Election of a nominating committee

[Guest Doc]

Our bylaws state that a nominating committee of a chairperson and four members shall be elected at a general membership meeting of the election year (which, in our case, will be May 25, 2024).

As required by our bylaws, the 2022-2024 nominating committee recently presented the slate of nominees (five individuals: a chair and four members) for 2024-2026. However, a member not on the list nominated herself at the meeting. Nominations were closed, leaving six people to appear on the ballot.

Can the nominating committee change the ballot to ask members to vote for all six nominees in the May 2024 elections? Or must we ask members to vote for five of the six individuals? Or can our executive board suspend the rule at our April meeting to ask members in May to vote for six individuals instead of five of the six?

[Gary Novosielski]

You can't have people voting for more people than there are seats to be filled. 

I'm assuming that the chairperson office is separate from four board member positions.  (As opposed to the chair being selected from among the five members elected?)  And I'm assuming that the person was volunteering for one of the four board positions.  If that's correct then:

The nominating committee can't change the size of the board, as defined in the bylaws, to allow more people to be elected than there are open seats.  In any case, after submitting its report, the Nominating committee has presumably risen, i.e. disbanded, since its job was complete upon delivering its report.  Nominating committees typically have no role in the election itself, unless your bylaws say otherwise.

So if my assumptions are correct, the ballot should have two sections, one for chairperson, and one for board members:

• Chairperson  (vote for one)
  • [_]  Joe Brown
  • [_]  _________________ (write in)
• Board Members (vote for up to four)
  • [_]  Bob Baker
  • [_]  Carol Clark
  • [_]  Ted Thomas
  • [_]  Alice Andrews
  • [_]  Victor Volunteer
  • [_]  _________________ (write in)
  • [_]  _________________ (write in)
  • [_]  _________________ (write in)
  • [_]  _________________ (write in)

Edited March 19, 2024 at 10:37 PM by Gary Novosielski
add Victor's name

[Atul Kapur]

On 3/19/2024 at 3:12 PM, Guest Doc said:

must we ask members to vote for five of the six individuals? 

That one. Your bylaws, you tell us, specify five individuals on the board. What authority allows anyone (committee, board, etc) to ignore the bylaws?

Edited to add: see Mr. Novosielski's reply, above, with more details about how to conduct your elections.

Edited March 19, 2024 at 10:21 PM by Atul Kapur

[Richard Brown]

I have a quibble with the proposed ballot example used by Mr. Novosielski. If a member nominated himself from the floor, then he is a candidate, and his name should normally appear on the ballot. He is not a write-in  in candidate. However, I understand it is possible that ballots were prepared in advance. If that is the case, it seems to me that the members should be instructed to write that person‘s name in as an additional candidate. The members would then vote for up to four out of that group of five actual candidates.

Edited to add: my answer is based on the assumption that the rules of the organization or the parliamentary authority provide for nominations from the floor, as RONR does. RONR requires that the floor be opened to nominations before voting, unless the organization’s own rules provide otherwise. If nominations from the floor are not permitted by the rules, then I agree that the member who nominated himself from the floor would not be considered an actual candidate in the usual sense of the word, but his name can be written in as a write-in candidate. 

Edited March 19, 2024 at 10:36 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Gary Novosielski]

Mr. Brown is quite correct.   I had intended to include the name of the volunteer, and will edit my previous response to include it.

I also see that the OQ may be referring to the nomination of the nominating committee itself, not to the committee's report, but the essence of the situation is the same.   The committee can't change its own size, if the bylaws say it is a committee of five.

Edited March 19, 2024 at 10:57 PM by Gary Novosielski

[Guest Doc]

I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for your responses. I wish to inform you that the ballot for the nominating committee will be divided into two sections: one for the chair and the other for board members. We will note that members can vote for up to four board members.

Your feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you once again.

Wishing you every success,

Doc

[Josh Martin]

On 3/19/2024 at 2:12 PM, Guest Doc said:

As required by our bylaws, the 2022-2024 nominating committee recently presented the slate of nominees (five individuals: a chair and four members) for 2024-2026. However, a member not on the list nominated herself at the meeting. Nominations were closed, leaving six people to appear on the ballot.

I would note that further nominations at the elections meeting may well be permissible. Additionally, write-in votes are permitted.

"Note that the chair must call for further nominations at the session at which the election is held even if nominations from the floor were called for at a previous session." RONR (12th ed.) 46:18

"On a ballot vote in an election or other vote involving multiple possible choices, members are able to write in or fill in a vote for any eligible person or choice and are not confined to voting for or against candidates that appear on the ballot." RONR (12th ed.) 45:18

On 3/19/2024 at 2:12 PM, Guest Doc said:

Can the nominating committee change the ballot to ask members to vote for all six nominees in the May 2024 elections?

No, because your bylaws provide "that a nominating committee of a chairperson and four members shall be elected at a general membership meeting of the election year."

If you elected six people, you'd be in violation of your bylaws.

On 3/19/2024 at 2:12 PM, Guest Doc said:

Or must we ask members to vote for five of the six individuals?

Well, I would note that, specifically, your bylaws provide "that a nominating committee of a chairperson and four members shall be elected."

How exactly you go about that is up to the organization. Certainly, you could elect the chairperson and the four members separately. Alternately, you could elect all five members, and then elect the chairperson from among the persons elected to the committee.

On 3/19/2024 at 2:12 PM, Guest Doc said:

Or can our executive board suspend the rule at our April meeting to ask members in May to vote for six individuals instead of five of the six?

No. As a general matter, rules in the bylaws cannot be suspended.