Who May be Appointed
Committee shall consist of at least three individuals who:
- Are members in good standing of OC Mensa and American Mensa Ltd.
- Are neither current officers nor candidates for office.
Life of the Committee
- Appointed by OCM Board in October-November timeframe.
- Names of Committee members must be published in the December issue of the Oracle.
- Duties are completed when slate of candidates is delivered to the Election Chair and Editor by the deadline for the March Oracle (i.e. early February).
Primary Responsibility
Secure the names of one or more candidates for each of the following officers to serve on the OCM Board: President, First Vice President, Second Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Communications Officer.
- Individuals who are interested in running for office will be placed on the ballot by submitting to the Nominating Committee nominating petitions with at least fifteen signatures;
- Alternatively, for each office, the Nominating Committee may place one candidate’s name on the ballot without a nominating petition being submitted.
Suggested Procedures
- Prior to December, Nominating Committee members should consider who in OC Mensa would make good officers for the coming term.
- Traditionally, the Holiday Party is the first venue for circulating petitions. Nominating Committee members should attend the Holiday Party with blank petitions, encourage qualified individuals to run for office, and help them circulate petitions.
- Petition signers must be members in good standing of OC Mensa and AML.
- Suggestion: Candidates should secure 20-25 signatures, in case it is determined later that some individuals were not qualified to sign
- Candidates may submit nominating petitions to the Nominating Committee until the last Wednesday in January.
- Following the receipt of any petition, Nominating Committee members need to verify that the candidate is willing and qualified to hold office and that all signers are Mensa members in good standing.
- If no one volunteers to run for an office, Nominating Committee members need to proactively contact individuals and encourage them to run for office.
- No additional names may be added to the slate after the last Wednesday in January. The Nominating Chair must deliver the slate of candidates to the Election Chair and the Editor in time for publication in the March issue of the Oracle.
The following is the specific text about the duties of the Nominating Committee from the…
OCM Bylaws
(September 1, 2018)
ARTICLE VI – Elections
VI. B. Nominations
VI.B.1 Nominations for President, 1st Vice-President, 2nd Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Communications Officer shall close on the last Wednesday of January of each year.
VI.B.2 The December issue of the newsletter shall contain a notice advising the general membership of these nominating procedures, the names of all members of the nominating and election committees and the guidelines for the candidates’ statements allowed by these Bylaws.
VI.B.3 Nominating petitions must be in writing over the signatures of not fewer than 15 members of OC Mensa.
VI.B.4 Nominating Committee.
VI.B.4.a The Board of Directors shall establish and appoint a nominating committee of at least 3 members of OC Mensa who are neither officers nor candidates for office in the election for which they are serving. The names of the members of this committee shall be furnished to the Editor by the Second Vice-President in time for publication in the December issue of the newsletter.
VI.B.4.b The duties of this committee shall be to receive and verify nominating petitions from the general membership, to ensure that there is at least one candidate for each office, and to verify that all candidates are willing and qualified in accordance with these Bylaws to hold office. The nominating committee may also nominate, by a majority vote of its members, one or more candidates for each office. Each candidate nominated by the Nominating Committee shall be notified of nomination in writing over the signatures of a majority of the Nominating Committee.
VI.B.4.c The nominating committee shall deliver the names of all nominees to the Election Committee Chair and the Editor in time for publication in the March issue of the newsletter. No indication shall be made as to the method of nomination of any candidate.
VI. B.5. No individual may run for more than one office at a time.
