The election of lay and clergy representatives of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop will continue into the fifth ballot on Tuesday with three lay members and two clergy members still to be chosen.
Lay members Deborah Harmon Hines of West Tennessee and Steven Nishibayashi of Los Angeles were chosen on the first ballot, held June 8, but no lay member has received a majority of the votes cast on subsequent ballots.
Deborah Jackson of Florida was elected on the first ballot in the clergy order, and Mary Frances Schjonberg of Newark and Antonio Gallardo of Los Angeles were elected on the fourth ballot.
The election will continue each Tuesday until the remaining seats are filled.
Remaining candidates in the lay order, listed alphabetically, are Martha Alexander of North Carolina, Thomas Alexander of Arkansas, Thomas Diaz of Los Angeles, Louis W. Glosson of San Diego, Richard Pryor III of Ohio, Rose H. Sconiers of Western New York and Anne Swardson of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
Remaining clergy candidates are Ryan Currie of South Carolina, Maureen-Elizabeth Hagen of Oregon, Dixie Roberts Junk of Kansas, Lydia Kelsey Bucklin of Northern Michigan, Kevin Matthews of North Carolina and Tracie Gail Middleton of North Texas.
The five bishops elected to serve on the committee were chosen on the first ballot. They are Bishops Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of Indianapolis, Rob Wright of Atlanta, Mark Lattime of Alaska, Audrey Scanlan of Central Pennsylvania and Phoebe Roaf of West Tennessee.
Bishops on the nominating committee may not stand for election when the House of Bishops convenes to choose a successor to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky in July 2024.
After the elections are completed, President Gay Clark Jennings will appoint two members to the committee, ages 16 and 21, and she and Curry will jointly appoint three members under Canon I.2.1.c “to ensure the cultural and geographic diversity of the Church and the skill sets needed for effective service on the Nominating Committee.”
