private organization nominating committee

[Guest JAL1]

Our organization votes a nominating committee in March. The committee came forth with nominees at the April general meeting. One of the nominees is currently an officer. She is a member of long standing. In one of her volunteer roles, not associated with her office, she took some personal actions, upon herself, without approval or notice. The actions caused harm to the organization but no permanent damage. The officer has a history of uncommunicativeness, does not report and does not attend any meetings. Her mother was on the nominating committee. The nominating committee has now nominated this member for a different more important office. One that is more critical to the organization. In fact it is the most important office outside of the  upper executives. The nominations were all approved at the general meeting in April. The election is in May.  Is there an ethical legal way to prevent this candidate from being elected for the new office? Can she be withdrawn from the nominations for her past bad actions?

[Atul Kapur]

There should be an opportunity at the May meeting for nominations from the floor. At that time, nominate and then vote for someone else.

Practically speaking, nothing stops you and it would be more effective to start looking for and identifying this alternative candidate now and discussing this alternative candidate's merits with the members before the meeting.

 

[Joshua Katz]

41 minutes ago, Guest JAL1 said:

In fact it is the most important office outside of the  upper executives. The nominations were all approved at the general meeting in April. The election is in May.  Is there an ethical legal way to prevent this candidate from being elected for the new office?

Without saying anything about what's illegal, the ordinary (and generally seen as ethical) means to keep someone from being elected is campaigning for someone else. It seems to me that that would be the best approach here. Maybe run yourself even! Or recruit an appropriate person. In short, the answer to someone is someone else - i.e. can't beat something with nothing.

[Gary Novosielski]

3 hours ago, Guest JAL1 said:

Our organization votes a nominating committee in March. The committee came forth with nominees at the April general meeting. One of the nominees is currently an officer. She is a member of long standing. In one of her volunteer roles, not associated with her office, she took some personal actions, upon herself, without approval or notice. The actions caused harm to the organization but no permanent damage. The officer has a history of uncommunicativeness, does not report and does not attend any meetings. Her mother was on the nominating committee. The nominating committee has now nominated this member for a different more important office. One that is more critical to the organization. In fact it is the most important office outside of the  upper executives. The nominations were all approved at the general meeting in April. The election is in May.  Is there an ethical legal way to prevent this candidate from being elected for the new office? Can she be withdrawn from the nominations for her past bad actions?

The only "ethical" way to prevent someone from being elected is to vote for someone else.  Even if her nomination were withdrawn (which would have to be voluntary on her part) she could still be elected by write-in votes.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the nominations were approved" at the April meeting.  If the rules in RONR apply, nominations require no approval, nor even a second.  And after the report of the nominating committee is read, the chair must ask for additional nominations from the floor.  If this was not done in April, it must be done prior to the election at the May meeting.  And even if it was done in April and no nominations from the floor were made, a motion to reopen nominations at the May meeting is still in order.

[Josh Martin]

5 hours ago, Guest JAL1 said:

Is there an ethical legal way to prevent this candidate from being elected for the new office? 

Yes - by voting for someone else.

5 hours ago, Guest JAL1 said:

Can she be withdrawn from the nominations for her past bad actions?

No.

1 hour ago, Gary Novosielski said:

I'm not sure what you mean by "the nominations were approved" at the April meeting.  If the rules in RONR apply, nominations require no approval, nor even a second.  And after the report of the nominating committee is read, the chair must ask for additional nominations from the floor.  If this was not done in April, it must be done prior to the election at the May meeting.  And even if it was done in April and no nominations from the floor were made, a motion to reopen nominations at the May meeting is still in order.

And in any event, write-in votes are also in order.