removal from a slate of candidates

[Guest David Grant]

Where a thick book of bylaws and policies are silent on the issue, can an elected board, by majority vote on a motion, remove an otherwise eligible candidate, for that person's election to that board, from the results of a multi day e-election?  The vote was held about 7 hours before the end of the ballot period.  It would seem that new bylaws would first have to be formulated and approved by the full membership (that is how our bylaws are approved) and that a case, to interfere with the slate, should have been made before the election began.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

The board has such powers that the bylaws provide.

[Gödel Fan]

We can't interpret bylaws, and e-elections are by definition conducted under your own rules.  That said, provided that, as stated, the thick bylaws (or thin bylaws, depending on the organization) are silent on the matter, the board most certainly cannot simply decide "we don't like you" and erase people from the results.  As much as this violates the rights of the candidates involved, I'm tempted to say it is a larger violation of the rights of the people who voted for that candidate, whose votes are now obliterated from history.  Either way, unless the bylaws give such a power to the board (and I would struggle to think of a case where I would think that's a good idea, although I could probably come up with something) the board does not have that power.  

 

If the board wants control over the next board term (and thus perpetual control over the organization by those currently on and their hand-picked successors) it would need to persuade the membership to amend the bylaws, as you say.  To be clear, though, they aren't interfering with a "slate," they're claiming to obliterate the results of an election.  They should be, if all is as you say, ignored, since they have no such power.  If they persist in not seating a properly elected member, they should be censured and disciplined - such as by removal of people with tyrannical tendencies from the board.

[Gary Novosielski]

Where a thick book of bylaws and policies are silent on the issue, can an elected board, by majority vote on a motion, remove an otherwise eligible candidate, for that person's election to that board, from the results of a multi day e-election?  The vote was held about 7 hours before the end of the ballot period.  It would seem that new bylaws would first have to be formulated and approved by the full membership (that is how our bylaws are approved) and that a case, to interfere with the slate, should have been made before the election began.

The board has no power to interfere with elections of the membership, and is subordinate to the membership in all matters, unless your bylaws provide otherwise.

 

It would be immeasurably foolish, in my view, to allow the board to effectively select its own members, overruling the will of the general membership.