Member notification of proposed slate of officers

[Guest Jacque]

If a slate of officers is to be voted on at an annual meeting must members be advise of that slate prior

to that annual meeting? Does Roberts Rules set a time frame within which members must be noftified

of that slate? Current bylaws state that members must be notified of annual meeting ten days prior

to that meeting by email to individual members and posted on website. Should slate of proposed

officers follow that same time frame?

[Gary c Tesser]

1. RONR has no such requirement, but thinks it's a good idea (p. 434). (For that matter, it says, speaking of a nominations committee, "... in any organization where advance interest in the election may develop, the nominations submitted by the committee should be made known to the membership earlier." I emphasize this because RONR arguably often uses "should" when giving a rule, not just advice.)

2. RONR does go on to suggest (not require) "several days (same page, different line)."

3. Why not? But not necessarily; it would be up to your organization to establish its own rule on the matter.

(4. Though Guest_Jacque didn't ask: I'm one of many, although probably few others are up at 5 AM in this time zone, and I bet some other time zones too, who are wary about the word and concept "slate," as it often leads people to think of the members of the "slate" as a a group who are running as a unit, rather than unattached candidates for specific offices.)

[Guest Edgar]

If a slate of officers is to be voted on at an annual meeting . . .

To emphasize Mr. Tesser's fourth point, unless your bylaws say so, you don't vote on a "slate". You vote for individual candidates for individual offices. Some of them or all of them or none of them. And you can vote for candidates who aren't even on the "slate".

The so-called "slate" (let's call it the report of the nominating committee) is just the first step in the electoral process, not the last word.