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Election of officers procedural questions


Guest Patrice

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1.       I am on the board of directors of a quilt show organization that draws its members from seven quilt guilds. The nomination committee has prepared an officer slate to be presented next week. I chose to run against the candidate for president. All other positions are unopposed. Our bylaws state that officers shall be elected by ballot, unless there is only one candidate for each office, in which case they may be elected viva voce. Question #1: How are elections held? Ballot for president followed by viva voce for the other positions?

2.       Our bylaws also state that no more than two of the five officers shall be from the same participating guild. Nominees for two of the other positions, vice president and secretary, are from my same guild. Questions #2: If president is voted on first, how will that affect subsequent election of vice president and secretary?

Our bylaws state nothing else about the mechanics of the election.

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Answered in the order you asked...

1)  At the election meeting, the chair must ask for nominations from the floor, prior to the election (voting) getting under way.  That is the point where someone can nominate you, and then a ballot for the office will be required. If the chair rushes into the election, raise a point of order (interrupt, RIGHT AWAY, or it will be too late) that floor nominations are required -- RONR page 435.

2) Once two officers are elected from the same guild, it looks like any other candidates from the same guild are no longer eligible to run or serve on the board.  Others will have to be nominated.

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1 hour ago, Guest Patrice said:

Question #1: How are elections held? Ballot for president followed by viva voce for the other positions?

Assuming that it remains the case that all other officers are unopposed, then yes.

1 hour ago, Guest Patrice said:

2.       Our bylaws also state that no more than two of the five officers shall be from the same participating guild. Nominees for two of the other positions, vice president and secretary, are from my same guild. Questions #2: If president is voted on first, how will that affect subsequent election of vice president and secretary?

RONR provides that elections are conducted in the order the offices are listed in the bylaws (unless, I suppose, the assembly orders otherwise). Generally, this would mean that the order would be President, Vice President, and then Secretary.

So I suppose that in this situation, the assembly would need to find a new member willing to serve as Secretary.

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2 hours ago, Josh Martin said:
4 hours ago, Guest Patrice said:

Question #1: How are elections held? Ballot for president followed by viva voce for the other positions?

Assuming that it remains the case that all other officers are unopposed, then yes.

If the remaining offices remain unopposed, you don't even go through the (minor) formality of a viva voce election; the chair just declares the nominees elected.  Apparently, there is no other option (in RONR /11 page 443), any more. Or do your bylaws actually require the viva voce election anyway.

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16 hours ago, jstackpo said:

If the remaining offices remain unopposed, you don't even go through the (minor) formality of a viva voce election; the chair just declares the nominees elected.  Apparently, there is no other option (in RONR /11 page 443), any more. Or do your bylaws actually require the viva voce election anyway.

Yes, this is what RONR says, but we are told that the bylaws provide “that officers shall be elected by ballot, unless there is only one candidate for each office, in which case they may be elected viva voce.” This does not seem to allow for the chair to simply declare the unopposed candidate elected.

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38 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:
17 hours ago, jstackpo said:

Or do your bylaws actually require the viva voce election anyway.

Yes, this is what RONR says, but we are told that the bylaws provide “that officers shall be elected by ballot, unless there is only one candidate for each office, in which case they may be elected viva voce.” This does not seem to allow for the chair to simply declare the unopposed candidate elected.

Well, I will leave the question of whether "they may be elected viva voce" requires a viva voce election to others.

The phrasing of the bylaw in question would be much clearer if it read "unless there is only one candidate for each office, in which case a ballot election is not required".  That would leave the choice of what method of determination of the new officers up to the assembly, or RONR. 

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On 10/10/2019 at 4:37 PM, jstackpo said:

If the remaining offices remain unopposed, you don't even go through the (minor) formality of a viva voce election; the chair just declares the nominees elected.  Apparently, there is no other option (in RONR /11 page 443), any more. Or do your bylaws actually require the viva voce election anyway.

Wording from the Bylaws: "officers shall be elected by ballot. In the event there is only one candidate  for each office, officers may be elected viva voce." I take that as not a requirement.

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