Nominating committee

[Guest Grant]

If a nominating committee is formed and they find no one to run for the office, can a member of the committee say they will run and be placed on the ballot or must they be nominated during the business meeting from the floor.  It seems kind of undemocratic to be on the nominating committee and then you could ask people you know wont run and place yourself on the ballot that the committee comes up with.

[George Mervosh]

The nominating committee may nominate its own members.

"Members of the nominating committee are not barred from becoming nominees for office themselves. To make such a requirement would mean, first, that service on the nominating committee carried a penalty by depriving its members of one of their privileges; and second, that appointment or election to the nominating committee could be used to prevent a member from becoming a nominee. "  RONR (11th ed.), p. 433

Edited November 7, 2018 at 04:30 PM by George Mervosh

[Gary Novosielski]

On 11/7/2018 at 11:21 AM, Guest Grant said:

If a nominating committee is formed and they find no one to run for the office, can a member of the committee say they will run and be placed on the ballot or must they be nominated during the business meeting from the floor.  It seems kind of undemocratic to be on the nominating committee and then you could ask people you know wont run and place yourself on the ballot that the committee comes up with.

Well, you can't just place yourself on the ballot.  It still takes a majority vote of the committee.  But there's nothing undemocratic about it.  What would be undemocratic, if service on the committee were a disqualification, would be appointing someone to the committee to prevent them from being nominated.  You shouldn't have to give up an opportunity to seek office in order to serve on the nominating committee.