Methodist group’s vote on gays found flawed
Count included unauthorized balloters
United Methodist Church officials and lay leaders from around the world last month voted to strengthen their ban on same-sex marriage and gay clergy, a decision that now threatens to split the church.
But at least four ballots were cast by individuals who were not authorized to vote, according to interviews and a review of the church’s records. The individuals were from African delegations whose votes were critical to restricting the church’s rules on homosexuality.
The final 54-vote margin exceeds the number of unauthorized votes discovered so far. But the voting irregularities raised questions about the process behind the divisive decision, which devastated progressive members. Some have discussed leaving the denomination and possibly creating a new alliance for gay-friendly churches.
Church leaders are now discussing whether new votes should be called, Bishop Thomas Bickerton, who serves on the commission on the general conference, said in a phone interview.
A query by The New York Times last week prompted church officials to hire a consulting firm to examine whether people who were ineligible may have received credentials to vote at the church’s general conference.
Church leaders who oversaw the conference said in a statement that the audit showed it was “possible that a very limited number of ineligible persons” participated. These people were denied credentials by staff at the conference, the officials said, but were later able to procure them.
The Times found additional irregularities. For example, two delegates from South Congo, which is a state in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are listed on the official attendance records. But they never traveled to the United States for the conference because of visa issues, according to a phone interview with one and a message sent by the other to the Rev. Kalaba Chali, an official translator for the conference. In addition, three people voted as delegates for South Congo but their names are absent from conference attendance logs and delegate election records.