DELEGATE SCANLAN: I do not think
the gentleman is presenting a parliamen-
tary inquiry. He is making an argument
for amendment. He should have appeared
before us Friday night, I assume he will
have the opportunity to offer such an
amendment here, and when he argues, I
assume the Chair and others will have the
opportunity to respond to it; but I do not
think it particularly pertinent now. Mr.
Weidemeyer has a motion pending, and I
yielded to what I thought was an inquiry,
not a debate.
THE CHAIRMAN: I will ask the Secre-
tary to read the proposed new Rule 3A.
THE SECRETARY: Introduced by Dele-
gate Weidemeyer, on page 2 of mimeo-
graphed proposed rules at Rule No. 3 and
in lines 3, 4, and 5 thereof, strike out the
following: "all of whom shall be elected by
the Convention by the vote of a majority
of all the delegates, by a roll call vote";
and following the last line of Rule 3 thereof,
insert the following new rule:
"3A. Election of Officers.
(a) In the election for the President
of the Convention, delegates may make
nominating speeches placing names be-
fore the Convention for consideration. A
secret written ballot of delegates to the
Convention then shall be held,, and each
delegate shall write in at least four and
not more than five names on his ballot.
Delegates, while casting ballots, may
vote for names other than those ac-
tually placed before the Convention. In
the tally of votes on this secret ballot,
the six highest names become the nomi-
nees for president of the Convention.
Delegates then shall cast another secret
written ballot voting for one of these six
nominees. If one of the nominees does
not receive a majority vote of all the
delegates elected to the Convention, the
delegate with the lowest vote shall be
removed from the list and the same pro-
cedure followed until a president is
elected.
(b) After the election of a president
to the Convention, the same procedure
shall be followed separately for the elec-
tion of the honorary president, the first.
vice-president and the second vice-
president."
THE CHAIRMAN: Any discussion?
DELEGATE BENNETT: Bennett from
Montgomery County. |
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Bennett.
DELEGATE BENNETT: Mr. Chairman,
a parliamentary inquiry. I suggest that
these amendments to the rules be considered
in the order that they bear on the rules.
For example, Delegates Clark, Fornos,. et
cetera, have an amendment to Rule l,
which is in conflict with the proposed
amendment of Rule 38 [40], in that under
this amendment by Messrs. Clark, et cetera,
they propose that the rules be promulgated,
which do not in any way infringe upon the
public's right to information by this Con-
vention. If we have a secret ballot, it is in
conflict with that amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair rules we
will have to vote on the amendment as
presented. If there are any conflicts,
we will have to iron them out. Delegate
Weidemeyer?
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr. Pres-
ident and members of the Convention:. We
have no rules of the procedure specifically.
On all of them, it shall be by a majorrity
vote. The proposed new rule to be added
to these rules covers the method of nomina-
tion and inasmuch as each delegate has
had one copy placed on his desk and it has
been read to him, I do not think it requires
detailed explanation, except to say that
candidates for office of president may be
placed before the Convention by speeches
recommending them, not nominating them.
The delegates, each and every one, will
play a part in nominating candidates for
the office of president by giving his secret
ballot a list Of not less than four, nor
more than five names. When all of the
names submitted by all of the delegates
are counted, then the six highest become
the nominees for the office of president of
this Convention, and after those six nomi-
nees are made, then each delegate will vote .
for one candidate. The candidate first re-
ceiving the majority becomes the elected
president of the Convention.
On the amendments that I have sug-
gested, it was not my original thought to
drop the lowest one on each ballot, and if
my amendment may be amended, I would
like that portion of it stricken so that the
lowest name would not be stricken on each
ballot, but we would keep balloting until
one of the six received the majorrity of the
seventy-two votes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you offering an
amendment to your own amendment?
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: I would
like to offer an amendment to my own |
