Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2023 · 68th Convention, Milwaukee › Page 182

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 182

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

182

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
a timely manner. Automation of the system will allow “reminder” communications to be carried out automatically or
(in the case of the nomination system) by a reliable, impartial election contractor.

auditing firm to tabulate the nominations and shall
report in the Convention Workbook the names and
tallies of all ordained ministers who have received
nominating votes.

Relevant bylaws have been designed, with the clear intent of the
convention, to support the use of electronic processes in both
these regards, but this possibility has either not been fully worked
through all relevant bylaws or has been obscured by subsequent
modifications. The following questions request an interpretation of
to what extent the implementation of the contemplated electronic
systems would be either prohibited or constrained by potentially
contradictory elements of the governing bylaws. In any case, the
contemplated electronic system would make every reasonable attempt—as present processes do—to ensure that the actions reflected are valid acts of the congregation, taken according to its governing documents and resolutions, properly registered by officers of
the congregation.

Bylaw 3.12.2.7, treating the nomination of regional vice-presidents, was added by 2010 Res. 8-14A (Proc., 165–66; Today’s
Business, 306). Again, Bylaw 3.12.2.7 today reads as follows:

A. Nomination of President, First Vice-President, and Regional
Vice-Presidents
Bylaws 3.12.2 and 3.12.2.7 govern the nomination of the President
and vice-presidents of the Synod.
Bylaw 3.12.2, treating the nomination of the President and First
Vice-President, was amended by 2010 Res. 4-07 (Proceedings,
124–27), acknowledging “the availability of electronic communication tools that allow for timely and economical distribution
of materials,” to allow for the use of any “secure and verifiable
method,” including electronic methods (cf. the use of “secure and
verifiable method” in Bylaw 3.12.2.4). Bylaw 3.12.2 today reads as
follows (annotated with changes made in 2010):
Nominations of President and First Vice-President
3.12.2

Nominations for the offices of President and First
Vice-President shall be made by the member congregations of the Synod.
(a) Each member congregation shall be entitled
to nominate from the clergy roster of the Synod
two ordained ministers as candidates for president,
and two ordained ministers as candidates for First
Vice-President.
(b) The Secretary of the Synod shall provide a
secure and verifiable method that will offer opportunity to every mail to each congregation of the
Synod to submit nominations ballots for nominating these candidates. He shall, with the approval
of the Board of Directors of the Synod, obtain the
assistance necessary to accomplish this task.
(c) The Each nominating process ballot shall
be completed signed by the president and secretary of the member congregations not later
than five four months prior to the opening date of
the convention. There shall be no opportunity provided for additional nominations. [2010 Res. 4-07,
Proc., 124–27]
(d) The Secretary of the Synod may engage, with
the approval of the Board of Directors, an external

2023 Convention Workbook

Nominations and Elections of Regional Vice-Presidents
3.12.2.7

After the results of the first-vice-presidential election
have been announced, the convention shall elect five
regional vice-presidents according to the following
nominations and elections process.
(a) Each member congregation of a region (including any non-geographic-district congregations in
that region) shall have been given opportunity to
nominate two ministers of religion—ordained from
the clergy roster of the Synod with residence in its
designated region as candidates for regional vicepresident.
(b) The Secretary of the Synod shall receive such
nominations (signed by the president and secretary
of the nominating congregation). [See 2010 Res.
8-14A, Proc. 165–66; TB 306, where the foregoing
procedure is put in place.]
(c) The names of the five ministers of religion—
ordained residing within the boundaries of each
geographic region who receive the most nominating votes shall form the slate from which the
Synod convention shall select by majority vote
each regional vice-president.
(d) No opportunity shall be provided for additional
nominations from the floor of the convention. …

Note that the change made to Bylaw 3.12.2, to allow an electronic
method for nomination of the President and First Vice-President,
was not propagated to the newly-created nomination process for
regional offices. Note also that the bylaws specifically allow the use
of an external tabulator in the case of the President and First VicePresident nominations, but indicate receipt of the signed ballots in
the Office of the Secretary in the case of the regional vice-president
nominations. (It is noted that the 2010 procedure also called for
nomination of a number of board positions by the same regional
process; it was likely felt that the auditor could not be expected to
absorb all this activity.)
The present intent to create a coherent electronic process, taking
care that it is as secure and as verifiable (or more so) than the paper
ballot process, requires a few questions of the commission:
Question A.1: May the process for nomination of regional vicepresidents be adapted from the use of paper ballots
to the same secure, verifiable, online system being
contemplated for use with the offices of President
and First Vice-President?
Opinion: The current wording of the Bylaws, on its face, specifically requires that the ballots for nominations of regional vice-