Passing Nominations Committee Report by Acclamation

[George Mervosh]

On 8/9/2023 at 4:16 PM, Dan Honemann said:

When the assembly orders that elections (or an election) will be held by ballot, it means the entire election, not just part of it unless it has specifically said so.  It makes no difference whether some positions are or are not opposed.  All positions must be voted on by ballot.

When a motion to hold the elections by ballot is immediately pending, is it in order to offer an amendment that would provide an exception for uncontested offices?  I'm trying to understand the scope of proper amendments for a motion related to the method of voting.

[Dan Honemann]

On 8/10/2023 at 11:27 AM, George Mervosh said:

When a motion to hold the elections by ballot is immediately pending, is it in order to offer an amendment that would provide an exception for uncontested offices?  I'm trying to understand the scope of proper amendments for a motion related to the method of voting.

As far as the rules in RONR are concerned, I see no reason why not, but care will need to be taken to avoid leaving the question as to how to handle uncontested offices unanswered. 

The motion to amend might be something such as a motion "to amend the pending motion to hold the pending elections by ballot by adding 'provided, however, that in instances where there is only one nominee for an office, the chair shall declare the sole nominee elected to that office, and no election for that office shall be held.'"

[Gary Novosielski]

On 8/9/2023 at 8:07 PM, Dan Honemann said:

if you are going where I think you may intend to go, this bylaw provision must be quoted exactly and in full.

All right, let's say:

When the number of nominees for any office exceeds the number to be elected, voting shall be by ballot.

Assume that any ambiguity is the result of guileless naïveté on the part of the drafters.

[George Mervosh]

On 8/10/2023 at 12:05 PM, Dan Honemann said:

As far as the rules in RONR are concerned, I see no reason why not, but care will need to be taken to avoid leaving the question as to how to handle uncontested offices unanswered. 

The motion to amend might be something such as a motion "to amend the pending motion to hold the pending elections by ballot by adding 'provided, however, that in instances where there is only one nominee for an office, the chair shall declare the sole nominee elected to that office, and no election for that office shall be held.'"

Thank you very much, especially for the added caution.  Yes that proposed amendment seems very clear.  

[Dan Honemann]

On 8/10/2023 at 2:40 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

All right, let's say:

When the number of nominees for any office exceeds the number to be elected, voting shall be by ballot.

Assume that any ambiguity is the result of guileless naïveté on the part of the drafters.

Okay, so what's your point?  

[Gary Novosielski]

On 8/10/2023 at 3:27 PM, Dan Honemann said:

Okay, so what's your point?  

The point remains:  Suppose an election comes up, and about half the seats are uncontested.  Should all the votes take place by ballot?  Clearly the contested seats should be.  But what of the others?

The bylaws appear permit acclamation, but not require it.  Yet clearly the exception was put there for some reason.  The bylaws could have been more specific but as is often the case, they're not.  So how should the chair proceed?  I.e., what's the default situation here?

[Dan Honemann]

On 8/10/2023 at 5:06 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

The point remains:  Suppose an election comes up, and about half the seats are uncontested.  Should all the votes take place by ballot?  Clearly the contested seats should be.  But what of the others?

The bylaws appear permit acclamation, but not require it.  Yet clearly the exception was put there for some reason.  The bylaws could have been more specific but as is often the case, they're not.  So how should the chair proceed?  I.e., what's the default situation here?

I have no idea what is meant by "default situation". I don't think there is any such thing. 

What we have here is a very poorly written bylaw provision, full of ambiguity. Here it is again:

"When the number of nominees for any office exceeds the number to be elected, voting shall be by ballot."

You say that "an election comes up, and about half the seats are uncontested."  If by this you mean that positions A, B, C, and D are up for election and only positions A and B are contested (only one candidate for C and one for D), your bylaw provision could be construed as  meaning (a) that voting for all four positions should be by ballot, or (b) that voting by ballot is mandated only with respect to filling positions A and B. Let's say that the assembly decides (based upon a ruling, point of order, and appeal) that (a) is the correct interpretation, then I think you have no further problem.  If, however, it decides that (b) is the correct interpretation, then the assembly will have to decide what method of voting it will use to fill positions C and D.  I see no reason to conclude that this bylaw provision means that the chair is to declare that C and D are elected, although I suppose that the assembly could decide that it does.  

But this is all purely a bylaw interpretation question.  Do you have any question about the rules in RONR?

[Gary Novosielski]

On 8/10/2023 at 7:41 PM, Dan Honemann said:

Do you have any question about the rules in RONR?

No, I'm pretty okay with those, thanks.

[Guest Paul]

The bylaws do not require a ballot vote. Based on your responses, what I'm gathering is the nominations committee chair should give the nominations committee report, then the meeting chair re-reads the nominations and asks if there are any nominations from the floor. If there are none the chair can declare all nominees elected by acclamation at once. There does not need to be a motion and vote to approve the nominations committee report / slate of nominees.

[Joshua Katz]

On 8/11/2023 at 9:58 AM, Guest Paul said:

There does not need to be a motion and vote to approve the nominations committee report / slate of nominees.

Correct.

[Dan Honemann]

On 8/11/2023 at 10:58 AM, Guest Paul said:

The bylaws do not require a ballot vote. Based on your responses, what I'm gathering is the nominations committee chair should give the nominations committee report, then the meeting chair re-reads the nominations and asks if there are any nominations from the floor. If there are none the chair can declare all nominees elected by acclamation at once. There does not need to be a motion and vote to approve the nominations committee report / slate of nominees.

This will be correct only if your organization has no rule or established custom prescribing a method of voting other than by voice vote, and no motion is made and adopted to conduct the voting by some method other than by voice vote.  Based upon what you have posted, I gather that your organization has no rule or established custom prescribing a method of voting other than by voice vote, and so the procedure you describe is proper provided that no motion to do otherwise is made and adopted. There certainly does not need to be a motion and vote to approve the nominations committee report, and no such motion should be made.