General Assembly 2009
Posted by: 8:35 p.m. MDT
Peter Morales has just released a statement on his Web site. Go here to read it.
8:30 p.m. MDT
That’s it. Final result: all uncontested candidates were elected. Peter Morales was elected the next UUA president with 59% of the vote.
8:28 p.m. MDT
The Rev. Tracy Robinson-Harris is leading us in the congregation in a responsive reading. I can feel myself calming down as more than two thousand people read together. Now John Hubert is leading us in the closing song, “For All That Is Our Life.”
Guess this means that neither Peter Morales nor Laurel Hallman will be speaking to us.
8:25 p.m. MDT
Heard around me: “I love this sermon, even though I’m not really listening.”
It’s a great sermon by Carley, but I know I’m too excited thinking of the election results to pay proper attention. But oh, he really is a good preacher.
8:23 p.m. MDT
3,543 votes cast. Chris Walton of UU World magazine, who’s sitting next to me here, calculates the following:
UUA President-elect Peter Morales won the UUA presidency decisively with 59 percent of all votes. He won 55 percent of the absentee vote (1,020 to 827) and 61 percent of the on-site vote (1,041 to 654). His margin of victory is 580 votes. Seven ballots were disqualified for discrepancies; one vote was cast for “No.”
Outgoing UUA President William G. Sinkford won by the largest margin of any UUA president in a contested race when he was first elected in 2001. Sinkford won that election with 67.7 percent (2,218 to 1,043).
8:18 p.m. MDT
The Plenary Hall looks very full now. Still a few people trickling in to the hall. (I hope word gets to the latecomers that Peter Morales won the presidential election.)
8:16 p.m. MDT
“Some of us in this moment are disappointed that our candidate was not elected, and some of us are delighted that our candidate won,” says Carley. “But all of us are thankful” for the people who are willing to serve as leaders.
Carley is being very funny — I can’t capture it here.
8:14 p.m. MDT
Gini Courter is walking around off stage. A small group talking over there.
Rev. Burton Carley is speaking, quoting Howard Thurman, speaking about how life can throw challenges at us.
Bill Sinkford is walking in in front of the stage. He just took a seat in the front row, off to my left.
8:10 p.m. MDT
Morales has just come on stage. Music playing.
8:10 p.m. MDT
Rickter is beginning to speak. “I can announce that we have elected as the 8th president of the UUA the Rev. Peter Morales.”
Cheers, clapping. A few people standing.
8:09 p.m. MDT
“[This is] a service of gratitude for those willing to serve,” says Anne Bancroft as she gives the opening words. She quotes from Marge Piercy’s poem, “To Be of Use.”
No sign of the candidates yet. Paul Rickter, who’s going to make the announcement, is on stage here though.
8:06 p.m. MDT
Just before the song started, I was hearing the word “upset.” 2062 to 1481 is a big win for Peter Morales.
8:05 p.m. MDT
John Hubert is leading those assembled in singing a hymn: “Gather the Spirit.” The worship celebration is beginning.
8:02 p.m. MDT
Vote totals: Morales 2062, Hallman 1481.
8:00 p.m. MDT
Morales won. (The UUA Twitter feed posted the result before me. Drat.)
7:58 p.m. MDT
I just walked back to the entrance to the Plenary Hall. There’s something of a bottleneck getting into the hall. Everyone’s coming at once.
Not quite the sense of eager anticipation I expected, though. I’m hearing people talking about everything except the election results.
7:56 p.m. MDT
Now people are really streaming into the Plenary Hall. The hall is only about a fifth full yet….
7:54 p.m. MDT
Still waiting for key people to show up in the Plenary Hall — these are people who are supposed to be leading the Celebration of the two candidates. I just overheard a member of teh GA Planning Committee say, “We’re going ahead anyway, we’ll just have to trust they show up in time.”
7:52 p.m. MDT
OK, I just got word that there is a decision on who’s the next UUA president, but there’s no word yet on who it is.
7:49 p.m. MDT
Sounds like there is a possibility there might be a delay in the announcement of who’s the next UUA President. I’ll let you know more when I know more.
7:45 p.m. MDT
People are starting to arrive in the Plenary hall to hear the announcement about who won the election to be next UUA president. Stay tuned….
Tuesday afternoon’s plenery was the most meaningful I’ve experienced in the 6 or so I’ve participeted in. Even though the results were hotly contested, the process of working on somethi g as important as our purposes & principles and hearing such passionate pleas equally for both sides made me proud to be a UU & a delegate. Seeing young people play a vital role was also great.
Thanks for the comment, Curtiss. It was a pretty intense Plenary, wasn’t it? I think I’;d say the same thing about the UUA presidential election.
So did I get the vote on sending the Purposes and Principles to congregations for a year of study failed, 573 aye, 586 nay? or some such?
I confess, one benefit of video is fast forward. I use it especially for Hollywood films. So I did not listen to every comment. I did listen to many, and one can appreciate why the constraints on discussion of that section of the by-laws are necessary. A credo (that’s not a creed) by committee almost guarantees endless objections, as well as that if a finished product happens, it is well-regarded.
Incidentally, I found the video of yesterday’s mini-assembly discussion of the item most workable, as well as today’s plenary action. I use IE7 and I must use “Open in a new window” to get the hyperlink to work for me, but once I get there, the quality of the transmission is tolerable to quite good. Kudos to the techies.
Hi Rex Styzens — I don’t know what the vote was on the Principles and Purposes (that was in a different Plenary session, and I was back in the Web room feverishly typing). What I was reporting on in this post was presidential race.
But my understanding is that the revision of Article II, a.k.a. Principles and Purposes, has been sent back to the congregations by a very close vote.
Dan, contrary to what you wrote above, the delegates voted NOT to send the Principles and Purposes revision back to the congregations. The revision was effectively rejected and cannot be introduced again for at least two years. The margin was 13 votes: 573 for, 586 against.
Chris Walton — Thanks for the clarification! I admit that I was confused about the exact parliamentary procedure that went on.