Election of Unopposed Officers

[Guest BillyBob]

Hi All,

 

I have done a great deal of searching on this forum, but could not quite find the answer that I am looking for. I work for a small volunteer Ambulance Service that has an executive board comprised of 9 annually elected members. Generally, our nominations committee calls all eligible members asking them for which positions they wish to run for. The nominations are presented to the general membership and the floor is opened for further nominations. At the following meeting, we hold our elections, where the majority of the offices are uncontested. In this case, the chair usually asks the Secretary to cast a single ballot for that officer and they are elected. We use a ballot system for contested elections, however our bylaws are generally vague and quiet on this topic.

I have been unable to get a clear answer from reading on here and from RONR whether or not this is a legitimate way to elect officers. I have seen on here that asking the secretary to cast one ballot is a generally antiquated and meaningless custom.

 

If only one person is nominated for an office, does RONR stipulate that they are automatically elected?

 

If the membership does not desire them to be elected, how would they make their votes known?

 

If casting a blank ballot counts as an abstention and not towards the votes needed for a win, how would someone cast a vote against the nominee?

 

Does RONR say that a nominee can be elected only by having been nominated?

 

Thank you for your time and answers.

[Edgar Guest]

If only one person is nominated for an office, does RONR stipulate that they are automatically elected?

No.

 

If the membership does not desire them to be elected, how would they make their votes known?

 

By nominating and/or voting for someone else.

 

If casting a blank ballot counts as an abstention and not towards the votes needed for a win, how would someone cast a vote against the nominee?

By voting for someone else. 

 

Does RONR say that a nominee can be elected only by having been nominated?

No. But if your bylaws don't require a ballot vote, and if there is only one nominee, then the chair can declare the sole nominee elected "by acclamation".

[Guest Billy_Bob]

No.

 

 

By nominating and/or voting for someone else.

 

By voting for someone else. 

 

No. But if your bylaws don't require a ballot vote, and if there is only one nominee, then the chair can declare the sole nominee elected "by acclamation".

 

Is it possible to vote for nobody? And have a vacant office at the end of the election? The case being no one wants the office nor the sole candidate running?

[Edgar Guest]

Is it possible to vote for nobody?

 

No. If no one is willing to serve then you might want to either eliminate the office (by amending the bylaws) or dissolve the organization (by rescinding the bylaws).

 

Or you might want to try and figure out why no one wants this particular office.

[Guest Ricky Bobby]

So if no one wants the sole nominee, they must vote for someone else. Rather than vote for someone unqualified or undesirable, we could not have a vacant office?

[Edgar Guest]

That's right. If your bylaws say, for example, that you have a treasurer then you must have a treasurer (i.e. you have to obey your bylaws). You might not be able to "complete" the election on the first round of voting but you have to do your best to complete the election. No matter how long it takes.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

 

The nominations are presented to the general membership and the floor is opened for further nominations.

At the following meeting, we hold our elections, where the majority of the offices are uncontested.

 

Q.1.) We use a ballot system for contested elections, however our bylaws are generally vague and quiet on this topic.

In this case, the chair usually asks the Secretary to cast a single ballot for that officer and they are elected.

I have been unable to get a clear answer from reading on here and from RONR whether or not this is a legitimate way to elect officers.

I have seen on here that asking the secretary to cast one ballot is a generally antiquated and meaningless custom.

 

Q2.) If only one person is nominated for an office, does RONR stipulate that they are automatically elected?

. . . Does RONR say that a nominee can be elected only by having been nominated?

 

Q3.) If the membership does not desire them to be elected, how would they make their votes known?

If casting a blank ballot counts as an abstention and not towards the votes needed for a win, how would someone cast a vote against the nominee?

 

Reply to Q1.

Correct. The practice [i.e., of casting a single ballot by the secretary] is obsolete.

The practice does not satisfy a rule which demands "voting by ballot".

So, if your bylaws demand a ballot vote, you must stop casting a single ballot.

 

Reply to Q2.

Two prong answer.

* If you have a rule to vote by ballot, then "No," the chair cannot declare elected the sole nominee, because a secret ballot must be conducted.

* If you do not have a rule for voting by ballot, then "yes," RONR does allow the chair to declare elected sole nominees. But that never happens at the nominating meeting, but only allowed at the election meeting.

(As you say, ". . . At the following meeting, we hold our elections . . .".)

 

Reply to Q3.

If the chair declares elected the sole nominee, then there is no way to vote in opposition.

If the voting is by ballot, then you may write in a name, and thus vote in opposition.

[Josh Martin]

If only one person is nominated for an office, does RONR stipulate that they are automatically elected?

 

Not exactly, but the chair can and should declare the nominee elected by acclamation, unless the bylaws require a ballot vote (this doesn't seem to be the case here) or the assembly orders a ballot vote.

 

If the membership does not desire them to be elected, how would they make their votes known?

 

The best way would be to nominate someone else, which would force a vote. Failing that, the assembly can order a ballot vote, and members can then write-in votes for someone else.

 

If casting a blank ballot counts as an abstention and not towards the votes needed for a win, how would someone cast a vote against the nominee?

 

By voting for someone else.

 

Does RONR say that a nominee can be elected only by having been nominated?

 

No.

 

Is it possible to vote for nobody? And have a vacant office at the end of the election? The case being no one wants the office nor the sole candidate running?

 

No.

 

So if no one wants the sole nominee, they must vote for someone else. Rather than vote for someone unqualified or undesirable, we could not have a vacant office?

 

Correct.

 

Since your society apparently feels that it would be acceptable to simply elect no one to this office, has the society considered whether the office is even necessary? Amending the bylaws to remove this office would solve this problem.

[Richard Brown]

Is it possible to vote for nobody? And have a vacant office at the end of the election? The case being no one wants the office nor the sole candidate running?

 

Well, if nobody casts a vote for a candidate in that race, then nobody is elected to that position and you have an incomplete election.  If the sole nominee is so unpopular and there are no nominees from the floor and no write in ballots, I guess it is conceivable that everyone just abstains from voting in that race.  Somebody has to receive at least one vote in order to be elected.  I'm betting, though, that the sole nominee will vote for himself.

 

If the election isn't completed before the term of the current office holder expires, then, depending on the precise wording in your bylaws about terms of office, the current officer may may not continue in office until a successor is elected.

[Guest T323130]

If a member is nominated for a position and is running unopposed, and during the vote 80 members are eligible.  Our by-laws states that the candidate must receive 51%.   What happens if 60 of the 80 members submit blank votes.  I see it as the candidate did not receive the 51%, but do the 60 blank votes count towards the total?   The question is, how can a candidate running unopposed not be voted in without a write-in candidate?

[Nathan Zook]

Blank ballots are abstentions.  They are not counted in computing the number of votes necessary for any action unless your bylaws state otherwise.

Unfortunately, some bylaws specify something like "51% of members present".  In which case, blank ballots are effectively votes against everyone.

Please post the exact words in your bylaws on this subject.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

2 hours ago, Guest T323130 said:

If a member is nominated for a position and is running unopposed, and during the vote 80 members are eligible.  Our by-laws states that the candidate must receive 51%.   What happens if 60 of the 80 members submit blank votes.  I see it as the candidate did not receive the 51%, but do the 60 blank votes count towards the total?   The question is, how can a candidate running unopposed not be voted in without a write-in candidate?

Please post as a new topic.

[Gary Novosielski]

3 hours ago, Guest T323130 said:

If a member is nominated for a position and is running unopposed, and during the vote 80 members are eligible.  Our by-laws states that the candidate must receive 51%.   What happens if 60 of the 80 members submit blank votes.  I see it as the candidate did not receive the 51%, but do the 60 blank votes count towards the total?   The question is, how can a candidate running unopposed not be voted in without a write-in candidate?

If the candidate received 60 votes, and no other candidate received any, then the candidate was elected (arguably by unanimous vote).  But of course even if there was an unopposed candidate, there should always be a place for write-ins.