Officer Nominations by written petition

[Guest Sally Gift]

Our organization's by-laws allow for self nominations for Officer and Governor positions from the membership during our election process, requiring that these nominations, with the appropriate 5 signatures of other members endorsing the candidate, be received by the Recording Secretary by a specified date. This year, when the time came for the self nomination period to open, the Recording Secretary's position was vacant, so the official notice published to the entire membership specified that all such nominations must be received by a specified person who had been appointed by the President/Board to manage this matter. In the months following the publication of the self nomination period, a new Recording Secretary was recently appointed, however no change, and no notice was published to the membership, changing where they were to send self nominations for the upcoming election. At the last minute, a nomination was received by the newly appointed Recording Secretary, but this nomination was not received by person who had been appointed (and published) as the person who must receive nominations for this election. Would this nomination, having been delivered to the wrong person and address, a valid nomination. Should this candidate be allowed to run for office?

(b) Additional nominations of eligible members may be made by written petition signed by five members in good standing and accompanied by the written acceptance of each such additional nominee signifying his or her willingness to be a candidate and a brief resume outlining the nominee’s qualifications. The Recording Secretary must receive such nominations from members not later than September 15 next following.

[jstackpo]

I don't think you can fault anyone who is following the bylaws.   (That is the mantra we live by here!) 

Also anything that smacks of denying someone the right to run for office (in a technicality of the sort you describe) has a very bad odor. 

Put all the completed nominations received on the ballot.

[Josh Martin]

3 hours ago, Guest Sally Gift said:

Would this nomination, having been delivered to the wrong person and address, a valid nomination. Should this candidate be allowed to run for office?

Yes, of course it was a valid nomination and the candidate must be allowed to run, because this nomination was actually delivered to the right person and address. It is understandable that a different person was provided for while the position of Recording Secretary was vacant, but the position is no longer vacant, and your bylaws provide that the nominations are to be sent to the Recording Secretary. As a result, any nominations received by the Recording Secretary are valid. The bylaws take precedence over the language in the notice.

In fact, I think that the person who has received the other nominations should immediately send the nominations they have received to the Recording Secretary, so that there is no question that the bylaws have been followed with respect to those nominations.