Board Elections - different terms

[Guest Erica]

Good morning,  we had someone step down from the board before the end of their three year term about a week before our AGM.  We had three Board seats (3 year term) coming up for election and now had this newly vacant seat (remaining 1 year).  There were only 4 people who put their names forward for election to the Board.  All are acclaimed.  Who or how does the Board decide who gets the shorter term position?  Thank you!

[Josh Martin]

On 5/26/2023 at 7:37 AM, Guest Erica said:

Good morning,  we had someone step down from the board before the end of their three year term about a week before our AGM.  We had three Board seats (3 year term) coming up for election and now had this newly vacant seat (remaining 1 year).  There were only 4 people who put their names forward for election to the Board.  All are acclaimed.  Who or how does the Board decide who gets the shorter term position?  Thank you!

Hmm. RONR doesn't have a good answer to this. RONR advises that this matter be resolved by the membership itself during the election process, and provides a few options for how to do that.

"If the multiple positions have varying terms (as may happen when terms are staggered or there is an election to fill the remainder of an unexpired term) and the differing term lengths have not been assigned different sections of the ballot, the longer terms are allocated among those receiving a majority vote in the order in which they obtain greater numbers of votes. If there is a tie, the tied candidates may agree which of them will take a longer term; if they do not agree, the question is put to a vote on the next ballot." RONR (12th ed.) 46:34

Apparently, however, this was not done, so RONR has no answer on how to resolve this matter. I would think the best resolution would be to have the newly elected board members decide this amongst themselves amicably, if at all possible, but if they cannot reach an agreement, I suppose the board will have to decide this matter by vote.

[Guest Thank you! Appreciate this]

On 5/26/2023 at 9:14 AM, Josh Martin said:

Hmm. RONR doesn't have a good answer to this. RONR advises that this matter be resolved by the membership itself during the election process, and provides a few options for how to do that.

"If the multiple positions have varying terms (as may happen when terms are staggered or there is an election to fill the remainder of an unexpired term) and the differing term lengths have not been assigned different sections of the ballot, the longer terms are allocated among those receiving a majority vote in the order in which they obtain greater numbers of votes. If there is a tie, the tied candidates may agree which of them will take a longer term; if they do not agree, the question is put to a vote on the next ballot." RONR (12th ed.) 46:34

Apparently, however, this was not done, so RONR has no answer on how to resolve this matter. I would think the best resolution would be to have the newly elected board members decide this amongst themselves amicably, if at all possible, but if they cannot reach an agreement, I suppose the board will have to decide this matter by vote.

 

[Bruce Lages]

It may be too late for this election, but do your bylaws spell out a procedure for filling vacancies in board positions?

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/26/2023 at 8:37 AM, Guest Erica said:

Good morning,  we had someone step down from the board before the end of their three year term about a week before our AGM.  We had three Board seats (3 year term) coming up for election and now had this newly vacant seat (remaining 1 year).  There were only 4 people who put their names forward for election to the Board.  All are acclaimed.  Who or how does the Board decide who gets the shorter term position?  Thank you!

Well, it would not be the Board who decides, since even with acclamation, it's the membership who is doing the acclaiming, not the board.  But since none of them were nominated specifically for the shorter term, they could decide among themselves, if nobody else objects.

So: Rock, paper, scissors; cut for high card; arm wrestle, what-have-you.

If they can't even agree on the method, a motion in a membership meeting would decide it.  I still don't think the Board has the authority.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/26/2023 at 10:09 AM, Bruce Lages said:

It may be too late for this election, but do your bylaws spell out a procedure for filling vacancies in board positions?

Well, if the shorter term was properly put on the ballot, then I'm presuming any vacancy-filling would only have lasted until the election.  If the bylaws say that vacancies are filled for the entire remainder of the term, it would not have been on the ballot this time around.