Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 193
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 193.
This page reproduces text from the 2023 LCMS Handbook for study and navigation. Readers should verify procedural, legal, parliamentary, or governance questions against the official LCMS Handbook and appropriate LCMS authorities.
Committee on Elections
3.12.4 Prior to the convention of the Synod, the President shall appoint a
Committee on Elections, which shall make the necessary arrangements for the elections, shall be responsible for the preparation and distribution of ballots, and shall supervise the elections and the tabulation of the votes.
(a) The President shall designate a chairman for the committee.
(b) The Secretary of the Synod shall provide the chairman with a current manual of suggested election procedures.
(c) The committee shall be empowered to adopt procedures and methods that will ensure efficiency and accuracy, including the use of mechanical, electronic, or other methods of casting, recording, or tabulating votes.
(d) All ballots in each election shall be preserved by the chairman of the committee until the close of the convention and shall then be destroyed.
3.12.4.1 The names and district affiliation of the candidates in all elections— at least
two for each position— shall be placed on the election ballot in alphabetical order. All names shall be listed without any distinctive mark, except where regional representation is a preference or requirement of the Synod.
3.12.4.2 The President shall determine and announce a period of time during the
convention for the election of the members of all elective boards and commissions.
(a) After the election of the First Vice -President and the other vicepresidents in that order, the election by ballot of the Secretary shall next be conducted.
(b) The election by ballot of the members of the Board of Directors shall next follow. Each category (ordained, commissioned, and lay) shall be elected separately, the order of the elections to be rotated to allow each category to be the first elected at every third convention, as monitored by the Secretary of the Synod.
(c) The election by ballot of the members of all elective boards and commissions shall next follow.
(d) A majority of all votes cast shall be required for election to all elective offices and elective board positions. Candidates receiving a majority on the first ballot shall be declared elected.
(e) Except in the elections of the First Vice-President and regional vicepresidents, when a second or succeeding ballot is required for a majority, the candidate receiving the fewest votes and all candidates receiving less than 15 percent of the votes cast shall be dropped from the ballot, unless fewer than two candidates receive 15 percent or more of the votes cast, in which case the three highest candidates shall constitute the ballot.
(f) The tally of the votes cast for each candidate shall be announced after each ballot in all elections.
(g) A person elected to an office requiring a background check shall not assume office until an appropriate background check has been completed. If a person is elected and subsequently fails to pass a
