MEMBERSHIP

32 The rules for the election of those wishing to be initiated into membership of a Lodge are set out very clearly in the Constitutions of the United Grand Lodge, a book available to the general public. Every applicant is required to complete a form of application approved by the Board of General Purposes of the Grand Lodge and supplied by its Grand Secretary. He is required to state full name, age, profession or occupation (if any), place or places of abode, business address or addresses, and the names of his proposer and seconder (Rule 164). The candidate must be personally known to his proposer and seconder, who must themselves be members of the Lodge and able to state that he is a man of good reputation and well fitted to become a member of the Lodge (Rule 159). An applicant may not actually be known personally to all members of the Lodge. It is the business of the Lodge Committee, who meet to vet all applications for membership, to arrange for such a man to be interviewed by one of their number, just as would be the case if he were applying for membership of a London Club. Election depends on a ballot at a regular meeting of the Lodge, which in England is by the use of black and white balls:

An elected candidate may be initiated on the day of his election but must be initiated within a year of election, otherwise the election is void.