Board Slate - is there a definition & other related questions

[Guest Leila]

Our non-profit school follows Robert's rules. For board elections, our handbook says "Nominations for Board positions shall be open to the General Membership as announced by the existing Board. The Director may advise as to such nominations. The slate with the consent of the candidates shall be presented to the general members at the April meeting, at which time nominations may also be made from the floor."

I have three questions:

1. As of now, the slate is chosen by a nominations committee where it is one person per position and that's what is presented to the school and that's what is voted on.  We want to change it so that at least 2 people per position are presented and members vote for each position between the two people. Is that true that there is no definition of slate in Robert's Rules. This is what I read in section 66:

"But in the election of the officers of a society it is more usual to have the nominations made by a committee. When the committee makes its report, which consists of a ticket, the chair asks if there are any other nominations, when they may be made from the floor. The committee's nominations are treated just as if made by members from the floor, no vote being taken on accepting them. "

This to me does not specify that a slate is only one candidate per position. So can we perhaps take out the word slate and just say "A list of nominees with at least 2 qualified candidates per position  shall be presented to the general members." ? Does anything in Robert's Rules forbid doing that? Or something similar?

 

2. Can anyone sit on a nominations committee for an organization including all current board members and the executive director? Seems very biased...?

3. In this day of all of these online meetings, can a vote be taken easily on a motion like to make this change? So it's not in person. 

[Josh Martin]

8 hours ago, Guest Leila said:

1. As of now, the slate is chosen by a nominations committee where it is one person per position and that's what is presented to the school and that's what is voted on.  We want to change it so that at least 2 people per position are presented and members vote for each position between the two people. Is that true that there is no definition of slate in Robert's Rules. This is what I read in section 66:

"But in the election of the officers of a society it is more usual to have the nominations made by a committee. When the committee makes its report, which consists of a ticket, the chair asks if there are any other nominations, when they may be made from the floor. The committee's nominations are treated just as if made by members from the floor, no vote being taken on accepting them. "

This to me does not specify that a slate is only one candidate per position. So can we perhaps take out the word slate and just say "A list of nominees with at least 2 qualified candidates per position  shall be presented to the general members." ? Does anything in Robert's Rules forbid doing that? Or something similar?

It is correct that the nominating committee is not limited to nominating more than one person per position, but RONR does not advise requiring the committee to do so. Instead, if members are dissatisfied with the nominations from the committee, they can simply make nominations from the floor. RONR does not, however, forbid the society from adopting such a rule (and cannot do so, since the society's rules take precedence over RONR).

"Although it is not common for the nominating committee to nominate more than one candidate for any office, the committee can do so unless the bylaws prohibit it. It is usually not sound to require the committee to nominate more than one candidate for each office, since the committee can easily circumvent such a provision by nominating only one person who has any chance of being elected (see also p. 573)." (RONR 11th ed., pg. 433)

It should be noted that even if this rule was adopted, nominations from the floor (and write-in votes) are still in order, so members are not limited to voting for one of the two persons nominated by the committee.

Additionally, it is true that there is no definition of the word "slate" in RONR. In the book, the list of nominees made by the nominating committee is referred to simply as the committee's report. I advise avoiding the use of the word "slate." 

Finally, I would note that there is no "Section 66" in the current edition of RONR. I expect you are reading the 4th edition, since that edition (published in 1915) is in the public domain and is readily available online. You might want to update to the 21st century - especially since some of your questions involve online meetings. The 4th edition has very little to say on that subject. 

8 hours ago, Guest Leila said:

2. Can anyone sit on a nominations committee for an organization including all current board members and the executive director? Seems very biased...?

RONR recommends that the President should not be a member of the nomination committee, but beyond that, it leaves it to the judgment of the organization who should sit on the nominating committee. The organization is free to appoint whoever it sees fit to the committee, unless the organization's rules provide otherwise.

8 hours ago, Guest Leila said:

3. In this day of all of these online meetings, can a vote be taken easily on a motion like to make this change? So it's not in person. 

Well, I would first note that the organization may only meet online if so authorized by its bylaws. Assuming that hurdle is cleared, the organization should then adopt rules governing such meetings, as there will need to be some modifications. Due to the current situation, the Robert's Rules Association has recently made some recommended rules for electronic meetings publicly available.

Beyond that, whether it is "easy" will depend on the specifics of the organization. Due to various practical and technical limitations, electronic meetings tend to work reasonably well (although still not quite as well as in-person meetings) for relatively small groups, but they become increasingly more difficult for larger and larger groups. Factors such as the members' familiarity with (and access to) suitable technology may also make a difference.

Edited April 22, 2020 at 02:20 PM by Josh Martin

[Gary Novosielski]

On 4/22/2020 at 10:15 AM, Josh Martin said:

You might want to update to the 21st century - especially since some of your questions involve online meetings. The 4th edition has very little to say on that subject. 

As I understand it, the Internet was much slower  than, as it was largely powered by waterwheels and, later, coal.