is an August 15 deadline for ballots to be received by the secretary or a designated registered parliamentarian. That's 6 weeks to prepare ballots, mail them, give people time to vote and return ballots. That is, I think, a reasonable time frame. Ballots can be prepared in advance, in anticipation of receiving the prospective candidate's letter, but if the letter is not forthcoming that's an awful lot of wasted time, effort, and expense. To answer your question, Tim, not all members actually read the bylaws thoroughly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:19 AM Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:19 AM The main problem is one of time. There is an August 15 deadline for ballots to be received by the secretary or a designated registered parliamentarian. That's 6 weeks to prepare ballots, mail them, give people time to vote and return ballots. That is, I think, a reasonable time frame. Ballots can be prepared in advance, in anticipation of receiving the prospective candidate's letter, but if the letter is not forthcoming that's an awful lot of wasted time, effort, and expense. To answer your question, Tim, not all members actually read the bylaws thoroughly.Your designated registered parliamentarian should have read the bylaws thoroughly. Would he not be your best resource for this query? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acthomas Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:53 AM Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 at 02:53 AM We're not there yet. Technically, we don't yet have the required number of petition signatures yet. We don't know if we'd be using the parliamentarian, that is a decision the board would be making. We do have the option of appointing tellers from within the membership. There are lots of reasons why that isn't the best idea.Bottom line is we don't have a parliamentarian at this point, and neither the finances nor the mood of many members would support hiring one to answer this question. Besides, the basic question has to do with a reasonable, not necessarily definitive, interpretation. If there is more than one reasonable interpretation I can't see our possible parliamentarian to be saying much more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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