We have so many posts here about new members, applying, investigating, etc. I'm curious what the other side of the coin looks like.  How do Masons reject an applicant?  

Say the investigation doesn't turn up anything, he has some good references, etc. But when you meet him in his home, the house is trashy with empty beer cans on the floor, overflowing ash trays, etc.  Or maybe he just has an obnoxious personality - say he's got bad breath, jabbers loudly and he's an expert on everything and won't STFU... maybe not something really specific, but... just not a pleasant person to be around.  Or maybe his investigation is fine, but, say, it's a very small, conservative rural lodge and he's a really high-powered, flip-wristed, giggly homo.  You know what I mean.  And no, you don't really want him in the lodge.  So he does the meet and greet at the lodge and doesn't get enough votes for admission. Where does it go from there?  Do rejectees ever demand an explanation, and/or is an explanation given?

I don't know how a rejected candidate is informed, or what he is informed of, but I can give some procedural insights, at least for South Carolina...

In South Carolina, the investigating committee comes back to the lodge with either a "favorable" or "unfavorable" recommendation. Generally speaking, if it comes back "favorable", the candidate is balloted on. If it comes back "unfavorable", the candidate is generally not balloted on. The lodge generally does discuss the recommendations of the investigating committee prior to making the balloting decision, regardless of the recommendation.

If the candidate is balloted on, the results of the balloting ultimately determines the candidate's disposition, regardless of the investigating committee's recommendation. A member's vote is completely confidential. In fact, it is a Masonic offense to disclose how you voted in a secret ballot. So yes, one member can make or break a candidate's chances, and neither the candidate nor the lodge may never know why. It could be any of a number of reasons. Did your granddaddy dis my granddaddy? You may get black balled for that. Yes, it can be that petty. The good news is that in my 14 years as a Mason and 1 year as Master of the lodge, I only saw that happen once.

But honestly, I would assert that if a candidate is rejected, the candidate probably knows why.

Does the applicant get a letter in the mail? .... "we regret to inform you that.............."

I can not answer whether or not an applicant gets a thanks, but no thanks letter. I have never been rejected, or even witnessed a rejection.

I would imagine that informing the applicant would fall on the Master Mason(s) that  sponsored him.

Freemasonry is a traditional organization that is fading away due to attrition. Therefore it is against the best interest of Freemasonry to deny an applicant for petty or frivolous reasons. We are always reminded to vote with the fraternities best interest in mind. Hopefully, all candidates get the vote that their character has earned for them, yeah or nay.

One thing to keep in mind is that even though investigations, internal or criminal, may result in a positive disposition, a Freemason is obligated to vote on a candidates character. Only the voter knows how they voted. If a Freemason knows personally about a candidates misdeeds and or indiscretions they may very well vote against the candidate for reasons that may not be revealed by the ordinary investigation.

ETA. It completely escaped me to mention that not hearing promptly, or even soon, does not equal rejection. It is the secretary of the lodge that will get back with accepted applicants. They are generally long, long time members. And sometimes they are not tech savvy, sometimes lodges (especially because of covid) are inactive (dark) and not holding meetings that are necessary to so the voting.

I was told in advance when I would be up for balloting, and when to expect the results.  Now this was during more normal times. (Because of the above reasons applications are expected to be accepted.). If you (or whomever) haven’t heard about when the vote will be it may still be in the works. If an applicant has questions, they can always ask the Master Masons that signed their petition for them.

After the vote in lodge, the petitioner is either asked when they are available for the EA Degree or they are informed they did not pass the vote and how many years they have til they can reapply.

In Alabama our Lodge is always reminded to vote for the "good" of the order/fraternity. I have always done so.

P.M.
Eastaboga Lodge # 155

I was blackballed, so I've had some experience there.

My understanding is that sadly it happened in protest to other things that had been going on in the Lodge. I and two others were rejected without reason. I have no way of knowing who threw the blackball but I've had my suspicions and that Brother passed away before I ever sat in Lodge with him just after I was raised. When I was rejected they called me the next day to give me the news.

It sucked because I had to wait a year to try to re-join, but the other Brothers in the Lodge were very encouraging in telling me to keep visiting that they didn't expect the vote to go the way it went, etc.

The night I was voted in they relaxed the "no phones" rule in Lodge so they could text me and let me know.

Today I'm a Master Mason, Junior Warden in our Lodge, and 32nd Degree AASR

I've seen one rejection in my few years, and it's probably a petition that shouldn't have made it past investigation if even been signed in the first place. But it is what it is.

I was black balled 3 times for my initial go around.  Once I was finally admitted, I went through initiation and then got a new job where I traveled 50 weeks straight, so I was never able to attend lodge or work on my memorization work.  Around a year later, I finally got a job where I was home and attempted to get things started again.  My petition for extension, what they do in WV when you haven't returned any of your work after a year, was black balled 3 more times.  I finally got back in, did the work and returned everything.  So my timeline is really funky;

October 21 2011 - EA degree conferred
December 14 2012 - 1st rejection
March 27 2015 - 2nd rejection
April 22 2016 - 3rd rejection
June 9, 2017 - Accepted
September 22, 2017 - Returned the First
October 13, 2017 - Passed to Fellowcraft
November 24, 2017 - Returned the Second
December 8, 2017 - Raised to Master
February 23, 2018 - Returned Third

No way to prove anything because as stated, it's all a secret ballot.  But obviously someone didn't like me.  

Our lodge had a candidate black balled on 3 ballots. There were upset members and lots of yelling and gnashing of teeth over the fact that he was black balled. They them held an off night special meeting with another vote and he got in. After getting his degrees he never attended a meeting.

you guys that have been rejected, some multiple times…. why go back? Why strive to be a member where you aren’t welcomed?

Not being contrary, honest question

In my case it was because the brothers apologized profusely about the situation and asked me to keep coming back. I knew it wasn't them that had rejected me.

They are only looking to have it on their resume.

Or just use it as a path to the Shrine.

Unfortunately true. And here, once they join Shrine the majority never come back to lodge.

Is that something you can explain?

Yep. Years ago we had one person go through all the Degrees, attend Lodge maybe a half dozen times, and move up to the Shrine for the express purpose of being able to get a white Harley Davidson. He even admitted as much.

It used to be you had to be a 32° Mason in Scottish Rite or a Knight Templar in York Rite. They’re two additional Masonic bodies you can join after you’re a Master Mason. Well, it takes time and effort to achieve that, so to increase numbers Imperial Shrine dropped the requirement to just being a Master Mason.

Don’t get me wrong, Shriners hospitals are about the greatest thing ever. But, all too often Shrine is the college fraternity of the Fraternity.

I know a guy who was rejected for being gay.
ETA: Turns out there were other gay guys in the club, they resigned as well.

There are some jurisdictions that prohibit it, mine included, alongside other moral issues that being on the wrong side of can land someone in a suspension or expulsion. I believe Georgia has the rule as well, not sure on others. I understand the reasoning but also see why some say that it is unmasonic to have such a rule. When called to vote on it at some point I will but don't have an overarching opinion one way or the other on the matter.

By his own admission he wanted to be a mason because 3 coworkers were masons. He did not care about the lodge. Someone made the right vote

I saw one good candidate blackballed once.  It quickly became obvious that the one black cube came from a very frail brother in the lodge who was in the throws of dementia.  The vote was politely recast and the second time around some ten minutes later was favorable.  The suspect brother died a week later in his late 90s.

I also remember of hearing of an unfavorable committee recommendation of an applicant.  He seemed to have been confused as to what the craft stood for, enthusiastically endorsing his atheism and his interests in the practices of "witchcraft".

Nevermind