The Vergers Guild of the Diocese traditionally serves as tellers at the annual meetings of the Diocesan Council. When Bishop Alexander announced last year that he would be leaving his position and that there would be an election of a new Bishop in June 2012, I made plans to be there. When my daughter moved to Atlanta last September, I arranged with her for a bed for the night for the event.
As I said, I didn't know any of the candidates and prior to the election, I formed no preferences. I believe that I have met three of them (Father Wright, as I said; Dean Candler; and Father Pritchett), but I wouldn't claim to have any type of connection with them, as I have formed with other people around the Diocese in my time here. I decided that, even if I were to form a preference, I would not state it, as I think the counting staff should be completely neutral. (I take this seriously: in 2005, when I was a candidate for the former Ecclesiastical Trial Court, I refused to be involved in the counting process until that election was decided.)
I drove up to Atlanta on Friday afternoon and went to my daughter's apartment in Buckhead, not far, as it happens, from the Cathedral. Since we had some sightseeing time, we rode MARTA downtown and visited the CNN Center and the Centennial Olympic Park. I plan to post my pictures from that in a separate post.
I was asked to be at the Cathedral on Saturday morning by 8 am. I discovered that an ideal time to drive in Buckhead is about 7:15 on a Saturday morning, as the traffic was very light, getting me there after a breakfast stop about 7:45.
The Vergers were asked to gather in the nave of the Cathedral, near the steps to the chancel. (The chancel is the area in front of the altar.) We then got a briefing on the day. There would be a Eucharist at 9:30 in which most of us (including me) would be simple participants. After the Eucharist, the nave would be cleared so it could be reconfigured for the election. Tables would be placed in front of the altar for the bishop to preside at. A rope would be stretched across the nave about three-quarter's of the way back to place a limit on where people who weren't voting or staff, like us, could go. This was referred to as the bar, similar to the term used in the House of Commons. (Hey, we're Anglicans, remember?)
We would be divided up into teams. I was part of the team that would be counting the votes of the lay delegates. Other teams would count the votes of the clergy and maintain a degree of security at the Bar. We would rotate after the third ballot, but as you will see, we didn't get that far.
We discussed the rules of the voting. To be elected, a candidate had to receive a majority of the votes cast in each order on the same ballot. The ballots would be a different color for each ballot and for each order within a ballot. The names of the candidates were printed on the ballots and write-in candidates were not permitted. Blank ballots would not be counted at all for any purpose. Ballots which marked more than one name or added a name of someone not a candidate would be counted as part of the total to determine the number of votes needed, but we could not count them for a particular candidate. We discussed the term to be used for such ballots. We considered the term "illegal", but I suggested a term borrowed from British elections, "spoiled," and that was agreed upon. As it turned out, no such ballots occurred, so my one personal contribution to the process turned out to not matter. The nave was then cleared for the Eucharist.
The Eucharist was a glorious Mass of the Holy Spirit to invoke the Spirit upon our deliberations. One point I particular took from Bishop Alexander's sermon on the order of bishops was that the election would "change someone's life forever." After the Eucharist, the nave was again cleared so the voting could take place.
Bishop Alexander reconvened the Council for the election. (This was technically a continuation of last November's 105th annual Council.) Father Timothy Graham, the President of the Standing Committee, placed the candidates in nomination:
- Rev. George Adamik, Rector, St. Paul's Church, Cary, North Carolina;
- Rev. Michael Bird, Rector, Christ Church, Bronxville, N.Y.;
- Very Rev. Samuel Candler, Dean of St. Philip's Cathedral in Atlanta;
- Rev. Martha Magill, Rector, Memorial Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland;
- Rev. Canon James Pritchett, Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese of Western North Carolina; and
- Very Rev. Robert Wright, Rector of St. Paul's Church in Atlanta.
Here I am as we're collecting the first ballot. (Thanks to Nan Ross of the Diocesan staff for the picture.)
We were divided into teams of two. Each team took a pile of ballots and then divided them into piles for each candidate. I then counted each pile and my partner recorded my count. Then she counted the piles to confirm my count. Happily we never had a discrepancy. We completed a tally sheet and passed them to our team chief. He combined the teams' sheets (we had four teams) to create a result for the lay vote.
All this was done under the watchful eyes of two clergy observers (the clergy counters had lay observers). This sounds far more adversarial than it was; everything was done in a friendly spirit and we got on very happily with our observers. We could hear through the open door that Bishop Alexander was having the Council sing hymns as we counted. We asked that the door remain open; it didn't interfere with our work and it helped us feel connected with the hundreds of people within the Cathedral.
The two counts would be provided to the Bishop, who would announce the result.
FIRST BALLOT
| ||
Clerical
|
Lay
| |
Adamik
|
21
|
39
|
Bird
|
19
|
63
|
Candler
|
47
|
51
|
Magill
|
22
|
7
|
Pritchett
|
6
|
28
|
Wright
|
55
|
103
|
Total Votes
|
170
|
291
|
Needed to Elect
|
86
|
146
|
As you can see, the first ballot did not produce a winner. This was expected and there was a scattered field, although Father Wright and Dean Candler led. Members of the Diocesan staff were tasked to call the absent candidates after each ballot to report the result, although I was told that one of the candidates preferred not to be notified. We moved immediately to the second ballot.
SECOND BALLOT
| ||
Clerical
|
Lay
| |
Adamik
|
14
|
18
|
Bird
|
16
|
58
|
Candler
|
64
|
72
|
Magill
|
5
|
2
|
Pritchett
|
1
|
2
|
Wright
|
73
|
139
|
Total Votes
|
173
|
291
|
Needed to Elect
|
88
|
146
|
As we counted the second ballot, we could see that the piles of ballots for Father Wright were clearly larger than those for other candidates, and that was born out by the totals. Both Father Wright and Dean Candler gained votes, presumably from the other candidates, all of whom lost ground. There was no indication of any major shifts between the two candidates. I can't speak for the mood on the "floor", but we counters of the lay vote began to feel safe from a fifth or sixth ballot. I felt that unless Dean Candler picked up substantially all of the votes from the lower placed candidates, especially the lay votes from Father Bird, he could not overtake Father Wright, who would win by the fourth ballot.
The plan had been to break for lunch after the second ballot at 12:30. However, we had been making good progress (no doubt because of the speed of the counting staff!), so Bishop Alexander decided to take a third ballot immediately and recess the Council for lunch while we counted it.
The ballot piles for Father Wright were now even larger than before, and we could quickly see that he had a majority of the lay votes. As we left to get our own lunches, we were told that the lay observers had demanded a recount of the clergy vote, but we didn't know the result. We knew that there was a possibility, but not a certainty, that the third ballot would be the last.
The diocese had arranged for lunch to be catered and we spread out across the Cathedral grounds to eat and enjoy a very mild late spring day, at least by Atlanta standards. While I waited in line, I wondered how digestible the food might be for Father Wright and Dean Candler, who were present, as well as the candidates who were elsewhere. I suspected that, were I in their places, I might have trouble with any appetite.
Out on the grounds, I had an opportunity to have a brief chat with Bishop Alexander, with whom I was on a first name basis. (He knew my name is Paul and I thought his name is "Bishop".) I thanked him for his ministry within our Diocese and to St. Christopher's over the years. He has taken a good deal of interest in our small parish at the southern end of the Diocese and helped us through several crises. He said we are a wonderful parish (with which I wholeheartedly agreed!) and discussed the future a bit.
I left him to return to the Cathedral and briefly spoke to our representatives, Father Joe Dunagan, and Bob and Cindy Daffin, and Joe's wife and our Deacon Kathy Dunagan. (As a deacon, Kathy had no vote and had to sit in the balcony.) I could give details, but I thought that we wouldn't be long.
When we got back to our counting room, the head teller said that we could pack up our stuff, as we were through with counting, as the clergy had given Father Wright a majority as well. We were told not to say anything until the Bishop announced the result, and in fact we nearly all stayed back in the screened area behind the altar.
We were behind the screen you see in this picture as Bishop Alexander announced the result. We had the advantage in that we knew the outcome and the hundreds in the nave didn't. When he announced the lay vote in alphabetical order, there was an "Oooh" through the crowd when has said that Father Wright had 185 votes, a clear majority. He said that he wasn't finished and received some nervous laughter. (After all, they had no assurance that a majority had been reached in the clergy vote.) When he announced that Father Wright had received 90 clergy votes, after a brief silence for realization to sink in, there was a loud cheer from all corners of the great Cathedral. (I was looking for the stove in which we would burn the ballots to create the white smoke from the chimney, but was told that we didn't do that. Pity!)
THIRD BALLOT
| ||
Clerical
|
Lay
| |
Adamik
|
1
|
3
|
Bird
|
4
|
22
|
Candler
|
75
|
80
|
Magill
|
2
|
1
|
Pritchett
|
0
|
0
|
Wright
|
90
|
185
|
Total Votes
|
172
|
291
|
Needed to Elect
|
87
|
146
|
Again, both Father Wright and Dean Candler held and gained votes from the second ballot, but Father Wright started from a better position after the second ballot and gained more as well.
Father Timothy Graham, as chairman of the Standing Committee, went out and, as my own priest would later put it, escorted the new Bishop-elect from the midst of the people of the Diocese to a place in front of them. As he did, the people rose in a loud and sustained ovation.
Then, while Bishop-elect Wright stood at the lectern and the ovation continued, Father Graham escorted his wife, Beth-Sarah, up to join her husband as he addressed to Diocese that will soon be his charge.
Unfortunately, I'm not a note taker, so I can't reproduce his words. I do recall an expression of humility as well as asking, and receiving, ovations for Bishop Alexander and our Assistant Bishop, Keith Whitmore. I do recall a sense that his words were appropriate to the occasion.
And with that, the task was done. While the electors still had to sign a required certification that election was carried out appropriately, I had no such obligation and could quietly depart for home.
Bishop-elect Wright's election must still be confirmed by our General Convention in July, but I see no likelihood of problems there. He will then be ordained to the Order of Bishops by the Presiding Bishop on October 13 back in this same Cathedral. Somehow fitting!
Here is a link to the news story by the Diocese:
Diocese elects Georgia's first African-American bishop
The pictures are from the Diocesan web site.
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