Nominating Process
Nominating
Committee
Pr. Ruth Bullwinkle, Chair (MVMC)
Pr. Sean Smith (UOVC)
Lois Gray (UOVC)
Rick Losh (PC)
Pr. Tom Darr (OKVC)
Pr. Daniel Collins (PC)
Cindy Murphy (MVMC)
Rachel Gensler Hall (OKVC)
|
The
members of the Nominating Committee have been
appointed by the Synod Council, but acceptance
of appointment has not yet been confirmed by
all appointees. These names may change in the
months ahead.
|
The Synod Nominating Committee, having been appointed by
the Synod Council, is charged, under our governing
documents, with nominating two people for every position
to be elected by the Synod Assembly (with some exceptions
as outlined in those same governing documents). The list
of positions to be elected is to be published 120 days
prior to the Synod Assembly. The Nominating Committee, by
publishing this list, solicits your input and
recommendations of people to be nominated for the various
positions to be elected. 30 days after the publication of
that list at the 120-day mark, the time for public input
closes, and the Nominating Committee gets down to work in
earnest. 10 days prior to the Synod Assembly, a list of
nominees (those nominated by the Nominating Committee) is
published. Additional nominations may be made from the
floor of the assembly at the appropriate time during the
proceedings and according to certain rules.
Now, here's an important clarification: officially, the
Nominating Committee nominates during the assembly
proceedings. The public input phase is not, technically, a
time when nominations are made. In fact, what the public
does during the public input phase is not nominate but
rather recommend to the Nominating Committee folks to be
considered for nomination by the committee. Picky, yes,
but important from a parliamentary standpoint although we
will admit that we have colloquially called the submission
for consideration a nomination.
There are a few exceptions to all this.
- Since the bishop election process, as governed by our
constitution, employs an ecclesiastical ballot, there
are no advance nominations for bishop. The first ballot
is considered the nominating ballot if the the lead
candidate does not secure 75% of the vote (q.v.,
S9.04).
- The synod secretary is nominated by Synod Council, but
additional nominations may be made from the floor (q.v.,
S9.07).
- The synod treasurer is nominated by Synod Council, but
additional nominations may be made from the floor (q.v.,
S9.07).
Important
Dates
Publication of positions to be filled &
opening of the public input pahse
2 Feb 2024
Closure of the public input phase
3 March 2024
Publication of the Report of the Nominating
Committee
22 May 2024
Floor nominations at Synod Assembly
1 June 2024
|
Your recommendations are important! It's hard for
the Nominating Committee to do its work without your
input, and the synod is healthier when it has input from
across the synod. Sadly, there have been years in which
the Nominating Committee has received no recommendations
during the public input phase for some offices. When this
happens, the Nominating Committee has to generate
potential nominees from scratch—problematic to say the
least, assuming we want the church, in its polity, to be a
participatory democracy.
The list of positions to be elected will be officially
posted on this page on 2 February 2024, and the online
input form will go active on the same day. The strict
requirement of our bylaws (as amended in 2022) is that the
announcement and the solicitation are to be made 120 days
prior to Synod Assembly.
Conferences, congregation councils, and voting
members may submit recommendations to the Nominating
Committee for 30 days from the date of the the posting of
positions to be elected. The public input phase will close
3 March 2024.
The report of the Nominating Committee will be published
22 May 2024, 10 days before Synod Assembly. It will list
all the nominations that will be formally made by the
Nominating Committee at Synod Assembly.
The publication of the list of nominees by the
Nominating Committee is not the end of the nominating
process. Voting members of the Synod Assembly have the
right, under our rules, to nominate from the floor (for
all elections except that of the bishop in which an
ecclesiastical ballot is used). Again, there is no rule
preventing a person from nominating him/herself. Per our
bylaws, nominations from the floor are to be accompanied
at the time the nomination is made with a completed bio
sheet and enough copies for distribution to all voting
members (125 copies would suffice). A blank form will be
provided on the website with the publication of the
Nominating Committee Report 10 days prior to the Synod
Assembly. Finally, the first general ballot has provision
for write-in votes for each position to be elected.
|