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452

The following is the procedure for the election of superiors:

  1. the electors shall meet at the appointed time and place and invoke the Holy Spirit; the president, tellers and secretary shall take the oath to fulfil their duty faithfully and, even after the election is over, to observe secrecy about the transactions in the sessions;
  2. the secretary shall call the names of the individuals who by law must be present as electors; if they are present, they shall answer;
  3. objections, if there are any, against the admission or exclusion of any voter must then be raised;
  4. the president shall remind the voters that no one may validly vote for himself;
  5. the ballot papers are distributed by the secretary, and voters write their vote in this manner: I elect or I postulate N.N., indicating both the given name and surname. In every case the complete formula, I elect or I postulate, shall be used;
  6. if any voter present in the convent is confined to his room by illness, the tellers shall then go to him together, and obtain his written vote. If the sick person is unable to write, he may authorize someone else to write his vote, or he may even by word of mouth declare his vote to the tellers: they should immediately write it down;
  7. the tellers and then the voters, one by one, beginning with the seniors, place their folded ballot-papers in an open container;
  8. the ballots are counted by the tellers. If their number does not exceed the number of voters, they are then opened; otherwise, they shall be destroyed immediately, and the electors shall fill in a new ballot-paper;
  9. the tellers read the ballot-papers and tabulate the votes;
  10. the tellers compare their tabulations and after they have found them in agreement, the ballot-papers are destroyed;
  11. then the president reads out in a clear voice the names of each one who has received a vote;
  12. objections, if there are any, against the process of the election itself must then be raised;
  13. with the consent of the majority, the election process may be interrupted between ballots, but the last ballot must be held on that same day;
  14. if the required majority is obtained, the president shall declare brother N.N., to have been canonically elected or postulated for such and such office. If the president himself has been elected, the declaration shall be made by the first teller;
  15. objections, if there are any, against the character of the one elected must then be raised;
  16. the document of election is drawn up and signed by the president, the tellers, and the secretary.
Start Date
20101001
20230425