Past Masters’ Voting Rights in each U.S. Grand Lodge
The information on this chart comes from information supplied on Masonic email and listservs.
If anyone has definite information about the rules in each Grand Lodge on whether Past Masters can vote in Grand Lodge, please send email to Paul M. Bessel so I can update this chart.
|
State |
Can Past Masters Vote in Grand Lodge? |
|
| Alabama | No | |
| Alaska |
Masonic Code, Section 2.01 Constitution / Officers and Members: |
|
| Arizona | In Arizona, all Past Masters of Arizona Lodges have an individual vote at Grand Lodge. However, they must be present to exercise it — no proxies. |
|
| Arkansas | In Arkansas only the Junior Past Master has a vote. With the 3 principal officers, this gives each lodge the same number of votes. | |
| California | Collective vote | |
| Colorado | No | |
| Connecticut | No | |
| Delaware | ||
| District of Columbia | Most votes are informal, saying “aye”, raising hands, or standing up, in which case everyone attending can vote. On roll call votes, to elect Officers or when requested by 2 or more lodges, all PM’s from each Lodge have 1 collective vote. | |
| Florida | ||
| Georgia | Yes | |
| Hawaii | ||
| Idaho | Those eligible to vote are the Master and Wardens of each lodge (may be by proxy) or a Certified Past Master of an Idaho Lodge. To become a voting member of Grand Lodge as a Past Master, must give all 3 lectures | |
| Illinois | Yes | |
| Indiana | No | |
| Iowa | No | |
| Kansas | Yes | |
| Kentucky | ||
| Louisiana | No | |
| Maine | ||
| Maryland | PM’s of each lodge have 1 collective vote | |
| Massachusetts | No | |
| Michigan | No | |
| Minnesota | No | |
| Mississippi | ||
| Missouri | Yes | |
| Montana | Yes | |
| Nebraska | ||
| Nevada | Nevada has one collective Past Master Vote per lodge at Grand Lodge. | |
| New Hampshire | No | |
| New Jersey | Yes. PM’s have the right to vote on anything, including elections. From an email: Sitting master and wardens each have one vote by virtue of their offices, which are cast individually. Each Past Master having completed his full one year term of office has one vote. On issues requiring a hand vote only, the voter must be present. On issues requiring a written ballot (principally electing Grand Lodge officers and Trustees) the votes for absent Masters and Wardens are cast by the senior of the three present. If all three are absent, the lodge’s elected proxy votes all three. Each Past Master has one vote, which may be in addition to his vote as an elected Master (second term or greater) or warden. One vote for a Past Master is not affected by multiple terms as Master, nor by having served as Master in multiple lodges. Thus a Past Master sitting as Master or Warden or elected proxy, in the absence of the other elected officers, can cast as many as four ballots. |
|
| New Mexico | No | |
| New York | No | |
| North Carolina | No. Defeated a proposal to give all PMs a vote in Grand Lodge in 2001. | |
| North Dakota | ||
| Ohio | ||
| Oklahoma | ||
| Oregon | ||
| Pennsylvania | Yes, by one year’s service (?) | |
| Rhode Island | Yes | |
| South Carolina | ||
| South Dakota | ||
| Tennessee | Yes | |
| Texas | Yes | |
| Utah | ||
| Vermont | ||
| Virginia | All PM’s from all Lodges (hundreds of them, acting together) have a total of 1 collective vote in Grand Lodge. This is not very significant, compared with the votes (1 each) of each of the 350 or so Lodges, plus PGM’s and GLO’s who have individual votes. | |
| Washington | Yes | |
| West Virginia | PMs have a 1/4 vote. In 1997 a motion to give a full vote to PMs was laid over and was defeated. | |
| Wisconsin | No | |
| Wyoming | Yes | |
| TOTALS | 18 | 13 |
|---|---|---|