Elections - Multiple Positions held by one person

[Guest J. Hagan H]

In our organization we have 7 families managing the corporation, husband and wife.  Each couple is only allowed one vote so hence 7 votes total.  Can one family hold both the President (husband) and Secretary (wife) position or is this not acceptable. allowing too much power in one family and since they only have one vote -- how would that work when taking votes or if necessary the President breaking a tie since his wife would have already voted.    I could not find any reference in Roberts Rules.  

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Can one family hold both the President (husband) and Secretary (wife) position?

I could not find any reference in Roberts Rules.  

Yes, they can.

 

There is NO SUCH RULE in Robert's Rules of Order which prohibits:

* spouses

* siblings

* children

* uncles/aunts

. . . from serving simultaneously on a board or committee.

 

Voters have the final say, when they cast their ballots, whether they want a dynasty in place.

[Edgar Guest]

Can one family hold both the President (husband) and Secretary (wife) position or is this not acceptable.

 

Assuming that you must be a member in order to hold office, who are the members of your organization? Is the family a member (with one vote per family) or are the individual family members members. If the latter, then two members of the same family could hold two offices. But, as you ask, if the family has only one vote, how will you determine who (i.e. the president or the secretary) will cast that family's one vote? I guess they'll have to agree.

 

If, on the other hand, it's the family that's the member (and not the family members), then, just as the family would have to decide on how it will vote, it would also have to decide who will serve in office.

 

On the other (third) hand, if you don't have to be a member to hold office (and how, one might ask, could a family hold office) then one family member could hold office as a voting member and the other could hold office as a non-voting non-member.

 

But perhaps I'm over-thinking this one.

[Richard Brown]

But perhaps I'm over-thinking this one.

 

Nope, I don't think so.  I had all the same questions. 

[judelynnh]

Membership is married couples and one vote per family. What about breaking a tie if one already voted. The pres can't break a tie then

[jstackpo]

No need to "break a tie".  A tie vote is a defeat for the motion being voted on - that ends it.

[Richard Brown]

Membership is married couples and one vote per family. What about breaking a tie if one already voted. The pres can't break a tie then

Unless you have some rule to the contrary, the president cannot vote twice.  In your case, perhaps it's complicated by the fact that the president and his (or her) spouse want to vote differently on an issue.  How  do you handle that?  Does it amount to an abstention for that family's vote?

 

You have a very unusual situation.  I'm not sure how much we can help you, but stay tuned... and maybe explain to us a bit more how you handle a situation when a husband and wife cannot agree on how to cast their single (but joint) vote.

 

Edited to add:  I agree with Dr. Stackpole's comment directly above that there is no need to break a tie.  A tie vote fails.

[Edgar Guest]

Membership is married couples and one vote per family.

 

Are you distinguishing between a couple and a family or are you using those terms interchangeably?

 

In other words are there two members (the couple) but they have only one vote (the family)?

[judelynnh]

Yes

[Kim Goldsworthy]

I assume that,

if Spouse #1 (husband?) and Spouse #2 (wife?)

are to vote at all,

then there must unanimity between the two.

Or,

the spousal couple must pre-agree that

Spouse #N will cast the vote

while Spouse [#N+1 or #N-1] abstains.

*****

Either way, the casting of the single vote is immaterial to the question asked.

(Can two spouses hold offficerships at the same time?)