Acclimation timing

[Guest Bill B]

Greetings

Our by-laws state that the list of nominations are presented and then additional nominations can be offered from the floor during the September meeting.  After all nominations are presented, the nominations are closed and our by-laws specify that a ballot is sent to all members at least 20 days before the annual meeting (October) and tabulated at that meeting.  The last sentence states: "In the event that there is only one nominee for each elected position, the proposed slate may be declared elected by acclamation".  The question is - is the acclimation declared at the September meeting or October meeting.  If the October meeting, is there still the requirement to send ballots to all members?

Thanks is advance.

[Joshua Katz]

Interesting question. I think i will need to see, at least, the full paragraph from which this last sentence is drawn before having an opinion.

[Guest Acclimation Timing]

On 9/11/2023 at 4:33 PM, Joshua Katz said:

Interesting question. I think i will need to see, at least, the full paragraph from which this last sentence is drawn before having an opinion.

Please see Article VI, paragraph D.  Thanks in advance

OBX Shag Club - By-Laws.docx

[Joshua Katz]

Please note that, despite what has been posted, I have reviewed only the following:

The procedure for election of the Board of Directors shall be as follows:
(A)    Before the monthly meeting held in September, the President shall appoint a Nominating and Elections Committee composed of three (3) Full Members, no more than one (1) of whom shall be a member of the Board. The Nominating and Elections Committee shall run the nominations and the elections.
(B)    At the September meeting, the presiding officer shall turn the floor over to the Nominating and Elections Committee, at which time the committee will call for nominations for each Board position separately. Nominees must be in good standing at the time of nomination. To be eligible, nominees must be present and express their consent, or their written acceptance must be presented.
(C)    The Nominating and Elections Committee will prepare a ballot that contains the names of all nominees, the positions for which the nominees were nominated and detailed instructions on how votes can be cast. The ballots shall be delivered to each Full Member in good standing no later than twenty (20) days prior to the annual meeting, either personally, or by e-mail or US mail. Ballots may be cast in person at the annual meeting or by proxy; but tabulation of the ballots shall be conducted at the Annual Meeting and the results shall be published at that time.
(D)    The Nominating and Elections Committee shall be charged with counting the ballots. The nominee who receives the greatest number of votes for each position shall be certified by the Committee as having been elected to the position. It will be the responsibility of the Nominating and Elections Committee to report the results of elections to the newly elected Board of Directors and the Full Membership. In the event that there is only one nominee for each elected position, the proposed slate may be declared elected by acclamation.
 

Your bylaws do what RONR warns not to do by mixing in-person votes with those cast otherwise, which complicates the issue. As far as I can tell, nominees become such in September. Your bylaws do not prohibit write-ins, so if you mailed out ballots, write-ins could happen, but the sole nominee would still be elected regardless. That does not seem right. So my personal opinion, which your organization may or may not agree with, is that, if there is only one nominee for each position, those nominees are declared elected in September without a ballot being distributed.

[puzzling]

Tthe whole question is a bit moot, article IV section 1 E  states that the term of office starts 1 januari.

Also notice that the bylaws say"

"In the event that there is only one nominee for each elected position, the proposed slate may be declared elected by acclamation." 

Not if there is just one candidate for one postion.( it looks like if this is the case also for this position an election should be held)

[Joshua Katz]

On 9/13/2023 at 12:41 PM, puzzling said:

Not if there is just one candidate for one postion.( it looks like if this is the case also for this position an election should be held)

Agreed. Unless all positions have a sole nominee, an electio nshould be held, by ballot, including for those for which there is only a single nominee. Write-ins are allowed. (according to what I reviewed)

On 9/13/2023 at 12:41 PM, puzzling said:

Tthe whole question is a bit moot, article IV section 1 E  states that the term of office starts 1 januari.

 

I disagree. If it is in October, someone could argue, somewhat reasonably, that a write-in is a nominee and so the presence of any write-ins means there is not a single nominee for that position, and hence all positions must be contested. But, because they mix in person and other votes, people will not know to vote on other positions when filling out their ballots.

[Atul Kapur]

I agree with @Joshua Katz, but note that the word "may" is troublesome,

On 9/13/2023 at 12:35 PM, Joshua Katz said:

In the event that there is only one nominee for each elected position, the proposed slate may be declared elected by acclamation.

because it signals discretion. If it may be declared by acclamation, then who decides whether to do so? Using what criteria? It would be better to say unequivocally that this is what will happen, assuming that that is the intent.

Edited September 13, 2023 at 04:49 PM by Atul Kapur

[Gary Novosielski]

I have taken a look at a handful of random areas of these bylaws, and they appear to be a fairly complete compilation of every bad example we run across here on a daily basis.  Or at least a series of radical departures from RONR's advice in an impressive number of areas.  

In just a cursory look, I've seen:

• President involved with Nominating Committee.
• Election committee (not the membersh) certifying results (outside of a meeting) with no opportunity for review
• Use of proxies
• Mixed in-person and absentee voting
• Use of co-holders for multiple offices.
• Election by less than a majority.
• Classes of membership but with minimal definition, and unclear limits.

Now it is certainly possible that each of these characteristics, and undoubtedly many others, were precisely chosen as being appropriate for this particular organization, after careful consideration of all the pros and cons of each.  It's also  unlikely.

I would strongly recommend having the entire bylaws reviewed by an experienced parliamentarian.

[Bruce Lages]

Didn't we just have a thread recently that raised the question of a conflict between declaring a sole nominee elected by acclamation when the bylaws require a ballot vote and the right to cast a write-in vote? I don't remember where that thread is, but I thought a point was made in it that if a ballot vote was required (perhaps without a specific provision eliminating the need for a ballot vote for any offices with a single nominee - I don't really recall) a ballot must be held to allow for write-in votes. In the present case that might mean that ballots must be sent out regardless of how many nominees there are.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 9/13/2023 at 12:45 PM, Joshua Katz said:

...someone could argue, somewhat reasonably, that a write-in is a nominee....

I think the most common definition of a write-in is a vote for someone not nominated.

[Joshua Katz]

On 9/13/2023 at 1:04 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

I think the most common definition of a write-in is a vote for someone not nominated.

Fun story. I was once at a large convention electing a chairman. The bylaws called for the nominee with the fewest votes to be dropped from the next ballot until a majority was obtained. There was a write-in with 3 votes, and the chair ruled that this was not the person dropped from the ballot, for the sensible reason that he was never on the ballot in the first place. On appeal, the assembly disagreed and left all the nominees on the ballot. 

[Gary Novosielski]

I'm shocked, shocked, to discover that a perfectly correct ruling of a presiding officer could be overturned on appeal.

[Josh Martin]

On 9/13/2023 at 11:35 AM, Joshua Katz said:

Your bylaws do what RONR warns not to do by mixing in-person votes with those cast otherwise, which complicates the issue. As far as I can tell, nominees become such in September. Your bylaws do not prohibit write-ins, so if you mailed out ballots, write-ins could happen, but the sole nominee would still be elected regardless. That does not seem right. So my personal opinion, which your organization may or may not agree with, is that, if there is only one nominee for each position, those nominees are declared elected in September without a ballot being distributed.

I concur with this opinion. The alternative interpretation would seem to render absurd the provision that "In the event that there is only one nominee for each elected position, the proposed slate may be declared elected by acclamation."

On 9/13/2023 at 11:48 AM, Atul Kapur said:

I agree with @Joshua Katz, but note that the word "may" is troublesome,

because it signals discretion. If it may be declared by acclamation, then who decides whether to do so? Using what criteria? It would be better to say unequivocally that this is what will happen, assuming that that is the intent.

If I were in the chair, my interpretation would be that if there are is only one nominee for each office, the proper course of action is to declare those nominees elected by acclamation, unless the assembly adopts a motion ordering a ballot vote to be held.

I concur that clearer language on this matter would be desirable.

On 9/13/2023 at 11:41 AM, puzzling said:

Tthe whole question is a bit moot, article IV section 1 E  states that the term of office starts 1 januari.

I don't understand how this fact makes the question moot. What does the fact that the term of office starts in January have to do with anything?

(Okay, I see what you are saying now. You are pointing out that, regardless of when the acclamation occurs, the newly elected officers do not take office until January. I agree with this, but that doesn't answer the OP's question of when the acclamation occurs and whether the society is still required to send out ballots.)

On 9/13/2023 at 11:41 AM, puzzling said:

Also notice that the bylaws say"

"In the event that there is only one nominee for each elected position, the proposed slate may be declared elected by acclamation." 

Not if there is just one candidate for one postion.( it looks like if this is the case also for this position an election should be held)

I have no disagreement with this, but again, I don't see what this has to do with the price of eggs.

What I understand the OP to be asking is, in the event there is only one nominee for each elected position, does the President declare the nominees elected by acclamation (as provided in the bylaws) in September, or does the society hold the election anyway, for some reason?

It seems to me the most reasonable interpretation is that, after closing nominations, if there is only one nomination for each position, the President declares the nominees elected by acclamation.

On 9/13/2023 at 12:00 PM, Bruce Lages said:

Didn't we just have a thread recently that raised the question of a conflict between declaring a sole nominee elected by acclamation when the bylaws require a ballot vote and the right to cast a write-in vote? I don't remember where that thread is, but I thought a point was made in it that if a ballot vote was required (perhaps without a specific provision eliminating the need for a ballot vote for any offices with a single nominee - I don't really recall) a ballot must be held to allow for write-in votes. In the present case that might mean that ballots must be sent out regardless of how many nominees there are.

My recollection of this matter is that Mr. Honemann wished to make clear that under the rules in RONR, if the bylaws require a ballot vote, a ballot vote must be held even if there is only one nominee, and Mr. Honemann was not attempting to express a view on the proper interpretation of whether a particular bylaw provision requires a ballot vote in particular circumstances. That discussion may be found here.

My reading of the particular bylaw provision at issue is that, in the event that there is only one nominee for each office (and only in that event), a ballot vote is not required, and the nominees may be declared elected by acclamation by the chair, unless otherwise ordered by the assembly.

Edited September 13, 2023 at 06:05 PM by Josh Martin

[Atul Kapur]

On 9/13/2023 at 12:48 PM, Atul Kapur said:

I agree with @Joshua Katz, but note that the word "may" is troublesome,

 

On 9/13/2023 at 2:00 PM, Josh Martin said:

the proper course of action is to declare those nominees elected by acclamation, unless the assembly adopts a motion ordering a ballot vote to be held.

I agree. My concern is that a chair or assembly might not notice the discretionary aspect and not allow an opportunity for such a motion to be made.