Can a president submit nominations for officers?

[Guest Liz]

I think this question has no merit but it was posed by a member and I said I would research.  She claims that the president of the Board shouldn't submit nominations, especially for his own office.  I'm sure this is not true.  Can I get clarity? Thanks

[Phil D]

Nothing in RONR prohibits self-nomination that I am aware of.  46:1-46:29 of RONR 12th Edition cover various methods of nomination, including nomination by the chair, floor votes, and nomination by committee. Indeed 46:12, discussing the method of nomination by committee, expressly states that members of such a committee can nominate themselves. The other methods don’t prohibit self-nominations.

Most likely your bylaws have some specific rules about the methods of nomination, so those should also be consulted, along with any other relevant legal authority that governs your organization.

[Guest Liz]

The person raising the question was a little perturbed that the president submitted nominations for ANY office.

We just had our board meeting with election of officers and the president had one nomination for each office.  

The questioner also had nominations and most of hers were outvoted by the president's nominations.  So I think her question

was based upon emotion.

[Richard Brown]

RONR provides specifically that the president should have nothing to do with a nominating committee, but nothing in RONR prohibits the president from making a nomination from the floor or from nominating himself. We do not know the size of this board or exactly what nominations are being made, but I will note that under the small board rules the president participates just like all of the other members.  

[Gary Novosielski]

On 1/23/2023 at 12:40 PM, Guest Liz said:

I think this question has no merit but it was posed by a member and I said I would research.  She claims that the president of the Board shouldn't submit nominations, especially for his own office.  I'm sure this is not true.  Can I get clarity? Thanks

RONR is generally in opposition to the president having anything to do with the nominating process.  It recommends that when drafting bylaws, if  there is to be a fairly common provision that the president is, ex officio, a member of all committees, the phrase "except the Nominating Committee" should be included.

But those are recommendations for rules to be adopted.  They are not rules that are in force unless the society accepts those recommendations.  So the answer will depend on your own rules.

In my view, in a large assembly not under small board rules, when opening the floor to nominations, a nomination by the chair is tantamount to making a motion or participating in debate, and the chair should the practice or relinquish the chair first. 

But even this is not categorical prohibition.  I would frown on it, but I don't think I could raise a point of order against it.

[Richard Brown]

@Gary NovosielskiI agree with you, but guest Liz referred to “the president of the board“ submitting a nomination so I am assuming that this is a board, although we do not know the size of it.  If this is a small board or operating under the small board rules, I think the president is free to make nominations,  even a nomination for the next president and even to nominate himself. It might be rather unseemly to do so, but I think he has the right to.

[Gary Novosielski]

Yes, that's why I specified "in a large assembly".  

There are still a lot of organizations who think that the AGM is just a board meeting with a lot of extras allowed in, presided over by the Board President, or maybe the whole board. 

In an actual small board, the president has few such restrictions, but then again, there is typically little or no need for any formal nomination process on intra-board elections.