Critter said "That was supposed to be a way to discourage a big unexpected arrival of stealth candidates who come to the election meeting with their friends (i.e. voters)--it happened one year much to the shock of the incumbants. Sigh."
I think from all I have learned about school and PTAsOs and other parent groups is this: adult school is harder to comprehend than the one for the kids. They have it so easy, the kids. Its all in the books. With the adults, seems its all in the heads. SIGH is right.
We have always, in the past, gone the Unanimous Consent route and it's worked fine for us. This will be our first year using ballots.
To put it delicately, there is one specific reason that folks might not want to give unanimous consent to the slate of unopposed candidates this year. Therefore, we are using a printed ballot with yes/no choices next to each name.
That seems to be working in our favor now that the uncontested VP candidate has withdrawn her name. I've printed the ballot with the names of the Pres, Sec & Treas names and put three blank lines under the VP slot.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
Do your by-laws require a written ballot? Ours only requires a paper vote if there is a contested election (otherwise we use a motion for unanimous consent). If we were to have an election, we would hand out slips of paper and ask votes to write down one of the choices. The Nominating Committee would collect the paper and count the votes away from the rest of the meeting.
Thank you, Critter and dlf, for your quick responses and very helpful info! I knew this was the place to come with my questions.
My group has never even had a run off before. We're lucky to get one willing and capable candidate for each slot every year. There are some in the group who worry that it will get ugly but I think if we follow good solid procedures we can make it work.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
Yes, I think a nom from the floor is considered a write-in, so you don't need to make up a special ballot with the new name. I guess I was thinking that if you came to the meeting assuming you had an uncontested election and were planning to vote by voice, and then had a nom from the floor, you might not have ballots ready at all. You probably don't really need to make to overly formal, but it would at least be nice to hand out the same size/color paper to everyone if you need to go to a written ballot. I really don't think at that point that it makes too much difference if your candidates names are pre-printed or the members juse write down who they are voting for.
Our bylaws are over zealous in this area due to a specific situation a few years ago. If the nominee comes forth within the last week before elections s/he is considered a write-in and isn't publicly announced (in newsletter or bulletin board). That was supposed to be a way to discourage a big unexpected arrival of stealth candidates who come to the election meeting with their friends (i.e. voters)--it happened one year much to the shock of the incumbants. Sigh. Even with these rules, we still allow noms from the floor, so I'm not sure it really matters. I'm not a big fan of making bylaw changes to address one issue that happened one time, but that's a different conversation....
