Committee on Elections

Until 2019, our Committee on Elections (Elections Committee) had been what Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, refers to as the tellers. In 2019, we made a change.

The members of the Elections Committee function as overseers of the elections process and as judges of the election. As election judges, it is the Elections Committee that will take the lead in the adjudication of questionable ballots, bringing unresolved issues to the floor of the assembly with recommendation. The Elections Committee will prepare the ballots. It will also oversee the voting process and the work of the tellers and the ushers. Per the synod’s Bylaws, the Elections Committee is appointed by the bishop. Per the synod’s continuing resolutions, the Elections Committee appoints, assigns, and dismisses tellers.

The tellers are those folks assigned the task of counting the ballots. They also collect the ballots during the balloting phase. This year, we are establishing a tellers pool (like a jury pool) from which the Elections Committee draws tellers for individual counts. It is hoped that most tellers will not have to count more than once.