Resignation of office

[Guest ETNunionguy]

At a regularly schedule meeting we held an election for a vacated seat. There was a nomination of a member that already held an office so they were deemed ineligible as our bylaws disallow holding multiple offices. The next candidate was nominated. After candidate #2 was nominated the chairman allowed candidate #1 to resign thier currently held seat and accept nomination for the current seat being voted upon. Candidate #2 is not well liked by the current leadership and would have been unopposed otherwise. Candidate #1 is part of the "clique" and will help further the current leadership's agenda.

 

My question is, Is this allowable or is this a parliamentary procedure error? Are members allowed to resign a seat after the nomination process has began in order to stiffle an unfavorable (to the current leadership's agenda) candidate from gaining the seat?

[Dan Honemann]

On 11/20/2021 at 6:51 AM, Guest ETNunionguy said:

At a regularly schedule meeting we held an election for a vacated seat. There was a nomination of a member that already held an office so they were deemed ineligible as our bylaws disallow holding multiple offices. The next candidate was nominated. After candidate #2 was nominated the chairman allowed candidate #1 to resign thier currently held seat and accept nomination for the current seat being voted upon. Candidate #2 is not well liked by the current leadership and would have been unopposed otherwise. Candidate #1 is part of the "clique" and will help further the current leadership's agenda.

 

My question is, Is this allowable or is this a parliamentary procedure error? Are members allowed to resign a seat after the nomination process has began in order to stiffle an unfavorable (to the current leadership's agenda) candidate from gaining the seat?

There appears to be nothing at all wrong with what you describe as having taken place.  In fact, depending upon exactly what your bylaws say, it may not have been necessary for Candidate #1 to resign before being nominated.  Ordinarily, he could hold off on submission of such a resignation until after having been elected.

But in any event, Candidate #1 appears to have been duly elected.

[Josh Martin]

On 11/20/2021 at 5:51 AM, Guest ETNunionguy said:

My question is, Is this allowable or is this a parliamentary procedure error?

Yes, this is permissible. I think, in fact, that it was an error for the chair to initially rule the nomination for this person out of order. A rule which prohibits holding multiple offices does not prevent someone from running for a different office, although if the person wins the other office, then it would be necessary to resign from the original office. The member would not be required to resign in advance of winning the other office unless your rules so provide.

On 11/20/2021 at 5:51 AM, Guest ETNunionguy said:

Are members allowed to resign a seat after the nomination process has began in order to stiffle an unfavorable (to the current leadership's agenda) candidate from gaining the seat?

Yes, a member is allowed to resign from a position after the nomination process has begun (although as noted above, I don't think there is any requirement to do so). The member's motivations in this regard are irrelevant.

Edited November 20, 2021 at 01:47 PM by Josh Martin

[Shmuel Gerber]

On 11/20/2021 at 6:51 AM, Guest ETNunionguy said:

At a regularly schedule meeting we held an election for a vacated seat. There was a nomination of a member that already held an office so they were deemed ineligible as our bylaws disallow holding multiple offices.

 

On 11/20/2021 at 7:49 AM, Dan Honemann said:

In fact, depending upon exactly what your bylaws say, it may not have been necessary for Candidate #1 to resign before being nominated.  Ordinarily, he could hold off on submission of such a resignation until after having been elected.

 

On 11/20/2021 at 8:46 AM, Josh Martin said:

I think, in fact, that it was an error for the chair to initially rule the nomination for this person out of order. A rule which prohibits holding multiple offices does not prevent someone from running for a different office, although if the person wins the other office, then it would be necessary to resign from the original office. The member would not be required to resign in advance of winning the other office unless your rules so provide.

I agree that it was not necessary to submit an unconditional resignation from the first office in order to be nominated to fill the vacancy in the second.

But it appears that this election took place to fill a vacancy that occurred during an existing term of office. So presumably the winner would take office as soon as the election becomes final. If so, since the bylaws disallow holding multiple offices, the only way for the election to become final is for the member to resign from the first office. Since the member was present at the time of the nomination, I think it would have been entirely appropriate to ask the member to indicate in advance that he is effectively submitting at least a conditional resignation to take effect upon election to the second office.

It would be absurd to allow the member to be nominated, win the election, and then either decline the second office (so that the election has to be repeated) or else submit a resignation from the first office, with the acceptance of that resignation somehow being a separate question from the election that just took place.

[Dan Honemann]

On 11/20/2021 at 10:04 PM, Shmuel Gerber said:

 

 

I agree that it was not necessary to submit an unconditional resignation from the first office in order to be nominated to fill the vacancy in the second.

But it appears that this election took place to fill a vacancy that occurred during an existing term of office. So presumably the winner would take office as soon as the election becomes final. If so, since the bylaws disallow holding multiple offices, the only way for the election to become final is for the member to resign from the first office. Since the member was present at the time of the nomination, I think it would have been entirely appropriate to ask the member to indicate in advance that he is effectively submitting at least a conditional resignation to take effect upon election to the second office.

It would be absurd to allow the member to be nominated, win the election, and then either decline the second office (so that the election has to be repeated) or else submit a resignation from the first office, with the acceptance of that resignation somehow being a separate question from the election that just took place.

You're absolutely right, and this is what I get for going beyond simply answering the question asked and volunteering additional, unnecessary stuff.

And I owe Mr. Martin an apology for possibly having lured him into making the same mistake.  Now he knows I'm not to be trusted.  🙂

But it is interesting to note that, regardless of whether the resignation that is offered is conditional or unconditional, if Candidate #1 is elected to fill the existing vacancy, another election will be required to fill the vacancy thus created in the office which he previously held. Another election can be avoided only if the resignation is conditional and Candidate #1 is not elected.