Election Issue

[Guest Guest]

Hello,

I was hoping someone could provide guidance on an issue that's come up in our officers elections.  They are done via electronic vote over a period of ten days in which the ballot is open.  The vote is still open for two more days as of this morning, but on Friday, one of our members used the organizations official email listserv to write in support of one of the candidates, which is against our general policies of the listserv, but not something that's ever been addressed in our bylaws or standing rules.  The individual who did it is not on the ballot and it's unknown at this time if the candidate knew.  Several members, including our election board, are calling for the election to be cancelled and redone and some sort of statement about the incident issued.  We don't have anything in our governing documents to address this and I'm not sure how to properly handle it using Robert's Rules.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Rob Elsman]

I see nothing that would invalidate the election insofar as the rules of order in RONR (12th ed.) control.

[Richard Brown]

I agree with Mr. Elsman. I see nothing that justifies canceling this election and starting a new ballot under the rules in RONR. 

[Josh Martin]

On 2/27/2023 at 7:27 AM, Guest Guest said:

I was hoping someone could provide guidance on an issue that's come up in our officers elections.  They are done via electronic vote over a period of ten days in which the ballot is open.  The vote is still open for two more days as of this morning, but on Friday, one of our members used the organizations official email listserv to write in support of one of the candidates, which is against our general policies of the listserv, but not something that's ever been addressed in our bylaws or standing rules.  The individual who did it is not on the ballot and it's unknown at this time if the candidate knew.  Several members, including our election board, are calling for the election to be cancelled and redone and some sort of statement about the incident issued.  We don't have anything in our governing documents to address this and I'm not sure how to properly handle it using Robert's Rules.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

In regard to the election itself, “how to properly handle it using Robert's Rules” is for the election to proceed as scheduled. There are no grounds from the facts presented which would be sufficient “for the election to be cancelled and redone.”

As to whether there should be “some sort of statement about the incident issued,” or whether the person(s) who violated the listserv policies should be subject to some sort of disciplinary action, those are separate questions which I leave to the society’s judgement.