LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — August 23-24, 1971, Page 6

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the Synod or with the CTCR. Therefore our commission will wait for a period of time before raising any
questions (Ag. 265).
29.
Secretary (Ag. 266): The attention of the commission was called to the various resolutions
involving the office of Secretary (Res. 4-12, 4-14, etc.).
30. Lay Higher Education (Res. 4-33): It was felt that no additional changes were needed except those
voted by the convention (Ag. 267).
31.

Consultation: In Resolution 4-37 the convention declined to incorporate in the Handbook bylaws
for the Council of Ministries. The commission felt that it would not be necessary to include in the
Handbook any reference to the annual consultation which the convention had approved as the
alternative.

32. Appointment Procedures for CCM (Res. 5 -17, 5-28, 4-30): Considerable discussion was given to this
question but no action was necessary (Ag. 272).
33. Doctrinal Statements (Res. 5-24): It was felt that no bylaw provisions were necessary as a result of the
adoption of this resolution (Ag. 273).
34. Fact Finding Committee (Res. 5-26), ALC Fellowship (Res. 5-04), Dissenting Groups and Activities
(Res. 5-13): The commission took grateful note of the fact that the convention had endorsed these
opinions of the commission (Ag. 274).
35.
Rights of Members (Res. 5-31): The commission is to study whether such a statement needs to be
incorporated in the Handbook and, if so, to develop a statement for presentation to the next convention
(Ag. 275).
f
36. Woman Suffrage (Res. 2-17): The CTCR and the CCM were requested to give further study to this
question (Ag. 277).
37. Better Election Procedures: In session 17, through a motion from the floor, the CCM was requested to
develop better election procedures for recommendation to the New Orleans convention and for
implementation perhaps already at that convention. This request grew out of the fact that the elections
consumed so much time. The commission resolved to recommend that the reference to candidates in line
6 of 2.125b and 3.33b be both singular and plural through the use of "(s)", with the understanding that if,
for example, three positions still are to be filled on a board the three lowest candidates, and not just one,
would be removed from the next ballot. This will speed up the process considerably. It was felt no further
bylaw revisions were necessary at this time (Bylaw 2.125 b and 3.33 b; Ag. 278).
38. Absentee Ballot ( Ag. 279): The commission received a formal request from Dr. Kohn, Executive
Secretary of the Board for Missions, to rule on the question of whether an absent member of the Board for
Missions could cast an absentee ballot for the three officers of the Board who are to be elected when the
Board organizes itself. A further question was how often such an absentee ballot could be cast. The
Secretary reported that he had already consulted legal counsel. Now after consulting Roberts Rules of
Order the commission decided to give the following reply:
Since neither the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod nor the not-for-profit corporation laws of
the State of Missouri provide for absentee ballots, such absentee ballots according to parliamentary
rules cannot be allowed.