Postponing an election: conflict with constitution?

[mjhmjh]

The President submitted his resignation to the Executive Board. The Executive Board accepted his resignation, so the office of President is now vacant. Note: the Constitution authorizes the Executive Board to accept resignations. Furthermore, when the office of President is vacant, the Constitution says that the Vice President acts as President until the vacancy is filled but does not become the President.

The Constitution says this about vacancies:

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Whenever a vacancy arises in an office, an election to fill the vacancy, held in the same manner as a regular election, must occur at the following regular meeting, or at the same meeting if the vacancy occurs during a meeting.

Thus, at our regular meeting Monday evening, there will be an election for the office of President. The Vice President plans to run for President. However, the Constitution says:

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A member must not hold more than one office at a time.

Thus, if the Vice President is elected President, the office of Vice President will become vacant immediately and the election of a Vice President will come up at that moment. Some members would like to postpone the election of a Vice President to the next regular meeting. I believe this can be done with a motion "to postpone the election of a Vice President to the next regular meeting," which requires only the support of a majority of those present and voting. Others say the appropriate motion is "to suspend the rules and postpone the election of a Vice President to the next regular meeting," which requires the support of two-thirds of those present and voting, because to postpone the election we must suspend this portion of the Constitution (which they argue is a rule of order).

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Whenever a vacancy arises in an office, an election to fill the vacancy, held in the same manner as a regular election, must occur at the following regular meeting, or at the same meeting if the vacancy occurs during a meeting.

I cite RONR (11th ed.), p. 185, ll. 22–27 in support of my view.

Edited January 20, 2020 at 08:28 AM by mjhmjh

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, mjhmjh said:

The President submitted his resignation to the Executive Board. The Executive Board accepted his resignation, so the office of President is now vacant. Note: the Constitution authorizes the Executive Board to accept resignations. Furthermore, when the office of President is vacant, the Constitution says that the Vice President acts as President until the vacancy is filled but does not become the President.

The Constitution says this about vacancies:

Thus, at our regular meeting Monday evening, there will be an election for the office of President. The Vice President plans to run for President. However, the Constitution says:

Thus, if the Vice President is elected President, the office of Vice President will become vacant immediately and the election of a Vice President will come up at that moment. Some members would like to postpone the election of a Vice President to the next regular meeting. I believe this can be done with a motion "to postpone the election of a Vice President to the next regular meeting," which requires only the support of a majority of those present and voting. Others say the appropriate motion is "to suspend the rules and postpone the election of a Vice President to the next regular meeting," which requires the support of two-thirds of those present and voting, because to postpone the election we must suspend this portion of the Constitution (which they argue is a rule of order).

I cite RONR (11th ed.), p. 185, ll. 22–27 in support of my view.

The election of the new vice president may be postponed until the next regular meeting, but the motion to postpone it would be out of order until the election is actually pending.

In other words, once the chair states that the next item of business is the election of a vice President to fill the vacancy just created, the election is then pending and may be postponed until the next regular meeting or until a special meeting to be held prior to the next regular meeting. All of that is provided for on page 185 at lines 7 through 27. 

Edited January 20, 2020 at 10:54 AM by Richard Brown
Deleted a paragraph that somehow repeated itself