Decision Number 1451

Decision

The reserved right of an annual conference to vote on the election of clergy and lay delegates to General Conference, jurisdictional, and central conferences is a cornerstone of United Methodist connectional polity and cannot be abrogated. No provision in The Discipline authorizes the cancellation of a regular session of General Conference or the annulment of elections properly conducted by an annual conference. The next meeting scheduled for 2024 is designated as the postponed 2020 General Conference. Annual conferences that conducted elections in 2019 have met the requirements of ¶ 502.3 and, therefore, are not required to hold new elections. The delegates duly elected to the 2020 General Conference for the 2020-2024 Quadrennium stand as submitted and certified by the annual conference secretaries for the purpose of being seated in the postponed 2020 General Conference as well as jurisdictional and central conferences.