One
of the responsibilities of the Churchwide Assembly is the election
of the members of the Church Council and churchwide boards and
committees. These elections normally occur at the mid-point of the
assembly and are accomplished through a “common ballot”
distributed to the voting members.
Names
of potential nominees are solicited from the synods and from
voting members. That invitation was distributed in November. Any
person who is a member of an ELCA congregation is eligible for
nomination, but normally those nominated have had experience on
synod committees or the Synod Council and have some familiarity
with the work of the churchwide organization. The
nomination
form, which is available online, should be filled out as
completely as possible and the consent of the person to be
nominated should be obtained prior to submitting the form. The
deadline for nominations is February 28, 2003.
The
assembly’s Nominating Committee, meeting in April, will prepare
paired slates of nominees for vacant positions to be filled by the
assembly. In its deliberations the committee takes into account
the expertise needed on a board or committee, the geographical
representation of the continuing members of a board or a
committee, and the constitutionally mandated representation of
clergy and laity and of women and men. In addition, at least 10
percent of the members of any board or committee must be persons
of color or persons whose primary language is other than English.
Nominations
also may be made from the floor by voting members following the
opening of the Churchwide Assembly. Forms for this purpose are
provided and are to be submitted to the Nominations Desk in the
Midwest Express Center. Floor nominations for positions on a board
of a churchwide unit require written support from at least 10
additional voting members. Floor nominations for the Church
Council, the Nominating Committee, or other churchwide committees
to be elected by the Churchwide Assembly require the written
support of at least 20 other voting members. The deadline for
filing nominations from the floor will be 2:25 p.m. on Wednesday,
August 13, 2003.
The
first common ballot is tentatively scheduled to be distributed on
Thursday morning, August 14, 2003, to be returned by voting
members no later than 2:00 p.m. that same day. If necessary, a
second common ballot will be concluded by the end of the business
session on Saturday, August 16, 2003.
