Who presides? - March 2010

Q:During one of my classes when discussing the rule that the presiding officer should relinquish the chair in order to participate in debate, a student raised the following question, “If the vice president or another officer has taken a stand regarding the question, is he or she eligible to take over the chair’s position?”

A: When the presiding officer relinquishes the chair to participate, he or she should turn the chair over to the vice president. If the vice president has spoken on the question, the chair is turned over to a ranking vice president in the room who has not spoken on the motion. If there is no such vice president in the room, the chair designates another person who has not spoken on the motion. Caution should be taken by the presiding officer to select someone who not only has presiding skills but who would also be judged by the assembly to be objective on this issue. This person is assumed to have the assembly’s approval unless the members decide to nominate someone else, in which case the person named by the chair is also a nominee and a vote is taken to determine who will preside. After relinquishing the chair, the presiding officer should not return to it until the pending main motion is disposed of. [RONR 10^th edition, page 382, lines 26-36 and page 383, lines 1-9]