Do nominees have to be approved by the board prior to being placed on the ballot for general election?

[Guest Samantha]

Do Nominees have to be approved by the board prior to their names being placed on the ballot for election?

[hmtcastle]

Do Nominees have to be approved by the board prior to their names being placed on the ballot for election?

Not unless your bylaws give your board that authority.

[Guest samantha]

So can anyone place their name on a ballot? What if they are the most unruliest type of person? We have three openings and only three people that want to run, including this person?

[hmtcastle]

So can anyone place their name on a ballot? What if they are the most unruliest type of person?

Nominate and vote for someone else. Or vote for someone else without nominating him (i.e. cast a "write-in" vote). Or nominate and vote for yourself, and ask all your friends to vote for you too.

If no one wants the job, you can't very well complain about the person who's willing to do it.

[Trina]

So can anyone place their name on a ballot? What if they are the most unruliest type of person? We have three openings and only three people that want to run, including this person?

If your members don't want to vote for an undesirable candidate, they don't have to.

Just because there are only three candidates for three positions doesn't mean they will all be elected (each candidate must be independently elected by a majority vote). This does mean that a vote needs to be conducted -- even if it would be proper under your rules to announce all candidates elected by acclamation under these circumstances, the assembly can choose to conduct an actual vote instead. That would give members the opportunity to write in other names for that third position, for example, perhaps electing someone else, or at least not giving the undesirable candidate a majority vote.

The board can't just veto candidates ahead of time, though.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Do Nominees have to be approved by the board prior to their names being placed on the ballot for election?

No.

You won't find such a rule in Robert's Rules of Order.

So can anyone place their name on a ballot?

Yes.

There is no approval process in Robert's Rules of Order regarding nominations.

This is a rare case where a sole individual, not a majority vote, is sufficient to achieve a given end.

What if they are the most unruliest type of person?

Then don't vote for this person.

Just because the unruly person is nominated, that is no guarantee that the unruly person will achieve a majority of votes cast.

We have three openings and only three people that want to run, including this person?

Demand a secret ballot vote, so you all can write in a third name other than the unruly person's name, and thus make the unruly person fall short of a majority vote.

[Rev Ed]

Here is what I have to say:

1) Unless specifically required by the By-laws, which it should not be, the Board cannot "approve" or "disapprove" of candidates. Actually, the Board should be neutral - each director/officer has a right to speak for himself/herself as to why he/she should be eelcted to office, but as a whole the Board should not be seen as being biased.

2) If you do not want the "unruly" candidate elected, do not vote for the person.

3) The default requirement for election is a majority of votes cast for each position. However, double check the requirements for your organization. Some organizations, for example, will elect a couple of directors each year and let the directors assign the officer positions from amongst themselves. That'd why they use a plurality of votes (the first-past-the-post method) to elect directors that way. For example, with a nine member Board, some organizations will elect three directors every year for a three year term.

4) Also check to see if you are required to hold a vote, or if directors can be elected by acclamation. If the candidate can be elected by acclamation, then make sure you have someone running for election, so there must be a vote.

5) Just remember, at the end of the day, the membership as a whole has the right to elect whoever they want to elect. Just because you do not like the candidate, it does not mean that the membership as a whole does not think so - especially if no one else wants to run.

6) If you are so concerned about this candidate being eleted, then run yourself.

[Josh Martin]

4) Also check to see if you are required to hold a vote, or if directors can be elected by acclamation. If the candidate can be elected by acclamation, then make sure you have someone running for election, so there must be a vote.

While this is certainly the optimal solution, it is also acceptable for the assembly to order that a ballot vote be taken, in order to allow for the possibility of write-in votes.

[Guest Mark]

Does a person have to be present and accept a nomination for office? If they are not present, they cannot accept or decline the nomination, correct?

[Guest Mark]

Does a person have to be present and accept a nomination for office? If they are not present, they cannot accept or decline the nomination, correct?

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Does a person have to be present and accept a nomination for office?

If they are not present, they cannot accept or decline the nomination, correct?

Good news.

There is no such requirement.

Nominations can be offered WITHOUT obtaining permission or acknowledgment of the nominee.

• You are free to elect people who don't know that they have been nominated.

• You are free to write-in names on your ballot of people who don't know that voters are writing in their names.

Speaking grammatically, it is true that, if you aren't present, then you cannot "accept" or "decline" anything. Right?

But, again, there is no rule which demands that you are contact the nominee first.

[David A Foulkes]

Good news.

There is no such requirement.

Nominations can be offered WITHOUT obtaining permission or acknowledgment of the nominee.

• You are free to elect people who don't know that they have been nominated.

• You are free to write-in names on your ballot of people who don't know that voters are writing in their names.

Speaking grammatically, it is true that, if you aren't present, then you cannot "accept" or "decline" anything. Right?

But, again, there is no rule which demands that you are contact the nominee first.

And this might be a good time to point out that just because someone gets the required votes doesn't mean they MUST serve. They can still decline the office, whether present at the election and declining immediately, or if absent, upon being notified of the results.

[Gary Novosielski]

Does a person have to be present and accept a nomination for office? If they are not present, they cannot accept or decline the nomination, correct?

Right, but they can accept or decline it later, after someone notifies them of their election.

[Rob Elsman]

Right, but they can accept or decline it later, after someone notifies them of their election.

Someone?

[Gary Novosielski]

Someone?

Who else? No one? I don't see how that could work.

It s a dirty job, but.... Well, you know.