Nominations of candidates

[Guest Stanley D. Banash]

Can someone nominate the same person for two or three different offices on a ballot? Can the nominated person remain on the ballot for those different positions and then, if elected to more than one position, select the position which they want to retain? The person receiving the next highest number of votes elected to those offices not selected by the candidate is the winner, and so on. We are a not-for-profit historical association. I could find no mention in the Society's By-Laws or in Robert's Rules of Order that prohibits this procedure. Please comment. Many thanks!

[RSW]

2 minutes ago, Guest Stanley D. Banash said:

The person receiving the next highest number of votes elected to those offices not selected by the candidate is the winner, and so on.

Default with RONR requires a majority vote, with re-balloting if an ineligible candidate wins. 46:31 provides:

Quote

For this reason, a candidate is never deemed elected to more than one office by a single ballot unless the motion or rules governing the election specifically provide for such simultaneous election. When there is no such provision, a candidate who receives a majority for more than one office on a single ballot must, if present, choose which one of the offices he will accept; if he is absent, the assembly decides by a ballot vote the office to be assigned to him. This question, which is debatable, requires a majority vote for adoption. The assembly then ballots again to fill the other office(s).

If you wind up in a scenario where somebody is potentially on the ballot for multiple offices, you may want to use separate ballots and do each office sequentially. At the point they win one election, their name would then be withdrawn for subsequent ballots or, if your bylaws don't prohibit it, 46:31 continues:

Quote

(The assembly is free, however, to elect the same person to another office on a subsequent ballot, unless the bylaws prohibit a person from holding both offices simultaneously.)

 

[Atul Kapur]

29 minutes ago, Guest Stanley D. Banash said:

Can someone nominate the same person for two or three different offices on a ballot?

Yes

30 minutes ago, Guest Stanley D. Banash said:

Can the nominated person remain on the ballot for those different positions and then, if elected to more than one position, select the position which they want to retain?

Good up to now, but...

30 minutes ago, Guest Stanley D. Banash said:

The person receiving the next highest number of votes elected to those offices not selected by the candidate is the winner

This is incorrect. RONR is not like Miss America, the first runner-up does not automatically become the winner if the winner declines.

The candidate who receives the second highest number of votes is never declared elected. You run another ballot for the positions that are still open. As RSW notes, the person who won the election could decide to stay on the ballot for the second office and could be elected to that second (and even the third) office.

 

[Rob Elsman]

30 minutes ago, Atul Kapur said:

RONR is not like Miss America...

😊

[Richard Brown]

42 minutes ago, Atul Kapur said:

RONR is not like Miss America, the first runner-up does not automatically become the winner if the winner declines.

 

12 minutes ago, Rob Elsman said:

😊

I thought that was a pretty good one, too! 😊