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Relevant Constitutional Amendments ....The 2001 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted some amendments to the Constitution for Synods that may affect the balloting process in the Synod Assembly.
The following amendment to †S9.02. automatically became a part of your synod’s constitution under †S18.11. to define precisely the votes required for election. In all elections by the Synod Assembly, other than for the bishop, a majority of the legal votes cast shall be necessary for election. The following amendments to your synod’s constitution may be adopted at the start of your Synod Assembly by majority vote under †S18.12., if they were not previously adopted by your Synod Assembly: Constitution for Synods to define precisely the votes required for election:
S9.04. The bishop shall be elected by the Synod Assembly by ecclesiastical ballot. Three-fourths of the legal votes cast shall be necessary for election on the first ballot. If no one is elected, the first ballot shall be considered the nominating ballot. Three-fourths of the legal votes cast on the second ballot shall be necessary for election. The third ballot shall be limited to the seven persons (plus ties) who received the greatest number of legal votes on the second ballot, and two-thirds of the legal votes cast shall be necessary for election. The fourth ballot shall be limited to the three persons (plus ties) who receive the greatest number of legal votes on the third ballot, and 60 percent of the legal votes cast shall be necessary for election. On subsequent ballots a majority of the legal votes cast shall be necessary for election. These ballots shall be limited to the two persons (plus ties) who receive the greatest number of legal votes on the previous ballot.
To amend S9.08. in the Constitution for Synods to define precisely the votes required for election:
S9.08. In all elections, except for the bishop, the names of the persons receiving the highest number of legal votes, but not elected by a majority of the legal votes cast on a preceding ballot, shall be entered on the next ballot to the number of two for each vacancy unfilled. On any ballot when only two names appear, a majority of the legal votes cast shall be necessary for election. The result of defining legal votes cast is that invalid or illegal votes are not counted in determining the percentage needed for election. An illegal vote is a ballot, for instance, on which the name of a person not eligible for election to synodical bishop (such as Pope Benedict XVI) was submitted.1 Other examples of “illegal” votes would be any ballots cast for persons who are not ordained ministers of the ELCA, since eligible nominees for synodical bishop must be ordained ministers of this church (†S8.11.). 1 Don’t laugh; Pope John Paul II once got three votes in a synod. To determine 60 percent of the legal votes cast, for instance, the three illegal votes for the Pope would not count in the equation.
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