Elections Q&A
Q: If someone has been a councilor for one term and is now president of the community, can that person serve another term as president?
A: Sec. 2.d of our Provincial Statutes says: "In order that leadership qualities be developed in our communities, all council members (President, Councilors and Director of Formation) shall serve no more than two consecutive terms. Since it is not possible to be elected to a third consecutive term, in order to hold a third consecutive term, a postulation is required from the Provincial Council." This means that the person in question could not serve as president, as formation director, nor as a councilor during the next triennium unless the community seeks postulation from the Provincial Council. The term limit applies regardless of which specific role a person has served on the council.
Q: What is postulation and how do we get it?
A: Postulation is when you ask for an exemption from the legislation of the Order. If a community wishes to seek postulation for a council member, then they must vote on whether to request postulation. This vote must be well in ADVANCE of the regular council elections. Once the ballots are counted by the Local Council, the Spiritual Assistant should contact the Provincial Council with the results of the postulation vote and provide his own recommendation as well. The Provincial Council will then decide whether to approve the postulation or not.
The request to the Provincial Council should include an explanation for why the community is seeking an exemption for this person. The Provincial Council will want to know such things as:
• How is your community actively forming members to assume leadership roles?
• The tradition in Carmelite leadership is that sometimes you are a leader and sometimes, you are not. How does your community prepare everyone for the application of that principle?
• Were there enough candidates on the ballot to choose a council without this person? If not, why not?
If the Provincial Council approves the postulation, then the community holds regular elections for the remaining council positions. For example, if the postulation was for Jane Doe to serve an additional term as President, then the community election would only be for the open councilor positions. No election for President would be held.
Q: How do we choose a Formation Director?
A: According to Art. 53, the Formation Director is ELECTED by the council. According to Fr. John Michael: "All elections of personnel need to be done by secret ballot. I think most communities settle these matters by consensus agreement, but the problem in this is that a consensus is usually declared to be achieved by the strongest person in the group, and there is pressure on anyone who opposes that consensus to go along. Because of considerations such as these, the general principle was developed that all elections involving personnel be done by secret ballot and votes tabulated and recorded by the secretary. This would not apply to minor matters such as appointments of secretaries, treasurers, infirmarians, phone committee members, etc., but would apply to serious matters such as ones admittance to clothing or profession or continuance in formation."
Naturally, the council will want to choose someone with the gifts of a good formation director. At the same time, it is important to remember that the FULL council is responsible for "the formation and Christian and Carmelite maturing of the members of the community." (Art. 46) Also, in many of our communities, the Formation Director oversees a formation team (so all the work does not fall on just the Formation Director). Thus a Formation Director needs to also be someone who can delegate tasks.
Q: But we already know who the Formation Director will be. We've already decided.
A: Sec. III.l states: "To preserve freedom of the newly elected Local Council, all other offices (Secretary, Treasurer, Formation Director, etc.) shall be vacated at the end of the same meeting." Only the newly elected Local Council may determine who the Formation Director should be. The previous council does not choose. Even the larger, full community does not choose. The Formation Director from the prior triennium does not automatically continue in that position. We know that sometimes there is discussion prior to election among members about who should be the Formation Director. Sometimes a person is kept off the council ballot because everyone thinks that person should be the Formation Director. This would be wrong. Sec. III.4.C covers what to do if the newly elected Local Council wishes to elect one of their own to serve as Formation Director.
Q: What happens if we only have one candidate for President?
A: The answer to this depends upon which set of parliamentary procedures the community has decided to follow for the election process. (see Sec. III.l) Most people have some passing familiarity with Robert's Rules of Order. For instance, in Robert's Rules of Order, if there is only one candidate standing for election to a particular position, then a ballot vote must still be taken for that one person (provided there are no nominations from the floor at the time of the vote). If someone does not wish to vote for the one nominee, they either vote for the unopposed candidate, write in someone else's name, or abstain.
Q: Who gets to vote?
A: Voting is a privilege granted upon membership in the Order. According to Art. 12, a person becomes a full member of the Order upon making the First Promise. Visitors, aspirants, novices, those whose First Promise has expired, and Spiritual Assistants (unless they are also professed in the OCDS) are not eligible to vote. In certain rare circumstances, a professed member of the Order might have their voting rights suspended and so are not allowed to participate in the elections either. Note also that the Provincial Statutes require a member to be physically present at the time of the vote.
Q: Do those who do not have a right to vote stay in the room or do they have to leave during the voting?
A: There is no legislative requirement that non-voting members leave the room at the time of elections. However, care should be taken that ballots are only given to those with voting rights.
Q: The statutes say that the incumbent councilors count the ballots but what if they are on the ballot? Isn't this a conflict of interest?
A: If all three councilors are on the ballot for re-election, then it would be appropriate to have a neutral party (someone who is not on the ballot) also present to help with counting of the ballots. If at least one councilor is not up for re-election then that person is the neutral party and so there's no need for someone else to help with the count.
A: Sec. 2.d of our Provincial Statutes says: "In order that leadership qualities be developed in our communities, all council members (President, Councilors and Director of Formation) shall serve no more than two consecutive terms. Since it is not possible to be elected to a third consecutive term, in order to hold a third consecutive term, a postulation is required from the Provincial Council." This means that the person in question could not serve as president, as formation director, nor as a councilor during the next triennium unless the community seeks postulation from the Provincial Council. The term limit applies regardless of which specific role a person has served on the council.
Q: What is postulation and how do we get it?
A: Postulation is when you ask for an exemption from the legislation of the Order. If a community wishes to seek postulation for a council member, then they must vote on whether to request postulation. This vote must be well in ADVANCE of the regular council elections. Once the ballots are counted by the Local Council, the Spiritual Assistant should contact the Provincial Council with the results of the postulation vote and provide his own recommendation as well. The Provincial Council will then decide whether to approve the postulation or not.
The request to the Provincial Council should include an explanation for why the community is seeking an exemption for this person. The Provincial Council will want to know such things as:
• How is your community actively forming members to assume leadership roles?
• The tradition in Carmelite leadership is that sometimes you are a leader and sometimes, you are not. How does your community prepare everyone for the application of that principle?
• Were there enough candidates on the ballot to choose a council without this person? If not, why not?
If the Provincial Council approves the postulation, then the community holds regular elections for the remaining council positions. For example, if the postulation was for Jane Doe to serve an additional term as President, then the community election would only be for the open councilor positions. No election for President would be held.
Q: How do we choose a Formation Director?
A: According to Art. 53, the Formation Director is ELECTED by the council. According to Fr. John Michael: "All elections of personnel need to be done by secret ballot. I think most communities settle these matters by consensus agreement, but the problem in this is that a consensus is usually declared to be achieved by the strongest person in the group, and there is pressure on anyone who opposes that consensus to go along. Because of considerations such as these, the general principle was developed that all elections involving personnel be done by secret ballot and votes tabulated and recorded by the secretary. This would not apply to minor matters such as appointments of secretaries, treasurers, infirmarians, phone committee members, etc., but would apply to serious matters such as ones admittance to clothing or profession or continuance in formation."
Naturally, the council will want to choose someone with the gifts of a good formation director. At the same time, it is important to remember that the FULL council is responsible for "the formation and Christian and Carmelite maturing of the members of the community." (Art. 46) Also, in many of our communities, the Formation Director oversees a formation team (so all the work does not fall on just the Formation Director). Thus a Formation Director needs to also be someone who can delegate tasks.
Q: But we already know who the Formation Director will be. We've already decided.
A: Sec. III.l states: "To preserve freedom of the newly elected Local Council, all other offices (Secretary, Treasurer, Formation Director, etc.) shall be vacated at the end of the same meeting." Only the newly elected Local Council may determine who the Formation Director should be. The previous council does not choose. Even the larger, full community does not choose. The Formation Director from the prior triennium does not automatically continue in that position. We know that sometimes there is discussion prior to election among members about who should be the Formation Director. Sometimes a person is kept off the council ballot because everyone thinks that person should be the Formation Director. This would be wrong. Sec. III.4.C covers what to do if the newly elected Local Council wishes to elect one of their own to serve as Formation Director.
Q: What happens if we only have one candidate for President?
A: The answer to this depends upon which set of parliamentary procedures the community has decided to follow for the election process. (see Sec. III.l) Most people have some passing familiarity with Robert's Rules of Order. For instance, in Robert's Rules of Order, if there is only one candidate standing for election to a particular position, then a ballot vote must still be taken for that one person (provided there are no nominations from the floor at the time of the vote). If someone does not wish to vote for the one nominee, they either vote for the unopposed candidate, write in someone else's name, or abstain.
Q: Who gets to vote?
A: Voting is a privilege granted upon membership in the Order. According to Art. 12, a person becomes a full member of the Order upon making the First Promise. Visitors, aspirants, novices, those whose First Promise has expired, and Spiritual Assistants (unless they are also professed in the OCDS) are not eligible to vote. In certain rare circumstances, a professed member of the Order might have their voting rights suspended and so are not allowed to participate in the elections either. Note also that the Provincial Statutes require a member to be physically present at the time of the vote.
Q: Do those who do not have a right to vote stay in the room or do they have to leave during the voting?
A: There is no legislative requirement that non-voting members leave the room at the time of elections. However, care should be taken that ballots are only given to those with voting rights.
Q: The statutes say that the incumbent councilors count the ballots but what if they are on the ballot? Isn't this a conflict of interest?
A: If all three councilors are on the ballot for re-election, then it would be appropriate to have a neutral party (someone who is not on the ballot) also present to help with counting of the ballots. If at least one councilor is not up for re-election then that person is the neutral party and so there's no need for someone else to help with the count.
posted by john michael at 12:11 AM
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