Relative on BOG

[Guest Ann Vorndran]

Since the Bylaws do not address relatives (spouses) on the BOG.  Can the nominating committee decide that spouses are not eligible for nomination?

[Chris Harrison]

The nominating committee can't decide that someone is ineligible for nomination if there is no rule in place rendering them ineligible.  However, there is no rule in RONR obligating the committee to nominate a certain person so if they don't believe they should nominate someone (for whatever reason) they don't have to.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Since the Bylaws do not address relatives (spouses) on the BOG. 

Can the nominating committee decide that spouses are not eligible for nomination?

In general, Nominating Committees do not declare any nominee or any candidate to be eligible or not.

But that is the general case.

Some organization do charge their Nomnating Committee with the extra task of "qualifying" nominees/candidates.

In such a case, the Nom. Comm. will apply some kind of standard(s).

 

In Robert's Rules of Order, there are no such standards.

Anyone may be elected.

Anyone may serve in office.

Even nonmembers.

Even in-arrears members

Even not-in-good-standing members.

That's The Book.

 

There is no such parliamenetary rule in Robert's Rules of Order which says that spouses are treated any differently when it comes to

(a.) running for office, or

(b.) casting votes, or

(c.) serving on the same body as the corresponding spouse.

 

So, if your Nom. Comm. is determining, "Is Spouse X qualified to be nominated?", then the Nom. Comm. must find/apply a written rule from your own rules, not Robert's Rules.

[Timothy]

The nominating committee has no authority to specify who is eligible, but it isn't unusual for a nominating committee to have some internal discussions about what characteristics they are looking for. If they are nominating for a committee, they might decide they don't want people from the same family, or they might want people in a specific age range, or with certain abilities.

[Gary Novosielski]

Since the Bylaws do not address relatives (spouses) on the BOG.  Can the nominating committee decide that spouses are not eligible for nomination?

No, they can't declare someone ineligible without a rule that supports that position. But they may consider such things in deciding whom to nominate.

However, if they decide not to nominate both spouses, the one not nominated by the committee could still be nominated from the floor.