No subordinate lodge shall ballot upon a petition for initiation or confer the degree of Entered Apprentice upon any person within four weeks from the time his petition is received by said lodge and shall not confer the degree of Entered Apprentice upon any person at the same meeting of said ballot, without a dispensation from the Grand Master for that purpose, first had and obtained, nor shall any candidate be advanced to a higher degree, unless he has made suitable proficiency in the degrees already received, and has repeated in open lodge the first section of the lecture of the degree he has last received; nor shall any brother be allowed to sign the by-laws and become a member of the lodge until he has in the same manner repeated the first section of the lecture of the third degree. The qualification of a brother to be advanced shall be decided by the Master.

No subordinate lodge shall take a ballot for initiation or membership unless there be at least seven members thereof present.
Amended November 21, 1987.
See Decision No. 27.

Related Decisions

No. 27. Minimum Required To Confer Degrees

Decision: Upon the question as to whether the second degree could be conferred when only six brethren were present? I replied that while I should think it advisable under such circumstances to postpone work, yet I was not aware of any regulation of this Grand Lodge or in the General Regulations of Freemasonry that would forbid it. That while it required seven members of a lodge to ballot for initiation or membership, yet according to the old rituals three Master Masons could open a Lodge of Master Masons, for work, provided they possessed the necessary constitutional qualifications.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.19. May 15, 1882. (Freeman, GM)

Two or more lodges, upon summoned communication of the lodges involved, and by vote of the majority of the members present and voting, may upon the approval of the Grand Master and thereafter confirmed by the Grand Lodge merge or consolidate upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed and set forth in the procedure and petition forms obtained from the Grand Secretary's Office.

No subordinate lodge shall admit to membership a brother made in any other lodge, or confer the first degree upon any person, except upon a clear ballot therefore at a regular communication, or when a brother applying for restoration to the same lodge from which he was demitted may be elected to membership by a two-thirds vote of the members present at a regular communication. No subordinate lodge shall permit a brother admitted to membership to qualify himself as such until he shall have presented a demit from the lodge of which he was a member or a certificate showing his good standing in the lodge of which he is a member, nor permit such a brother if a member of more than one lodge, to qualify himself as such until he shall have presented either a demit or a certificate showing his good standing in each lodge of which he was or is a member. Involuntary loss of membership in any lodge shall constitute loss of membership in all lodges.
Amended November 16, 1985.
See Decision Nos. 29, 33, 35, 83; Standing Order No. 44.

Related Decisions

No. 29. Resident With Foreign Degrees

Decision: A person who while absent in foreign country received the degrees, upon his return to this jurisdiction desire to visit a lodge. I decided that he could not be allowed to visit, and that the brethren must not hold Masonic intercourse with him. Afterwards he desired to affiliate with the lodge, and I authorized the Master, if he was satisfied that the person referred to was ignorant of our regulations, and innocent of any attempt to contravene them, to examine him, and if he was satisfied that he had been made in a regular lodge, and had the proper vouchers, to receive his application for membership in the usual way, and admit him upon a unanimous ballot, and the payment of the regular fee.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. May 15, 1882. (Freeman, GM)

General Regulations, Article II, Sec. 2.2.3.

General Regulations, Article II, Sec. 2.2.7.

No. 33. Affiliation Without Certificate Of Demit

Decision: A lodge can receive and act upon the petition of a brother for affiliation before he has applied for or obtained a demit from the lodge of which he is a member.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. November 20, 1882. (Vincent, GM)

No. 35. Applications Following Rejection

Decision: A Master Mason in good standing, whose application for membership has been rejected by a lodge, may at once make a new application to the same or to any other lodge.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. November 19, 1883. (Vincent, GM)

No. 83. Reinstatement For Plural Membership

Decision: In case of a brother holding plural membership in two or more subordinate lodges and being dropped from membership for non-payment of dues (NPD) I ruled that upon his request to be reinstated he need not become reinstated in more than one lodge provided he paid the dues owing at the time of being dropped, to the lodge or lodges which had dropped him for NPD.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. May 18, 1973. (Kettleband, GM)

Amended November 16, 1996.

Related Standing Orders

No. 44. Forfeiture Of Accepted Petitions

Resolved: That if any petitioner for the degrees in Freemasonry who has received a clear ballot and against whom no lawful objection has been made, fails to present himself for initiation within six months of the date of the notification given him of his acceptance by the lodge, he shall forfeit all rights thereunder, and if he desires to take the degrees he must apply for them in the same manner as any other applicant, and the lodge must follow the course of procedure as provided by the Constitution.

Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1.7.20. May 15, 1905.

No subordinate lodge shall consider the unfavorable report of a committee as a rejection of a petition, but shall take a ballot thereon; nor shall they initiate a candidate after a clear ballot, if objection thereto be made by any member of the lodge; but such objection, unless withdrawn within six months, shall be deemed to be a rejection in the same manner as though made by ballot: provided, however, that if such members shall voluntarily make known to the lodge the nature of his objection, the same may be overruled by a vote of two-thirds of the members present.
See Decision Nos. 7, 30, 39, 47.

Related Decisions

No. 07. Examining Committee Report

Decision: A member of an examining committee having stated to an officer or member of the lodge "that he should report unfavorably," if he be absent when the ballot is taken and there be no report from him, the officer or member, if present, is bound to make known the fact to the lodge.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.21. November 19, 1866. (Doyle, GM)

No. 30. Determining The Validity Of Objections

Decision: Objecting to profanes becoming members of the lodge, when the names of the persons objected to are not before the lodge, is not an objection within the meaning of the Constitution of the Grand Lodge; to be a valid objection it should be made personally, either to the Master, or to the lodge when open in due form, because an objection can have no weight unless made after a ballot has been taken and found to be clear, and no objection can be valid previous to the action of the lodge.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.21. May 15, 1882. (Freeman, GM)

No. 39. Objections From Non-Members

Decision: That while objections to a candidate by a brother Mason of another lodge than that in which the candidate has received a clear ballot, though having no legal force, should be entitled to moral weight, and that for the good name of Masonry, and to guard against the reception of unworthy material the Master should give due heed to any statements bearing on the case, if in his judgment they are worthy of serious consideration.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.21. May 20, 1889. (Ackley, GM)

Amended November 16, 1996.

No. 47. Objections Not Withdrawn Or Overruled

Decision: An objection if not withdrawn or overruled as provided in the Constitution, Article VII, Section 1.7.21. is to be deemed an objection in the same manner as though made by ballot. The rejection dates from the time when the objection was actually made.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.21. May 15, 1899. (Van Slyck, GM)

Any member of a subordinate lodge may object to the passing or raising of a candidate at any time before the degree is conferred. Such objection shall be made to the Master and the name of the objector shall be withheld if he requests it. The lodge shall investigate such objections before proceeding further with a candidate, and may overrule the same by a vote of a majority of the members present.
Amended November 16, 1996.
See Decision Nos. 60, 61, 62, 67; Standing Order No. 33.

Related Decisions

No. 60. Lodge Trial For An EA

Decision: That an Entered Apprentice is not entitled to a trial by the lodge, there having been no charges brought against him other than objection to his advancement.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.22. May 17, 1909. (Chatterton, GM)

No. 61. Demand For Trial By An EA

Decision: That an Entered Apprentice cannot demand a trial.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.22. May 17, 1909. (Chatterton, GM)

No. 62. Penalties For An Entered Apprentice

Decision: That an Entered Apprentice, if tried and found guilty may be subjected to like penalties as any other Mason.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.22. May 17, 1909. (Chatterton, GM)

No. 67. Support For Objections

Decision: I held that a member of a subordinate lodge objecting to the passing of a candidate, as provided for in Article VII, Section 1.7.22. of the Constitution, must present with his objection, information or charges susceptible of investigation, and that on refusal to do so, the objection might properly be ignored.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.22. May 21, 1917. (Scott, GM)

Related Standing Orders

No. 33. Advancement By Petition

Ordered: That in cases where a brother has heretofore applied for advancement to the second or third degree and his application has been rejected by ballot, he may at any time apply to the lodge for advancement, by petition, in the same manner and with the same effect in which application may be made for initiation under the present regulations.

Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1.7.22. May 18, 1885.

The petition for restoration to the rights and privileges of a brother expelled or suspended for any cause other than the non-payment of dues or assessments shall be presented in writing at a regular Communication and shall lie over until the next regular communication, when the petition may be granted by a unanimous vote of the members present; such action, however, must be approved by the Grand Lodge before it shall be valid.
See Decision No. 42.

Related Decisions

No. 42. Restoration Following Expulsion

Decision: That a Mason who has been expelled by a lodge, cannot be restored except by the lodge which expelled him. That he must apply to the lodge which expelled him, and that, after a careful investigation by a committee appointed for that purpose as to his life and habits, both at present and during the time since his expulsion, the lodge could, by a unanimous ballot, restore him to the rights and privileges of Freemasonry, and that such restoration must be sanctioned by this Grand Lodge before it could be valid. After such restoration by his lodge, confirmed by the Grand Lodge, he would then be in good standing as an unaffiliated Mason, subject to such laws as apply to any unaffiliated Mason.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.23. May 19, 1890. (Kenyon, GM)

No subordinate lodge shall hold more than one communication for business on the same day, and no subordinate lodge shall confer the first degree on more than five candidates at the same communication. The first section of the degree of Entered Apprentice, up to and including his bringing to light, shall be conferred upon but one candidate at a time.
Amended November 16, 1996.
See Decision No. 73; Standing Order No. 43.1.

Related Decisions 

No. 73. Number Of Entered Apprentice Initiated

Decision: I ruled that Article VII, Section 1.7.24. forbids the initiation, by any lodge, of more than five Entered Apprentices on the same day.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.24. November 19, 1945. (Crowell, GM)

Related Standing Orders

No. 43.1. Omission Of Stated Communications

Ordered: That the subordinate lodges may, by a majority vote, at the next regular communication preceding the 15th day of June, in each year, dispense with the regular communications appointed by its by-laws, to be held between said 15th day of June and the 15th day of September next ensuing. Likewise, after a regular vote of the lodge and with the permission of the Grand Master, a lodge may dispense with its January and February communications and hold communications in July and August.

Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1.7.24. November 17, 1880.

Amended May 19, 1980.

Re-designated from No. 26 November 16, 1996.

Every subordinate lodge upon taking a ballot (except in the election of officers), shall proceed in the following manner:
Each member of the lodge shall be given two ballots, one of which shall be white and the other black. The Senior Deacon (or such other officer or member of the lodge as the Master shall designate), shall then proceed to collect in a suitable box, one of said ballots from each member present, excepting only such members as may be excused by the Master from voting. In case of a ballot for the degrees or for membership, one black ballot shall reject the petitioner. If, however, but one black ballot appear, the Master may, upon the supposition of a mistake, immediately order a second ballot, which shall be final.
See Decision Nos. 8, 36, 74, 81, 82.

Related Decisions

No. 08. Disclosure Of Vote

Decision: In case of a rejection, no brother can be permitted to state how he voted, unless he cast a rejecting vote, in which case he may of his own accord state the fact, but cannot be compelled to do so.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.25. November 13, 1867. (Doyle, GM)

No. 36. Withdrawal Of Ballots

Decision: In a case where a ballot, upon the petition for the degrees has been taken, and the box ordered to be presented for examination, a brother stated that though mistake he had deposited a black ballot, and requested the Worshipful Master's permission to withdraw the same.

We decided that although it was proper for the brother to make known to the lodge his mistake, yet he could not be allowed to withdraw his ballot; neither could the Master declare the ballot clear, but that the remaining ballots must be collected in the same manner as usual in case of a rejection, and another ballot taken.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.25. November 17, 1884. (Klapp, GM)

No. 74. Ballot Versus Vote

Decision: That inasmuch as a vote taken in regard to the reinstatement of a member who had been dropped for nonpayment of dues did not comply with Section 1.7.25 of Article VII of the Constitution, which obliges every member present to vote unless excused by the Master, I ruled that the vote was null and void and gave instructions that the vote be so declared and a new ballot taken.

That inasmuch as there appears to be an inconsistency between the wording of "ballot" as it is written in Section 1.7.25 of Article VII of the Grand Lodge Constitution, and the wording of "vote" as it is written in Section 1.7.25 of Article VII of the Grand Lodge Constitution, and the wording of "vote" as it is written in Section 1.7.27 of Article VII of said Constitution, I ruled that the wording "ballot" and "vote" were of the same meaning.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.25. 1.7.27. May 19, 1952. (Ruerat, GM)

No. 81. Written Evidence Of Balloting Error

Decision: I ruled that in the case of written evidence of an error having been made in balloting, within thirty days following the meeting at which the error was made, the Worshipful Master could order a new ballot without the usual six-month waiting period.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.25. May 1, 1962. (Allen, GM)

No. 82. Rescinded

See Appendix B.