Removing lowest votes nominees after 2nd or 3rd vote

[Guest Donna Moore]

Can the nominees with the lowest votes be removed after 2nd or 3rd votes?

[Gary Novosielski]

No.  See: 

46:32
Whichever one of the preceding methods of election is used, if any office remains unfilled after the first ballot, the balloting is repeated for that office as many times as necessary to obtain a majority vote for a single candidate. When repeated balloting for an office is necessary, individuals are never removed from candidacy on the next ballot unless they voluntarily withdraw—which they are not obligated to do.¹ The candidate in lowest place may turn out to be a “dark horse” on whom all factions may prefer to agree.

__________
¹ An organization could suspend the rules, or adopt a special rule of order, so that the nominee with the fewest votes is dropped from the list of nominees for succeeding ballots in the expectation that voters will then confine their choice to the remaining nominees. Only a bylaws provision, however, could make the dropped nominee ineligible for election so as to render illegal any subsequent votes cast for that nominee. (See 46:2)

Edited March 5, 2024 at 06:09 PM by Gary Novosielski

[Richard Brown]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:46 AM, Guest Donna Moore said:

Can the nominees with the lowest votes be removed after 2nd or 3rd votes?

Yes, by following footnote 1 to section 46:32 of RONR which Mr. Novisielski included in small type as a footnote and you might have missed.  Using that procedure, the person with the fewest votes can be removed even after the first ballot.  It would require a two-thirds vote to suspend the rules to do that unless you have a rule that permits it. Note that you can only remove his name from the ballot or the list of nominees: the member still remains eligible for election and members can write his name in and he can still get elected.