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47th Annual Legislative Conference

Source: Earl Gibson III / Getty

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the Women’s March cut ties with three of its founding members — Tamika Mallory, Bob Bland, and Linda Sarsour — and replaced them by electing three new members of the board as directors. That information, however, was not accurate.

NewsOne recently obtained the Women’s March by-laws and they show that Bland, Mallory and Sarsour were serving two-year terms as directors. Those terms have expired, which means, by rule, at least three new directors had to be elected. However, according to the by-laws, one of those directors must be one of the co-chairs of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington and the “director shall be nominated by the Founding Co-Chairs Committee.” This is why Carmen Perez, the fourth founding member who is also on the new board, maintains her position since she was one of the co-chairs of the 2017 march.

According to the by-laws, “Any director may resign at any time by giving written notice to a Co-President or Secretary of the Corporation.” The by-laws also state that “Any director may be removed, with cause, by a vote of a majority of the members or by a vote of a majority of the entire Board.”

Contrary to mainstream reporting, Mallory, Bland and Sarsour did not step down or cut ties with the Women’s March because of past controversy such as the anti-Semitism accusations aimed at the group. Instead their terms as directors merely expired and they are liable to return to official positions in the future. Though past controversies could have been brought up when discussing transitions, there is no proof so far that this is the case.

According to the by-laws, “the directors shall be elected every two years at a meeting of members, and each shall continue in office until her or his successor shall have been duly elected and qualified, or until her or his death, resignation or removal.”

Meanwhile, the new 17-member board is made up of diverse activists, including a former legislator, a transgender organizer, two religious leaders and a member of the Oglala tribe of the Lakota nation. The founding board members spent a little over two years finding new members who can serve on the board for the next two years. They recruited a committee to help select the applications after an open call was announced in March.

Women’s March wrote in a tweet on Monday, “We couldn’t be more excited to announce our new board who will continue moving Women’s March forward.”