From the Grand Secretary …
Brethren,
Several reminders related to upcoming elections and the Annual Meeting of Grand Lodge.
Elections for District Deputy Grand Masters:
See details of Feb 12 2021 letter sent to all DDGMs.
ALL Districts will elect their DDGM via an electronic election with voting on June 18 and June 19 2021.
Every current DDGM must submit ALL signed nominations to the Grand Lodge office by May 30 2021.
There will be NO acclamations. Even if only one candidate is running a signed nomination form and the DDGM Eligible Candidates form (fillable PDF) must be submitted.
Electronic Registration will be June 12-June 17; registration details will be distributed in early June 2021. Voting details for brethren without computer access are detailed in the March 01 document.
Elections for Grand Lodge Officers:
See details of March 01 2021 letter sent to all lodges.
Electronic Registration will be July 12-July 18; registration details will be distributed in early July 2021.
Registrations from the DDGM election will be automatically carried over to the Grand Lodge elections.
If you did not register for the DDGM election you must register for the Grand Lodge election. Voting will take place July 19 and July 20 2021. Voting details for brethren without computer access are detailed in the March 01 document.
Voting on proposed 2021 Constitutional Amendments:
Voting for the proposed amendments will take place at the same time as voting for the Grand Lodge officers on July 19 – July 20 2021.
Proposed amendments have been distributed to every lodge (April 19 2021). Amendments will be on the same ballot as the Grand Lodge officer elections.
Voting for members without Computer access:
The document emailed to all lodges on March 01, 2021 outlines the procedure for enabling an eligible member without computer access to vote.
Annual Meeting of Grand Lodge:
The Annual Meeting of Grand Lodge will be a virtual meeting held on Wednesday July 21, 2021 beginning at 9:00AM EDT.
Registration information will follow closer to the date.
Installation of Grand Lodge Officers and District Deputy Grand Masters:
The Installation of Grand lodge Officers and District Deputy Grand Masters will NOT take place during the virtual Annual Meeting.
Elected officers will be authorized to perform their duties effective July 21, 2021, but Installation details will be announced later.
Amending Lodge By-Laws for Dues ONLY changes:
There are number of factors pointing to the need for many lodges to amend their by-laws to increase the amount of lodge dues ONLY.
This situation has been brought to a head by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Masonic lockdown. Therefore, Grand Lodge has adopted a temporary COVID-19 business policy and new procedure that will allow such amendments for dues only to be processed effectively and efficiently during the Masonic lockdown. That new policy will be distributed to all lodges as a COVID-19 update shortly.
Fraternally,
Garry Dowling,
Grand Secretary