Parliamentary Procedure Q&A

Q: At the recent election, a sitting board member who was on the nominating committee and declined to run for his current or any other position, in the subsequent election received a nomination from the floor for a different position. The current director in this position thought she was running unopposed. Our bylaws state that the nominating committee must present the list to the general membership prior to the meeting.

Prior to this opponent's nomination, a member left the meeting, placing his vote by proxy. This proxy vote turned out to be for the yet to be nominated opponent. This shows prior knowledge by the board nominating committee that was not shared with the general membership.

When presented to the president, she refused to nullify the vote and convene a meeting for voting properly on this position.

What is recommended for recourse? - M.K., Dec. 4, 1999

A: I will assume that proxies are authorized by your state government and by your organization.

Based on what you've written, I believe the election was valid. A member may vote for anyone, nominated or not; and if the nominee is eligible, the vote counts. The nominating committee does not determine who can be elected; it only provides recommendations (nominations) of eligible candidates. The assembly may vote for these candidates or for anyone else.

There is no requirement that a nominating committee share information with the assembly. Its only requirement is to place names in nomination.

As long as the nominations committee actually did their job (i.e., place some names in nomination), there was no violation of the rules for election; it should stand.

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