Chapter 24 : Election, Ordination and Installation of Ruling Elders and Deacons

Paragraph 3 : Of Eligible Voters

24-3. All communing members in good and regular standing, but no others, are entitled to vote in the election of church officers in the churches to which they respectively belong. A majority vote of those present is required for election.

[Historical Summary: The first sentence of the current PCA text remains unchanged from that of PCUS 1925. The wording of the second sentence dates to 2005 [M33GA, 33-8, Item 1, p. 49-51]. A prior attempt at amendment of this paragraph had been defeated in 1997 [M25GA, 25-17, Item 2, p. 114].

Antecedent Texts:
1. PCA 1973, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 142
2. Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, 25-3, Proposed text, p. 33
3. PCUS 1933, XXVII, §145
4. PCUS 1925, XXVI, §145
All communing members in good and regular standing, but no others, are entitled to vote in the election of church officers in the churches to which they respectively belong. When a majority of all the voters present cast their votes for a person for either of these offices, he shall be considered elected.

PCUS 1879
[no comparable text]

PCUS 1869 draft
[no comparable text]

PCUS 1867 draft
[no comparable text]

Commentary:
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898)
[no comparable text for discussion]

Interpretations of the Constitution:
1982 - Reference #3
Question:
The Session of Vineville Presbyterian Church at its Stated November 1981 meeting requested that the General Assembly's Judicial Committee provide an interpretation of 24-3 and 34-4 of the Book of Church Order with respect to what constitutes a voter (one who casts a vote for one or more candidates or one who case a blank ballot).
Answer:
A person eligible to vote is defined in BCO 24-3 as a communing member in good and regular standing who is present at the congregational meeting called to elect officers. A majority vote of the voters present is required to elect.
Grounds:
This recommendation is a ratification of the answer already given by the Permanent Sub-Committee on Judicial Business.
Adopted. [M10GA, 10-75, III, Item 10, p. 101]

1984 - Constitutional Inquiry #9. From Texas Presbytery.
Question:
That the Presbytery ask the General Assembly's Permanent Committee on Judicial Business if a congregation may be permitted to set a minimum age for voting in view of BCO 6-2, 6-4, 24-3, 25-1 and 25-3.
Answer:
The BCO does not provide for the setting of minimum age for voting in congregational meetings even when constituted as a meeting of the corporation, except when the state provides for a minimum age for those voting in the corporation.
[Clerk's Note: BCO 25-11 indicates that congregations must act in accord with applicable civil laws.]
Adopted. [M12GA, 12-53, II, Item 60, p. 140].

Documentation - Adopted Amendments:
2005 [M33GA, 33-8, Item 1, p. 49-51].

Documentation - Defeated Amendments:
1997 [M25GA, 25-17, Item 2, p. 114; cf. M24GA (1996), 24-58, III, Item 20, pp. 312ff.; M23GA (1995), 23-49, III, Items 19 & 20, pp. 244-245].
Item 2. That BCO 6-5, 20-3, 24-3, 25-1, 25-2 and 25-3 be amended as follows:
a. Add a new BCO 6-5 to read:
"6-5. A congregation may, at its discretion, set the minimum voting age for its communing members, provided it is not greater than eighteen (18) years of age. The congregation may also, at its discretion, set a different voting age for different matters provided it is not greater than eighteen (18) years of age."
b. Amend BCO 20-3 by adding to sentence 3, so as to read as follows:
"All communing members in good and regular standing, who have been entitled to vote by the congregation, but no others, are entitled to vote in the churches to which they are respectively attached."
Similarly, amend BCO 24-3 by adding to the first sentence so as to read as follows:
"All communing members in good and regular standing, who have been entitled to vote by the congregation, but not others, are entitled to vote in the election of church officers in the churches to which they respectively belong."
c. Add to BCO 25-1 the following sentence:
"However, the congregation may, at its discretion, set the minimum age for its communing mmbers in accord with BCO 6-5."
d. Add "voting" before "communing members" in BCO 25-2, a, b, c, d, and e.
e. Amend BCO 25-3 twice so that it reads:
". . . resident voting communing members . . ."
On Item 2, a parliamentary inquiry was raised concerning the counting of abstentions in the determination of an issue when a majority vote is required. The Moderator ruled that, according to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, 1990 Edition, Sect. 43, p. 385, when a majority vote is required, it means more than half of the votes cast by persons legally entitled to vote, excluding blanks and abstentions. Based on this ruling, the votes of two Presbyteries (Fellowship and South Texas) were deemed to be "For", rather than "Against", thus providing the necessary number of Presbyteries in favor of this BCO amendment. [39 Presbyteries voted in favor, 11 against]
Nevertheless, on voting for these amendments, they were Defeated.