_Of the Reconsideration of the Ballot._
There are, unfortunately, some men in our Order, governed, not by
essentially bad motives, but by frail judgments and by total ignorance of
the true object and design of Freemasonry, who never, under any
circumstances, have recourse to the black ball, that great bulwark of
Masonry, and are always more or less incensed when any more judicious
Brother exercises his privilege of excluding those whom he thinks unworthy
of participation in our mysteries.
I have said, that these men are not governed by motives essentially bad.
This is the fact. They honestly desire the prosperity of the institution,
and they would not willfully do one act which would impede that
prosperity. But their judgments are weak, and their zeal is without
knowledge. They do not at all understand in what the true prosperity of
the Order consists, but really and conscientiously believing that its
actual strength will be promoted by the increase of the number of its
disciples; they look rather to the _quantity_ than to the _quality_ of the
applicants who knock at the doors of our lodges.
Now a great difference in respect to the mode in which the ballot is
conducted, will be found in those lodges which are free from the presence
of such injudicious brethren, and others into which they have gained
admittance.
In a lodge in which every member has a correct notion of the proper moral
qualifications of the candidates for Masonry, and where there is a general
disposition to work well with a few, rather than to work badly with many,
when a ballot is ordered, each Brother, having deposited his vote,
quietly and calmly waits to hear the decision of the ballot box announced
by the Chair. If it is "clear," all are pleased that another citizen has
been found worthy to receive a portion of the illuminating rays of
Masonry. If it is "foul," each one is satisfied with the adjudication, and
rejoices that, although knowing nothing himself against the candidate,
some one has been present whom a more intimate acquaintance with the
character of the applicant has enabled to interpose his veto, and prevent
the purity of the Order from being sullied by the admission of an unworthy
candidate. Here the matter ends, and the lodge proceeds to other business.
But in a lodge where one of these injudicious and over-zealous Brethren is
present, how different is the scene. If the candidate is elected, he, too,
rejoices; but his joy is, that the lodge has gained one more member whose
annual dues and whose initiation fee will augment the amount of its
revenues. If he is rejected, he is indignant that the lodge has been
deprived of this pecuniary accession, and forthwith he sets to work to
reverse, if possible, the decision of the ballot box, and by a volunteer
defense of the rejected candidate, and violent denunciations of those who
opposed him, he seeks to alarm the timid and disgust the intelligent, so
that, on a _reconsideration_, they may be induced to withdraw their
opposition.
The _motion for reconsideration_ is, then, the means generally adopted, by
such seekers after quantity, to insure the success of their efforts to
bring all into our fold who seek admission, irrespective of worth or
qualification. In other words, we may say, that _the motion for
reconsideration is the great antagonist of the purity and security of the
ballot box_. The importance, then, of the position which it thus assumes,
demands a brief discussion of the time and mode in which a ballot may be
reconsidered.
In the beginning of the discussion, it may be asserted, that it is
competent for any brother to move a reconsideration of a ballot, or for a
lodge to vote on such a motion. The ballot is a part of the work of
initiating a candidate. It is the preparatory step, and is just as
necessary to his legal making as the obligation or the investiture. As
such, then, it is clearly entirely under the control of the Master. The
Constitutions of Masonry and the Rules and Regulations of every Grand and
Subordinate lodge prescribe the mode in which the ballot shall be
conducted, so that the sense of the members may be taken. The Grand Lodge
also requires that the Master of the lodge shall see that that exact mode
of ballot shall be pursued and no other, and it will hold him responsible
that there shall be no violation of the rule. If, then, the Master is
satisfied that the ballot has been regularly and correctly conducted, and
that no possible good, but some probable evil, would arise from its
reconsideration, it is not only competent for him, but it is his solemn
duty to refuse to permit any such reconsideration. A motion to that
effect, it may be observed, will always be out of order, although any
Brother may respectfully request the Worshipful Master to order such a
reconsideration, or suggest to him its propriety or expediency.
If, however, the Master is not satisfied that the ballot is a true
indication of the sense of the lodge, he may, in his own discretion, order
a reconsideration. Thus there may be but one black ball;--now a single
black ball may sometimes be inadvertently cast--the member voting it may
have been favorably disposed towards the candidate, and yet, from the
hurry and confusion of voting, or from the dimness of the light or the
infirmity of his own eyes, or from some other equally natural cause, he
may have selected a black ball, when he intended to have taken a white
one. It is, therefore, a matter of prudence and necessary caution, that,
when only one black ball appears, the Master should order a new ballot. On
this second ballot, it is to be presumed that more care and vigilance will
be used, and the reappearance of the black ball will then show that it was
deposited designedly.
But where two or three or more black balls appear on the first ballot,
such a course of reasoning is not authorized, and the Master will then be
right to refuse a reconsideration. The ballot has then been regularly
taken--the lodge has emphatically decided for a rejection, and any order
to renew the ballot would only be an insult to those who opposed the
admission of the applicant, and an indirect attempt to thrust an unwelcome
intruder upon the lodge.
But although it is in the power of the Master, under the circumstances
which we have described, to order a reconsideration, yet this prerogative
is accompanied with certain restrictions, which it may be well to notice.
In the first place, the Master cannot order a reconsideration on any other
night than that on which the original ballot was taken.[71] After the
lodge is closed, the decision of the ballot is final, and there is no
human authority that can reverse it. The reason of this rule is evident.
If it were otherwise, an unworthy Master (for, unfortunately, all Masters
are not worthy) might on any subsequent evening avail himself of the
absence of those who had voted black balls, to order a reconsideration,
and thus succeed in introducing an unfit and rejected candidate into the
lodge, contrary to the wishes of a portion of its members.
Neither can he order a reconsideration on the same night, if any of the
Brethren who voted have retired. All who expressed their opinion on the
first ballot, must be present to express it on the second. The reasons for
this restriction are as evident as for the former, and are of the same
character.
It must be understood, that I do not here refer to those reconsiderations
of the ballot which are necessary to a full understanding of the opinion
of the lodge, and which have been detailed in the ceremonial of the mode
of balloting, as it was described in the preceding Section.
It may be asked whether the Grand Master cannot, by his dispensations,
permit a reconsideration. I answer emphatically, NO. The Grand Master
possesses no such prerogative. There is no law in the whole jurisprudence
of the institution clearer than this--that neither the Grand Lodge nor the
Grand Master can interfere with the decision of the ballot box. In
Anderson's Constitutions, the law is laid down, under the head of "Duty of
Members" (edition of 1755, p. 312), that in the election of candidates the
Brethren "are to give their consent in their own prudent way, either
virtually or in form, but with unanimity." And the regulation goes on to
say: "Nor is this inherent privilege _subject to a dispensation_, because
the members of a lodge are the best judges of it; and because, if a
turbulent member should be imposed upon them, it might spoil their
harmony, or hinder the freedom of their communications, or even break and
disperse the lodge." This settles the question. A dispensation to
reconsider a ballot would be an interference with the right of the members
"to give their consent in their own prudent way;" it would be an
infringement of an "inherent privilege," and neither the Grand Lodge nor
the Grand Master can issue a dispensation for such a purpose. Every lodge
must be left to manage its own elections of candidates in its own prudent
way.
I conclude this section by a summary of the principles which have been
discussed, and which I have endeavored to enforce by a process of
reasoning which I trust may be deemed sufficiently convincing. They are
briefly these:
1. It is never in order for a member to move for the reconsideration of a
ballot on the petition of a candidate for initiation, nor for a lodge to
entertain such a motion.
2. The Master alone can, for reasons satisfactory to himself, order such a
reconsideration.
3. The Master cannot order a reconsideration on any subsequent night, nor
on the same night, after any member, who was present and voted, has
departed.
4. The Grand Master cannot grant a dispensation for a reconsideration, nor
in any other way interfere with the ballot. The same restriction applies
to the Grand Lodge.