Voting for officers

[Guest Greenham]

I serve as the current President of a sate wide non- profit. I am voted to a 3 year term as a Board of directors position. The officers are voted on annually to serve a one year term. Can anyone give me any in put as to how to conduct the election? Since my seat as President is up, I have mixed feelings about "running the election" what would you suggest as I feel my asking for nominations my in my mind put me a comprimising position?

Greenham

[Chris Harrison]

There is a whole chapter dealing with nominations and elections. See RONR pp. 416-430.

Also, RONR p. 436 says:

The chair, however, should not hesitate to put the question on a motion to elect officers or appoint delegates or a committee even if he is included.

So you are fine in presiding over the election even if you are nominated.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Can anyone give me any in put as to how to conduct the election?

The election is run pretty much as you learned in in high school or in your fraternity:

1. announce the item of business ("Election of officers").

2. announce the office you will process first (The Book says you do this in bylaws-order, i.e., president is the first office to process, because it is the first office defined in one's bylaws, if your bylaws are formatted as RONR recommends).

3. prompt the members for nominations from the floor. (No second is required.)

4. when nominations are exhausted, close nominations.

5. conduct the voting. (By ballot, most likely.)

Note:

Some organization do all nominations for all offices first, and then do the elections for all offices, instead of doing one office at a time, as I have described above.

While this is allowable, it fails to offer the losers of the top-most office to run (actively) for the lower level offices.

Example: You know, sometimes, the guy who barely lost the race for president might make a good vice president.

But doing the two phrases en masse won't allow Mr. Lost-But-Still-A-Good-Guy to pick himself up, dust himself off, and go for the vice-presidency.