Guest Mike Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:06 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:06 PM Our church has a constitution and bylaws and it states:"A Call Committee of six voting members and two non-voting alternates shall be elected by this Congregation."But it is silent as to whether the congregation should vote for 6 or 8. At the election of the congregation how many should people vote for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:13 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:13 PM Since you are electing the committee from separate classes of your membership (if I understand you correctly), I'd (strongly) suggest you run two separate elections. One for the six "voting member" positions; one for the two "non-voting alternates".At least I think that is what you have in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:17 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:17 PM It is not from 2 different classes. The Congregation is voting for a Call Committee. The Call Committee will have 6 voting members and 2 additional members who will are alternates and will only have a vote if 1 of the 6 voting members resigns.Hope that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:23 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:23 PM It is not from 2 different classes. The Congregation is voting for a Call Committee. The Call Committee will have 6 voting members and 2 additional members who will are alternates and will only have a vote if 1 of the 6 voting members resigns.The Committee would have two different classes of members. They would have six full voting members and two alternates who would (presumably) attend the meetings but have no vote (and you all should figure out whether they would have any right to speak in debate or make motions) unless one of the six were to resign in which case one of them would become a full voting member (you all would need to figure out which of the two would get "promoted"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:28 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:28 PM Ah, I get it. Thank you. Well...You probably should run two elections anyway -- much cleaner that way. Vote for 6 from the nominees; open floor for more nominees if you wish; then vote for 2. That way there is no question which "winners" hold which positions on the committee.Sometimes folks name the "runners-up" as the alternates, but this could mean you are putting losers on the committee. They might be folks who lost for VERY good reasons but you would then be stuck with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:31 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:31 PM That is correct that the committee would have 2 classes of members. My thought on who would be promoted first would be the one who got the most votes.However, my original question is the congregation is voting on these from one list of 10 members. Do we vote for 6 or for 8 with the top 6 being the voting committee members and the next 2 being the alternates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:40 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:40 PM We only want to have 1 election and the top 6 will be the voting members and the next 2 will be the alternates. So would we have the congregation vote for 6 or 8? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:43 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:43 PM Look up two postings from this one to see why NOT do "runners-up" as alternates.Vote in separate elections for 6, then for 2.Also, be sure to adopt a motion, in the congregational meeting, stating your "most-votes-gets-promoted" rule. Put it in writing to avoid an argument later on. (Church arguments are the worst kind!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:56 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 03:56 PM We only want to have 1 election and the top 6 will be the voting members and the next 2 will be the alternates. So would we have the congregation vote for 6 or 8?Well, if you're only going to hold 1 election, then you clearly have to vote for 8 people, don't you? And the top six vote-getters are your committee, with the 7th and 8th place people being alternates. Simple, I'd say. But ------- Yeah, but.But --- what if, of the top eight vote-getters, the people in 6th, 7th and 8th position are all tied? Which one gets on the committee, and which two are alternates?I see this as similar to electing delegates and alternates to a convention, and so far, my experience has been of the two election type. Elect the committee, then elect the alternates. It really shouldn't take too much more time than trying to manage it in one election. A few more minutes is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthib Posted September 21, 2012 at 04:02 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 04:02 PM The Committee is made up of 8 people, how you elect them is up to the body to decide.You could run 1 election, 2 elections, 8 elections -Having worked with Church groups before, I would suggest just one election where people vote for 6.Then rank from 1-8 with top 6 being voting and 7-8 being non voting. Make sure you pass a rule so it clear how you will handle ties votes.Most folks are not interested in holding multiple elections. This is a special committee, not a governing board.But, if you are unsure, ask the membership to decide how they want to hold the election.There is no requirement to vote for 8 people or 6 people, you could have everyone vote for 1 person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted September 21, 2012 at 08:45 PM Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 at 08:45 PM We only want to have 1 election and the top 6 will be the voting members and the next 2 will be the alternates. So would we have the congregation vote for 6 or 8?Well, if you want to do it your way, rather than what was recommended to you, then why are you even asking?Remember that whomever you elect must receive a majority of the votes cast, i.e., must receive a vote on more than half the ballots (not counting blanks). So you might have to hold more than one vote anyway.Why not do it right from the start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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