THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

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.
Section VIII.
_Of the Renewal of Applications by Rejected Candidates._
As it is apparent from the last section that there can be no
reconsideration by a lodge of a rejected petition, the question will
naturally arise, how an error committed by a lodge, in the rejection of
a