Annual Convention, Saturday, November 20, 2021, may still feel like it is a long way off but there are a number of important deadlines that are much closer and which need to be met:
In this edition: August 16, 2021
  • Nominations
  • Audited Parish Financials
  • Certification of Voters
  • Resolutions
  • Elections
  • Registration
  • Finance & Budget Presentations
Nominations
Deadline: August 20, 2021
As members of The Episcopal Church, we all share in its leadership and oversight, often by serving on parish and diocesan teams and committees. Any active Episcopalian in the Episcopal Church in Delaware may nominate someone to serve on a diocesan-wide body. You may nominate yourself as well. Please prayerfully consider a person you know who might be ready to serve at the diocesan level.
 
If you have questions, feel free to contact
  • John Michael Sophos (nominations@delaware.church), nominations chairperson
  • Kay Keenan (convention@delaware.church), Secretary of Convention.


Below are offices to be elected at the 237th Annual Convention:
CONSTITUTION & CANONS
  • One clergy for a 5-year term
DISCIPLINARY BOARD
  • One clergy for a 4-year term

  • One lay for a 4-year term
___DIOCESAN COUNCIL
  • Two clergy for a 3-year term

  • Three lay-at-large for a 3-year term

  • One lay in Area 1 for a 3-year term
___STANDING COMMITTEE
  • One clergy for a 4-year term

  • One lay for a 4-year term
___TRUSTEES
  • One clergy OR one lay for a 6-year term
Audited Parish Financials
Deadline: September 1, 2021
A parish’s last two annual audits must be filed by September 1, 2021, (Canon 14). This deadline, if missed, will prevent a parish’s lay representatives from voting at the convention. The deadline for filing audits is set by Episcopal Church canons (I.7.1(g)) as “not later than 30 days following the date of such report, and in no event, not later than September 1 of each year.”
Certification of Voters (lay and clergy)
Deadline: September 21, 2021
Certification ensures that persons entitled to speak and vote at the convention can do so. This year, our annual convention will continue to use secure, electronic voting. Thus, all voters — lay and clergy — must certify their eligibility by the deadline to receive access to the voting system and training well before the convention. There is no fee to certify delegates.
 
IMPORTANT: All voters — including alternates who might substitute for a delegate during the convention — must have access to an internet-capable device (computer, tablet, or phone), the internet, and their email account in order to vote.
 
Lay voters. Your parish delegation is selected by your vestry (Canon 2). Certification of your delegates and alternates must be completed by the senior or junior warden or, if the senior or junior warden is not available, the secretary of the vestry. The following link goes directly to the Certification of Delegation form: Certification of Delegation Form.
 
Clergy voters. (Article IV, Section 2). For past conventions when voting only required printed ballots, canonical clergy were certified to vote when they checked in at the convention site. However, with the move to electronic voting, certification must be done by September 21, 2021, to ensure voting clergy receive the same training as lay delegates well before the convention. Certification of Canonical Clergy form.
 
Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution and Canons states that those members of the clergy who fit the following criteria are eligible to vote: 
 
-----“Every bishop, priest, or deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church who is canonically -----resident in this Diocese shall have a seat in convention. Every bishop, priest or deacon of -----the Protestant Episcopal Church who is canonically resident in this diocese and (a) holds -----a cure or office in this diocese, (b) who shall have resigned a cure or office on account of -----age or physical incapacity, or (c) who holds neither a cure nor an office in this diocese nor -----has resigned a cure or office on account of age or physical incapacity but is in good -----standing and has reported, in writing, to the bishop each January or (d) whose -----ecclesiastical duty, for which the approval and the certification by the ecclesiastical -----authority are necessary, requires residence outside the jurisdiction of this diocese -----(including, but not limited to, a chaplain in the Armed Forces of the United States), shall -----have a vote in convention.”
Resolutions
Deadline: September 21, 2021
Anyone who plans to submit a resolution to the convention is invited to do so on time — that is, by September 21, 2021. This deadline allows voters the time to properly review and discuss each idea well in advance. This year we will try a process that has been used in other dioceses. A hearing on resolution(s) will be held by Zoom on the afternoon of Sunday, October 24, 2021, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in advance of the convention. This will hopefully reduce the work on resolutions that needs to be done on the day of the convention since any resolutions will have already been thoroughly discussed. While our rules of order technically permit late resolutions to be submitted up to convention day, these are only considered when a super-majority of voters approves hearing them. Late resolutions (often referred to as floor resolutions) are any debatable resolutions received after the 60-day deadline. These may only be introduced at the convention if a supermajority (two-thirds) agrees to receive them. Late resolutions are strongly discouraged. Therefore, the convention will be urged to reject consideration of any late resolution that could have been submitted on time, and instead resolution writers are urged to submit any late resolutions (on time) for the next convention. Having our collective business organized on time is a major way to help keep our large, hybrid gathering focused on mission and ministry and not bogged down in late legislation.

Elections
All voting at the 237th convention will take place electronically. It is essential that all eligible convention voters [delegates, alternates (potentially), and voting clergy have ready access to the internet, an email account, and a Zoom-capable computer or device throughout the entire convention. For example, electronic voting will use your email account to send you your ballot for each vote, and you will then need an internet-connected web browser to place your vote. All voters will be using the electronic voting system whether they are attending in person or attending online. So, the need for an email account and a device applies to all voters.
 
Multiple training sessions will be offered on the voting system via Zoom, probably in November 2021. Dates will be sent to all those eligible and potentially eligible to vote. All voters are required to attend one training session. The voting system is simple and easy to learn. No voting training will be offered during the convention; we’ll jump right in and start voting when the time comes. Thus, all voters are expected to have committed themselves to learn the system in advance.
Registration
Registering for convention means the enrollment of all people who plan to attend in person — lay delegations, clergy, convention leadership, and presenters. Registration is only required for those who will be physically present at St. Andrew’s School. Certifying a lay delegation or a canonical clergy person is separate from registering for the convention.
 
Following the pattern established at the 236th convention, all voting will take place electronically, and since all voters need to be trained, canonical clergy eligible to vote will need to certify attendance at the convention by September 21, 2021. This information is needed so that we can coordinate voter training with the election’s vendor. Registration for those who will be physically present at the convention will begin September 21, 2021.
 
As was stated in the Call to Convention, the 237th Annual Convention will be a hybrid convention. In order to promote the health and well-being of those who will actually be physically present at St. Andrew’s school, a COVID-19 vaccination is required. We will also be adhering to a projected in-person limit of 150 people. Those who should plan to attend are as follows: Clergy canonically resident in Delaware, clergy not canonically resident in Delaware but who lead a Delaware congregation, voting delegates, presenters, and those in a convention leadership role or a diocesan staff position. Again, all of those who will be attending in person need to be fully vaccinated.
Finance and Budget Presentation Sessions
Two finance and budget presentation sessions will be held via Zoom in the weeks leading up to convention. Those sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, November 10, 2021, beginning at 4:30 p.m. and again on the morning of Saturday, November 13, 2021, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Each session is scheduled for approximately 90 minutes. Since the convention will be asked to approve the 2022 preliminary budget, it will be helpful for voters to attend one of these sessions. No such sessions will be held the on day of the convention.

Please remember that the convention webpage, is a centralized repository of information and instructions for the 237th Annual Convention.
Issue date: August 16, 2021