Our nominating committee received several nominations in writing, including the following:

• an anonymous nomination with no indication if the proper permission had been obtained;
• a nomination with three different sets of nominees, i.e., slate 1, slate 2, slate 3;
• a nomination stating that the permission of the candidate had been obtained but not that of the Spiritual Director.

1. Are any of these nominations valid?
2. Does the nominating committee have to place all nominations received in writing on the ballot? Our bylaws state "The nominating committee will be instructed to present a slate of candidates for office at the March meeting, who will be voted on at that time.
3. Is a slate one candidate for each office?

A:

1. If the bylaws do not require any verification of permission from the nominee or Spiritual Director, the nominating committee should verify the permissions itself. The nominations you question should be considered valid if the committee can verify permissions. If, for example, a member is nominated without the prior approval of the Spiritual Director, but subsequently receives that approval, the nomination should be considered valid.
2. Yes, all valid nominations received by the nominating committee should be placed on the ballot.
3. Surprisingly, RONR does not define "slate." My dictionary defines it as a list of nominees for election. So, the nominating committee should present a list of candidates for office.