Election of officers... have you ever seen this?

13 years ago

I belong to a group of about 100 ladies. It's coming time to elect officers for the new year. Like many org's it is sometimes difficult to get people to volunteer/accept a nomination for officer. The slate was presented the other night & there are 2 people for each of the 4 offices (Pres., VP, Sec, Treas.)...... then there is a slate of one GROUP of 4 people for each office. When the voting commences, you can EITHER vote for the GROUP as a whole,,,,, OR you can vote for an individual in each office.

It's like this:

President: Rose or Daisy

Vp: Petunia or Pansy

Sec: Lilac or Peony

Treas: Marigold or Zinnia

OR---

As a group: (Pres Columbine, VP Aster, Sec Lilac and Treas Marigold)

Yes, Lilac & Marigold have their names in both the individual's slate & the group slate. If you, for example, want Columbine for Pres then you have to accept the other 3 with her. Same thing if your choice was Aster for VP, you accept a "package deal"... (or not).

There's is nothing in the by-laws/constitution that addresses this one way or the other. This is the first time it's ever been presented in this manner. Seems wacky to me. Actually maybe a bit "cliquish" on the part of the group slate???

So .... anybody ever seen anything like this? What do ya think? Oh, btw this GROUP slate was apparently Columbine's idea.

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Comments (16)

chisue
13 years ago
The group vote sounds like an attempt at 'regime change' or voting a 'straight ticket' by party in a national election.
YogaLady1948
13 years ago
Nope, I have never seen that before and it seems confusing, at our PTA votes we never got a choice it was always a straight on slate vote that some commitee came up with. I never voted why bother:(
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dedtired
13 years ago
Sounds like Columbine and her friends are only interested in doing the job if they can work with their buddies. That's not very democratic. I've never seen that before, but it is amazing that you found that many people willing to take on the jobs.
petaloid
13 years ago
I've been in several clubs and have never heard of this. Dedtired's theory sounds likely.
marie_ndcal
13 years ago
I would suggest voting for each office, by written ballot. That way no one know who or how they voted.
sheilajoyce_gw
13 years ago
Do your bylaws use Robert's Rules of Order as their parliamentary authority? If so, he does not recognize more than one person holding each office. He also spells out how to do an election.

Typically, a nominating committee will develop a slate, and on that slate is the ONE person the committee nominates for each elected office.

This method sounds crazy. Check your bylaws for anything that guides your election as well as the parliamentary authority mentioned in the bylaws.
foggyj
13 years ago
That doesn't seem very democratic.
Columbine is choosing her own cabinet? ..so to speak?
golfergrrl
13 years ago
First of all, congrats on having enough people interested to run.We're going to have the same board for the 3rd year in a row because nobody will step forward.
I'm the captain and we follow Robert's Rules. Even if
we didn't use RR, I'd rule, as the captain, that this
election format is not allowed.
It's absurd.
bee0hio
Original Author
13 years ago
I checked our bylaws & there's not much on elections, just that we have a Nominating Committee... And YES we are supposed to use Roberts' Rules for parliamentary authority. But the RR is followed loosely if at all, for even the most elementary things during a meeting (can we say that the current Pres is pretty clueless?).

This time there will be a paper ballot (secret) because there are options in each category. In the past, prior to last year, there was *only* a slate of 4 candidates for which to vote & it was a voice vote.

I haven't belonged to that many clubs, so was wondering if this had ever been seen before. Seemed totally nonsense to me that someone on the Nominating Committee didn't stand up & say NO to Columbine. I will be flabbergasted if she & her group are elected.
marie_ndcal
13 years ago
I agree, a secret, paper ballot seems to be a fair way to go.
minnie_tx
13 years ago
Who is going to tally the "secret" votes?
ellendi
13 years ago
It's true that it is difficult to find people for these volunteer postions. Columbine made a way to make it more efficient, enjoyable etc. for her. As long as they handle things appropriatley, maybe she is on to something.
golfergrrl
13 years ago
The problem is that elections should be inclusive, not exclusive. Columbine's slate excludes the opportunity for
anyone else to be elected to the board. This is not a
democratic format. The president should disallow it.
colleenoz
13 years ago
And of course, if Columbine was planning to do something underhanded, like raid the treasury (note that I am NOT suggesting she is planning to do this, but if someone wanted to it would be a good way to go) having her own hand picked group of co-conspirators would help enable this.
In all likelihood Columbine's intention is simply to have a committee of like minded souls, but a bad person with evil intentions could use Columbine's method as a precedent to have a similar group of like minded souls elected, leaving them in the prime seat for doing as they wished.
sheilajoyce_gw
13 years ago
You are clearly not following Robert's Rules. A nominating committee selects the BEST candidate for each elected office. They make sure that the nominees agree to being nominated. On election day, the chair reads the proposed slate or calls upon the nominating committee chairman to do so. Then the chair asks for any other nominations from the floor. Finally, the vote is taken, and it can be voice vote or written. If it is voice vote and if there are more than one candidate for an office, the chair asks for a vote for Jane and then a vote for Mary. If the chair is uncertain, then she or he can ask for a raise of hands and count the votes.

You always accept nominations from the floor after the slate is presented. There may be no nominations, but the membership is given that opportunity.
susanjf_gw
13 years ago
is this more social, or a service org? even with the small more social mothers of multiples i belonged to in the 70's, we rotated officers by ballot and rr's...

Election of officers... have you ever seen this?

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chisue

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Election of officers... have you ever seen this?

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