# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S188
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

188 Proceedings of the 29th General or

Regulation for the Elections at the General Synod.

§ 1. Already at the first session of the Delegate Synod, the committee,
or election board, that is to prepare, conduct, and supervise the
General Synod's elections shall be appointed by the General Presidium.

§ 2. All district presidents, together with one deputy to be appointed by
the Synod itself from each district, shall form the committee that
proposes to the Synod the names of suitable persons — in double the
number, with respect to the number of members, of which a standing board
or commission is composed. These persons, so chosen by the nominating
committee, are to be brought to the Synod's attention, and the Synod may,
at its discretion, strike names from or add names to this list; from
those remaining the candidates shall be formed, from among whom the
Synod is to make its choice.

§ 3. Such nomination of candidates shall take place with respect to all
standing synodical boards or officers, with the exception of the
President and the Vice-Presidents, for which offices just named the
Synod itself elects the candidates without any prior nomination
(preliminary election).

§ 4. The first candidate election shall be for the General President,
and the second for the General Vice-Presidents; the latter, however,
shall take place only once the election of the General President has
been decided.

§ 5. Those five persons who receive the most votes in the
aforementioned preliminary election shall be the candidates for the
office of President.

§ 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 election board at a
later session.

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

§ 8. If the first ballot does not produce an absolute majority, the
name of the candidate with the lowest number of votes is to be struck,
and a further ballot taken among the four remaining candidates. This —
striking the name lowest in votes and balloting again — is 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 takes place, that
is, the election of persons who are to be candidates for the office of
Vice-President. For each Vice-President there shall be 3 candidates, and
these shall be those persons who received the most votes in the
preliminary election. From these candidates — 6 for two Vice-Presidents,
9 for three, and so on — the Vice-Presidents are to be elected. Here too
— because

[SCAN: a facing-page sliver runs down the right margin of the scan — the
edge of the facing leaf (recto, printed page 189) showing through near the
gutter. It is not part of page 188 and is not translated.]