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.