Vacancy of president

[Guest John]

If the president resigns, does the vice president take over or does the president elect take over?

Also, in a committee of the whole, does the vice president take over?

[Richard Brown]

If the president resigns, does the vice president take over or does the president elect take over?

This depends on your bylaws.  If there is a present-elect, he will usually automatically become the president absent some contrary provision in your bylaws.   If there is no president-elect, then the vice president (or  1st vice president if there is more than one) becomes the president.

 

Also, in a committee of the whole, does the vice president take over?

Usually, but not necessarily.  The regular presiding officer appoints someone to preside while the assembly is in committee of the whole.  Here is the statement from page 532 of RONR:

 

"If the motion of referral to the committee of the whole is adopted, the presiding officer immediately calls another member to the chair—frequently, but not necessarily, the vice-president—and takes his place as a member of the committee."

[Guest John]

This depends on your bylaws.  If there is a present-elect, he will usually automatically become the president absent some contrary provision in your bylaws.   If there is no president-elect, then the vice president (or  1st vice president if there is more than one) becomes the president.

Does RONR say that the president-elect will automatically become the president if one exists and there is no provision in the bylaws to the contrary or does it only occur if provided in the bylaws?

[Guest John]

This depends on your bylaws.  If there is a present-elect, he will usually automatically become the president absent some contrary provision in your bylaws.   If there is no president-elect, then the vice president (or  1st vice president if there is more than one) becomes the president.

Does RONR say that the president-elect will automatically become the president if one exists and there is no provision in the bylaws to the contrary or does it only occur if provided in the bylaws?

[Weldon Merritt]

Does RONR say that the president-elect will automatically become the president if one exists and there is no provision in the bylaws to the contrary or does it only occur if provided in the bylaws?

 

No. Quite the contrary. "When the bylaws of an organization provide for a president-elect, it is usual to provide also that if the president should be absent, or if the office of the president should become vacant between elections, the president-elect shall preside, if present, or shall fill the vacancy. Unless such provision is made, the first vice-president would preside or complete the president's term." RONR, p. 457, ll. 22-28 (emphasis added).

[jstackpo]

If the president resigns, does the vice president take over or does the president elect take over?

Also, in a committee of the whole, does the vice president take over?

 

 

In the order you asked...

 

Yes - the vice-president BECOMES the president and you have a vacancy in the V-P position.  This assumes you have no bylaw provision to the contrary.  In my personal opinion the Pres-Elect (if you have one) should stay in what is essentially a trainee position for his full term, RONR's (bad) advice on p. 457 notwithstanding.   Suppose you do say the Pres-elect moves into a P-vacancy and the pres vacates shortly after his assuming office - then you have a greenhorn in the presidency, a situation that the president-elect system is supposed to avoid.

 

Mr. Brown beat me to the answer to your second question (as he did the first)  --  he types fast!

[Richard Brown]

Does RONR say that the president-elect will automatically become the president if one exists and there is no provision in the bylaws to the contrary or does it only occur if provided in the bylaws?

Here is what RONR says on page 458:

 

"When the bylaws of an organization provide for a president-elect, it is usual to provide also that if the president should be absent, or if the office of the president should become vacant between elections, the president-elect shall preside, if present, or shall fill the vacancy. Unless such provision is made, the first vice-president would preside or complete the president's term. It is also customary to provide in the bylaws for some method to fill a vacancy in the office of president-elect, should one occur between elections. It is important to consider these provisions with great care. The bylaws can assign the president-elect specific responsibilities."

[Weldon Merritt]

Suppose you do say the Pres-elect moves into a P-vacancy and the pres vacates shortly after his assuming office - then you have a greenhorn in the presidency, a situation that the president-elect system is supposed to avoid.

 

True enough. But unless the VP already has experience, then you still would have a greenhorn in the presidency if the VP takes over. I'm not sure that would be any better. (I'm also not so sure that avoiding that situation is a major reason for having a president-elect. I can think of other arguably more important reasons.)

[Timothy]

True enough. But unless the VP already has experience, then you still would have a greenhorn in the presidency if the VP takes over. I'm not sure that would be any better. (I'm also not so sure that avoiding that situation is a major reason for having a president-elect. I can think of other arguably more important reasons.)

 

In the ideal situation (which is not guaranteed), I would think that the organization would elect people who are qualified to fulfill the duties of their position. Since the duties of the VP include taking over for the president, the VP ought to be qualified to do the job of the president. Whereas, the job of the president elect is to learn to be qualified. In reality, in some organizations, the VP is an unofficial president elect. But if people are qualified for their positions, it would make more sense for the VP to take over than for the president elect to do so.