Lodges annually elect a Master from members who have served at least one year in specified positions or have received a dispensation under Rule 109. The election occurs by ballot, with the candidate receiving the most votes declared elected. If only one qualified nomination exists and no objections are raised, the Master may declare the election without a ballot, provided prior notice is given. The elected Master is installed at the next regular meeting unless a motion against the installation is submitted at least fourteen days in advance, requiring a three-fourths majority to void the election. Installation must occur within five weeks of election, either at the next regular meeting or a specially called emergency meeting. The Master Elect cannot assume office until officially installed. This process ensures adherence to established Masonic traditions and governance.
December 4th, 2025
February 10th, 2026
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(a) Every Lodge shall annually, on the day named in its by-laws for the purpose, proceed to elect a Master by ballot from among those of its members who have, or previously to the installation of such Master shall have, served for one year (that is to say from one regular installation meeting until the next regular installation at the corresponding period in the following year) the office of Master, or of Senior Warden or of Junior Warden, in a regular Lodge warranted under the Grand Lodge, or who shall have been rendered eligible by dispensation under Rule 109. The ballot shall be declared in favour of the member thus qualified who has received the largest number of votes of the members present and voting. If there be only one nomination and if no other member duly qualified shall have indicated to the Secretary that he wishes to be considered and if no member present calls for a ballot then it shall be permissible for the Master to declare the election in favour of the nominated member; provided that the election shall not be so declared unless notice of the intention so to do and the identity of the sole Brother nominated shall have been given on the summons convening the meeting at which the election is to take place. (b) At the next regular meeting the Master so elected shall be duly installed according to antient usage, provided that no motion that the Master Elect be not installed has been moved and carried in the manner herein provided. A motion to this effect shall be entertained by the Lodge only if written notice thereof, signed by the Proposer and Seconder, and a separate statement, similarly signed, of the reasons for moving the motion, shall have been given to the Secretary of the Lodge at least fourteen days previously to the meeting. In that case copies of the proposed motion and of the separate statement shall be forwarded forthwith to the Master Elect by the Secretary, and a copy of the proposed motion, but not a copy of the separate statement, shall be printed on the summons convening the meeting. Should the motion, on a ballot being taken, receive the support of three-fourths of the members present, the election shall be void and the members shall forthwith proceed to elect some other qualified Brother as Master. The installation of the Master then elected, shall, subject to the foregoing proviso, take place within five weeks of the date of election either at the next regular meeting of the Lodge, if such be held within that period, or at an emergency meeting specially called for that purpose. The Master Elect, shall, subject to the foregoing proviso, then be duly installed, and he and the Wardens invested by him shall, at the date of the next regular installation meeting, be deemed to have filled the offices of Master and Wardens respectively for one year, in compliance with the provisions of Rule 9 and this Rule. (c) No Master Elect shall assume the Master’s Chair until he has been regularly installed.