President

[Guest June]

If at the annual election meeting if there is no one nominated for a position and no one runs from the floor and the position remains open is it treated as a vacancy and filled according to bylaws or is it considered an open position that must be filled by the General membership

[Hieu H. Huynh]

It's an incomplete election that the membership would complete at its next meeting.

What do your bylaws say about the term of office? Is there "until a successor is elected"?

[Guest June]

It says or until a successor is elected

but does that mean only the general membership can elect them or can the executive board do it as a vacancy as according to the bylaws?

[jstackpo]

The general membership.  The "or  until..." clause just means that the person extends his/her term in office; it doesn't imply that he is "elected" to a new term.  You still have an incomplete election.

Unfortunately RONR does not say what to do if the association is unable to complete the election at the next meeting (or the meeting after that, or...).

[Dan Honemann]

2 hours ago, Guest June said:

It says or until a successor is elected

but does that mean only the general membership can elect them or can the executive board do it as a vacancy as according to the bylaws?

In view of the fact that your bylaws say that your president officer remains in office until his successor is elected, there is no vacancy to fill.

[jstackpo]

But if the president, serving in his extended term in office, tenders his resignation, and that resignation is accepted by the assembly, what then?

Does that create a real vacancy (fillable by the Board, say, per the bylaws, or by the vice-president) or does it still require the assembly to elect a new president?

Phrasing it differently, can you "convert" an incomplete election into a vacancy in this manner?

[Dan Honemann]

31 minutes ago, jstackpo said:

But if the president, serving in his extended term in office, tenders his resignation, and that resignation is accepted by the assembly, what then?

Does that create a real vacancy (fillable by the Board, say, per the bylaws, or by the vice-president) or does it still require the assembly to elect a new president?

Phrasing it differently, can you "convert" an incomplete election into a vacancy in this manner?

First off, I don't know why I referred to the president in my initial response (other than the fact that "President" is this thread's title), and so I have edited that response to refer only to an "officer". Let's assume it's the treasurer.

In this case, if the board has the authority to accept the treasurer's resignation and fill the resultant vacancy, it may go ahead and do so. The officer so selected will fill the vacancy thus created until such time as the membership's assembly completes the election which it failed to complete before it adjourned. If the board has no such authority, the treasurer will remain in office until such time as the membership's assembly meets again and can complete the election of his successor.

In any event, I think the answer to your question is yes, a vacancy in office is going to be created whenever a resignation from that office is accepted, except in the case of a resignation from the office of president.

 

 

[Richard Brown]

This subject.. an incomplete election vs a vacancy... causes me consternation.  I hope we can explore it a bit further. 

I agree that in this case, mostly because an officer serves until his successor is elected, we have an incomplete election rather than a vacancy.  I also agree that if the officer holding over ultimately gets fed up and submits a resignation that is accepted, there will then be a vacancy.

My concern is those cases where the bylaws do not say the officer serves until his successor is elected and, at the annual meeting, no one is elected to that position before the meeting adjourns.   I believe we all agree that at that point we have an incomplete election and that the election should be completed as soon as possible.  But, what happens if no one is elected at the next meeting?  Or the next?   In short, at what point does the incomplete election become a vacancy?

I know we have had discussions on this point in other threads, but I don't recall that there has been a clear resolution.  I know I have seen posts, possibly by Mr. Martin, among others, that an incomplete election does become a vacancy at some point. 

My question remains, "at what point does an incomplete election become a vacancy?"

 

[Dan Honemann]

45 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

This subject.. an incomplete election vs a vacancy... causes me consternation.  I hope we can explore it a bit further. 

I agree that in this case, mostly because an officer serves until his successor is elected, we have an incomplete election rather than a vacancy.  I also agree that if the officer holding over ultimately gets fed up and submits a resignation that is accepted, there will then be a vacancy.

My concern is those cases where the bylaws do not say the officer serves until his successor is elected and, at the annual meeting, no one is elected to that position before the meeting adjourns.   I believe we all agree that at that point we have an incomplete election and that the election should be completed as soon as possible.  But, what happens if no one is elected at the next meeting?  Or the next?   In short, at what point does the incomplete election become a vacancy?

I know we have had discussions on this point in other threads, but I don't recall that there has been a clear resolution.  I know I have seen posts, possibly by Mr. Martin, among others, that an incomplete election does become a vacancy at some point. 

My question remains, "at what point does an incomplete election become a vacancy?"

 

If an officers term ends and no one has been elected to fill the vacancy, there is a vacancy.

[Gary Novosielski]

28 minutes ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

If an officers term ends and no one has been elected to fill the vacancy, there is a vacancy.

Yes, but if that vacancy is filled by means other than a completed election, the appointed officer serves for the unexpired remainder of the term to which he was appointed.  That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of zero seconds.

[Dan Honemann]

7 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

Yes, but if that vacancy is filled by means other than a completed election, the appointed officer serves for the unexpired remainder of the term to which he was appointed.  That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of zero seconds.

No, I don't think this is the case. The vacancy is occurring in the current term, not in the term which has ended.