Harrison re-elected to third term as LCMS president

The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, having received 56.96 percent of the votes cast, is the president-elect of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod for a third term of office, 2016-2019.

Harrison

The nomination process for the position of Synod president began last fall with the mailing of nominations ballots to all congregations of the Synod. All nominations were required to be submitted by Feb. 9, 2016, or five months prior to the start of the Synod convention, when the ballots, received by an outside auditor, were tallied and delivered to the secretary of the Synod.

The resulting candidates for the office of president were the three ordained ministers who received the highest number of votes in the nominations process and who consented to serve if elected. The three nominees for Synod president were Harrison, the Rev. Dr. David P.E. Maier and the Rev. Dr. Dale A. Meyer.

Four weeks prior to the convention, the secretary’s office provided a secure method and opportunity for two voting delegates from each congregation to participate in the vote via electronic balloting services provided by Election-America, a Garden City, N.Y., company that conducted the balloting via a Web-based voting site, June 11-14. The voters in the president’s election were the congregations’ delegates in attendance at the 2015 district conventions.

The results of the ballot tallied and reported to the secretary of the Synod by Election-America are as follows:

Harrison was voted president-elect with 3,507 votes (56.96 percent);

Meyer received 2,257 votes (36.66 percent); and

Maier received 393 votes (6.38 percent).

The Bylaws of the LCMS instruct the secretary of the Synod to notify the candidates in the Synod’s presidential election of the results of the balloting at least two weeks prior to the convention. The candidates were informed earlier today, June 15, of the results of the June 11-14 ballot.

For more information, please go to lcms.org/convention.

Posted June 15, 2016