Tag: Grange Procedure

By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029

I’m very pleased to announce we cleared over $1,000 at our recent yard sale and fundraiser event on June 3^rd, selling lasagna & 3 kinds of baked beans, apple crisp & brownies and Visa gift card raffles. THANK YOU to the many, many helpers, Granges, and individuals who worked diligently cooking, baking, selling tickets, and making donations of food and funds for supplies to help make this a successful day. Thank you very, very much to Norma & Sharon, who helped me with the cooking, and Margaret, Maynard & Gladys, for making the apple crisp.  One of the $100 gift cards was won by someone from BIW, and the other $100 card went to a Grange member from Bingham.

June is the time for the election of officers.  As soon as the election has been held, the elected Master/President selects the Committee Chairs and committee members for their Grange. This should be done right away; no need to wait for the Installation of Officers to get your committees set up. Some of the most common Committees in our Granges are Legislative-Agriculture; Women’s Activities; Youth; Junior; Community Service; Family, Health & Hearing; Membership, and Others. Other Committees may be named as needed that may be specific to your Grange. Special Committees are set up as required for a special event or activity. Please tell your secretary who will be the chairmen, so she/he can report the roster information to the office.

We will be looking for the following information to be provided to us for each Grange:

• Grange Name and Number; Street Address and Town of Grange Hall;
• Meeting Day(s) and Time; Supper or Refreshments and Time.  (Maine State Grange By-Laws:  ARTICLE XXII – MEETINGS  Section 1.  The Bylaws of each Subordinate Grange should definitely fix the day and hour of all regular meetings.)

  Plus the following information for Officers and chairman.

• Master/President: Name; Address; Phone; (Cell if they want it listed); and e-mail address.
• Lecturer: Name: Address; Phone; (Cell if they want it listed); and e-mail address.
• Secretary: Name: Address; Phone; (Cell if they want it listed); and e-mail address.
• CWA Chairman: Name; Address; Phone; (Cell if they want it listed); and e-mail address.

We will be sending the 2024 Roster information forms to the Grange Secretaries next week. Please fill them out legibly and return them as soon as possible to the office. If you want to type the information out separately and mail or email it to us, that would be fine also.  I know I am repeating myself again, but remember Resolutions are due in the office by August 15^th. Every resolution must have a title already named by the presenting Grange. Any resolutions to make changes to State or National Grange By-Laws must refer to the Article number; Section number; and sub-section number(s) and be written out in full as it currently appears in the State or National By-laws, then the new change written out in full with the change(s) to be made.

By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029

I hope to see many of you at one of the Information/Instruction meetings I have scheduled. Or invite me to your Grange or Pomona area if you are interested.

• May 15, Evening Star in Washington, 6:00 pm refreshments; 7:00pm meeting
• May 17, Winthrop, 5:30 pm
• May 21, Harraseeket in Freeport 1:00 pm 
• June 17, Arbutus in Surry 1:00 pm
• June 22, Paugus in Fryeburg 6:30 pm
• June 27, Granite in Searsport 1:00 pm, Also Conferring the Fifth Degree Obligation Ceremony
• Victor in Fairfield has invited me, we are working on a date.

RESOLUTIONS are due to the State Grange office by August 15 — email or standard mail. 

PROCEDURE FOR ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Yes, Maine still uses paper ballots for each officer, and should be held in June. The committees are named by the elected Master.

  The Master will appoint tellers to count the ballots, and a table or place to count the ballots is set up for them. Paper ballots are passed out to all members of that Grange. Count the members that are eligible to vote.  Yes, the tellers may ballot, if they are from that Grange.

 Then the Master will say:  “The Chair awaits presentations of names for the office of….”  Any member of that Grange may present or suggest a name, the proper words are…“I present or suggest the name of… ”  (nominate is not the proper term).  The Master will repeat the name presented and ask, “Are there any others?”, asking a total of three times, repeating the list of names for that office each time they ask, “Are there any others?”.  Anyone’s name may be presented for any office by any member. 

 A person may decline or withdraw their name for the office, if they wish to, at the time their name is presented. The person declining does not have to give a reason for declining.   (Something to remember, if you are not willing to accept the office that your name has been presented for, it is best to decline at this time rather than after the election.) 

 The Master will repeat the names and say, “You will prepare your ballots for the office of….” After a brief pause, the Master will instruct the Assistants to collect the ballots and may excuse the Assistants from carrying their staves.  Paper ballots are cast by the members, writing the name of the person you wish to elect to that office. You may write anyone’s name even if their name was not presented. 

You do not have to ballot if you do not wish to. You must write the word “Blank” on the ballot if you want to cast your ballot but do not want to vote for one of those names presented or any other name,  but want your ballot to count in the “total ballots cast”. (A plain ballot may have been stuck to another and not intended to be put in the ballot count, plain ballots will not be counted in the total of ballots cast.) 

Once the Assistants have collected the ballots, the Master asks, “Have all balloted who desire to do so?” Hearing no one speak up, the Master will say, “I declare the ballot closed.” The ballot is then given to the tellers, and the Assistants return to their seats.

The tellers will count the ballots and make the report.  Reporting as follows each time: “WM, there were… total ballots cast for the office of…, necessary for choice… (majority, one more than half of the ballots cast), then will list the number of ballots cast for each person or name on the ballots. The ballot is then thrown away after the result is given by the Master.

The final choice is announced by the Master, “By your ballot, you have elected ___________ to the office of ____________.” and the results are recorded. Once a majority has been reached,  the Master will ask the person, “Brother or Sister _______________, do you accept the office of ______________?   If they decline or there is no majority of the ballots cast, the Master will say, “Since we have no majority, you will prepare your ballot for the office of _____________,” repeating all names listed. You will proceed to ballot once again on the same office until a majority is reached.   The same procedure is followed for each office.

Upon completion of the election, the tellers are excused with thanks.   

After the election, the Subordinate or Pomona, the Secretary will provide Officer (Master, Lecturer & Secretary name, address, phone & email) and the same for the Committee Chairs, plus meeting day and time, and Grange address, to the State Grange as soon as possible for the new Roster.

By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029

The Degree Day on April 23, 2023, has been moved to Manchester Grange at 953 Western Ave, (Route 202) Manchester, ME 04351. The hall is located about 10 miles south/west of Augusta next to Walgreens on Route 202. The reason for the unexpected change was the furnace breakdown at the State Grange office building.

Spring in Maine, how absolutely wonderful to see the green shoots of the jonquils, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths, the variety of colors in the crocus beds and patches of green grass showing up here and there, even though those little shoots may still be shivering during the chilly nights, the sun is warming them more and more. With spring comes reopening. Spring is also clean-up time outside and inside for our own yards but this should also include our Grange halls.  Get the lawn raked up, clip the grass and bushes around the steps and foundation, pick up the branches and trash lying around, get the tattered plastic off the windows, and maybe even wash the reachable ones.  Get some new plants in the window boxes and garden.  Repaint your sign, the steps, the railings, and even the door.  We all need an occasional facelift and get ready to provide a welcoming place for your neighbors to trade seeds, starter plants, and gardening advice.

It is good to hear Granges are getting back in the swing of things in their Grange and Community. REMINDER, there are set things that must happen to have the Grange open in due form or full form to conduct business and take votes.  There must be seven members of that Grange present to be a legal meeting, Assistants open the Bible on Altar, Opening Prayer, Salutation, the Charter MUST be present, the Implement case is opened, the Grange is declared open, and Salute to the Flag. Special meetings or open meetings are exactly as implied, “Special” for a specific, pre-designated event or activity only.  No other business may be conducted.  Open meetings are also set for special events and activities, but NO business may be conducted.

Recently while reading the information provided for Secretaries by Sharon M., our State Secretary, she talks about keeping the minutes of the meetings.  This includes motions made and the action taken on the motion during the meeting. This was a good place to remind everyone about making motions and recording them to go along with her information.  After a vote is taken on a motion, it is up to the Master to state specifically that the motion was adopted or rejected. They should not just say, “It’s a vote.”  It is always a vote one way or the other, be specific what was the vote’s end result. The Secretary should also be specific about what the outcome of the vote was and note that in the minutes along with the wording of the motion.

Handling Motions and Voting Procedure

1. The member should stand and address the Master by saying, “Worthy Master.”
2. The Master recognizes the member (the member obtains the floor).
3. The member from that Grange makes a motion by saying, “I move that…”  or  “I would like to make a motion to …. “
4. The Master then asks for a second to the motion.  (If no one seconds the motion, it is lost, and no discussion may continue on the subject.)
5. Another member of that Grange seconds the motion.
6. The Secretary records the wording of the motion.
7. The Master repeats the motion for all to hear.
8. The Master asks, “Is there any discussion?” Only at this point are debate and/or questions allowed.
9. A motion may be amended (wording changed, added, or deleted) by making another motion saying, “I move to amend this motion to …” Again, it must be seconded.  The amendment (changes)  is voted on first.  The Secretary records the changes.
10. If the changes are adopted, then the amended motion is taken up as a whole.
11. If the changes are not adopted, then you go back to the original motion. 
12. Hearing that there is no more debate/discussion, the Master puts the question to a vote by saying, “All in favor of the motion as stated will make it manifest by the voting sign of the order.”  After this vote, the Master will say “Down hands” and ask, “All opposed by the same sign.”  The Master must ask for those in favor and those opposed on each motion presented.  The voting sign of the order is the end of the sign for the First Degree.
13.  The Master announces the result of the vote by saying, “The Motion carries; is adopted or is affirmative.” If the vote is negative, “the Motion is rejected or lost.” Specific words adopted or rejected must be included in his/her report.  Then make it official with one rap of the gavel.   
14. The Secretary records the result of the vote for the motion using the specific words “motion carries/adopted or motion lost/rejected”. 

A simple majority is needed for a motion to be approved or rejected unless it is a Bylaw change.  In this case 2/3 of those present and voting is required.  Also, Bylaw changes must be held over to the next meeting, and all members notified of the changes and the meeting date for the vote.

Other dates I have scheduled for information/instruction meetings:

• Apr. 22, 1:00 pm Arbutus not confirmed. Call ahead.
• May 13, 1:00 pm – 3:30 Cumberland Pomona hosting at N. Scarborough
• May 15, 6:00 pm refreshments; 7:00 pm meeting Evening Star
• June 22, 6:30 pm Paugus
• June 27, 1:00 pm Searsport 

The Springfield Fair date has been changed to June 15 – 18. NE Youth Conference will be July 15 and 16, hosted by Vermont, more info to come.