# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1905_S174
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

174 Proceedings of the 26th General or

§ 6. Immediately after the (5) candidates for the office of President have been determined, ballots shall be printed, and the definitive election shall then be carried out through the electoral board at a later session.

§ 7. The election of the President and the Vice-Presidents must result in an absolute majority, whereas for all other elections a simple majority suffices.

§ 8. If the first ballot yields no absolute majority, the name of the candidate with the lowest vote count is to be struck, and a further ballot taken among the four remaining candidates. This process — striking the lowest-ranked name and balloting again — shall be continued until an absolute majority is achieved.

§ 9. Once the election of the General President has been completed, the preliminary election concerning the Vice-Presidents shall take place, that is, the election of persons who are to be candidates for the office of Vice-President. There shall be 3 candidates for each Vice-President, and these shall be the persons who received the greatest number of votes in the preliminary election. From these candidates — 6 for two Vice-Presidents, 9 for three, etc. — the Vice-Presidents are to be elected. Here too — since an absolute majority is required — striking of names and a new ballot shall take place, for as long as it takes until the absolute majority is reached.

§ 10. After the Vice-Presidents have been elected, a further ballot shall determine which of them is to be first Vice-President, and which second, third, etc. — in such a way that the one with the highest vote count is the first Vice-President (and thus the potential successor to the office of President). According to progressively lower vote counts, it is then determined who is to serve as second, third, etc. Vice-President.

§ 11. The election of all other synodical officers shall be carried out immediately after the election of the President and the Vice-Presidents, in such a way that the names of all candidates proposed by the committee and accepted by the Synod (see § 2 of this Regulation) are placed by the electoral board on a single ballot and sent to be printed. — An exception to this is made for such candidates, or persons already holding office, who, recommended by the nominating committee for election by acclamation of the Synod, have been immediately elected by the Synod in accordance with that recommendation.

§ 12. The printed ballots thus bearing the names of all the candidates — always in double the number — shall, at a