NEW ORLEANS — A new rule change will prevent MISO participants from simultaneously running for chair and vice chair of a stakeholder group, a move that multiple stakeholders said was needed to simplify the nominating process.

MISO Advisory Committee sector representatives voted 19-5 in favor of the change during a March 28 meeting.

The RTO’s Stakeholder Governance Guide was previously silent on whether stakeholders could submit their names as nominees for the chair and vice chair positions of a single stakeholder group.

“I think we assumed that stakeholders would not try for both,” Advisory Committee Vice Chair Tia Elliott said.

However, two candidates running last year for chair of MISO’s new Energy Storage Task Force expressed interest in running for vice chair if they weren’t picked for the top position. The situation led to one candidate submitting a late vice chair nomination, ultimately forcing a rerun of the election. (See Nomination Redux for MISO Energy Storage Task Force.)

— Amanda Durish Cook