Candidate withdrawal

[Guest Laura]

A candidate has been nominated for the office of Vice President and President. They have asked that their name be removed from the ballot for the office of president. They have been told that because the call for nominations has been closed and the ballot has been finalized, they will have to run for both offices. Is this true?

[Bruce Lages]

Well, it's true that if your ballots have been finalized this person's name will probably still appear on the ballot if there isn't enough time to re-do them. What this person should do before the election is to make it known that they do not intend to accept an office if they are elected. That will not prevent members from voting for that person however. (Even if their name was removed from the ballot members would still be able to vote for that person as a write-in). 

If this reluctant candidate happens to be elected to one of the offices it will be necessary for them to immediately decline the office. That will result in an incomplete election, which means you will need to conduct another round of balloting to fill the affected office. All other candidates that were on the ballot for that office, if there are any, remain eligible for election, and it is in order to reopen nominations before the additional round of balloting begins.

[Weldon Merritt]

On 3/14/2023 at 3:06 PM, Bruce Lages said:

If this reluctant candidate happens to be elected to one of the offices it will be necessary for them to immediately decline the office.

As I understand it, he only wants to be removed from the ballot for the office of president. Presumably, if he is elected to vice president, he would accept that one.

[Guest Laura]

On 3/14/2023 at 3:06 PM, Bruce Lages said:

Well, it's true that if your ballots have been finalized this person's name will probably still appear on the ballot if there isn't enough time to re-do them. What this person should do before the election is to make it known that they do not intend to accept an office if they are elected. That will not prevent members from voting for that person however. (Even if their name was removed from the ballot members would still be able to vote for that person as a write-in). 

If this reluctant candidate happens to be elected to one of the offices it will be necessary for them to immediately decline the office. That will result in an incomplete election, which means you will need to conduct another round of balloting to fill the affected office. All other candidates that were on the ballot for that office, if there are any, remain eligible for election, and it is in order to reopen nominations before the additional round of balloting begins.

The ballots are electronic and will not be sent out for another two weeks. Do you think it's still too late to redo them? 

[Bruce Lages]

On 3/14/2023 at 6:16 PM, Weldon Merritt said:

As I understand it, he only wants to be removed from the ballot for the office of president. Presumably, if he is elected to vice president, he would accept that one.

Yes, somehow I skipped over that detail. Most of my answer should still apply, although if the membership knows in advance that he doesn't wish to be elected president, that will dissuade them from casting votes for him for that office and they only have to decide if he is their choice for vice president.

On 3/14/2023 at 6:44 PM, Guest Laura said:

The ballots are electronic and will not be sent out for another two weeks. Do you think it's still too late to redo them? 

I don't know. I guess that depends on what you need to do to remove this candidate's name from the presidential portion of the ballot. I will say that if it's at all possible to re-do the ballots before they are sent out it will eliminate what could be a source of confusion for many voters.

[Gary Novosielski]

The member should realize that perhaps the most essential duty of a Vice President is to automatically succeed to the office of President if the incumbent becomes the ex-incumbent.  If he truly would not be willing to assume the office of President it would not be proper, in my view, to run for Vice President.

This may seem obvious but regulars here will recognize that this has a way of becoming a problem in real life.

[Weldon Merritt]

On 3/15/2023 at 7:20 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

If he truly would not be willing to assume the office of President it would not be proper, in my view, to run for Vice President.

This certainly is something the voters should consider. But there could be legitimate reasons that he might not want to be elected as president now, but nevertheless would be willing to assume the office if it becomes necessary. One possibility that comes to mid is that he feels that he (and the organization) could benefit from having served as VP, however briefly, before becoming president. I can personally relate to that because many years ago, less than three years after I joined NAP, I was elected president of my state association without having served in any other sate office, and I always felt that it wood have been betters for me to have served in another office first. I had served on the state board by virtue of being a unit president, but that did not really give me as full a picture as I would have had if I had served in in one of the elected offices.