Revision 4, November 2002
I. Presiding Officer
The Chairperson of the Board will be the presiding officer of the election. This is usually the President unless otherwise noted by the Board.
The Presiding Officer will appoint at least (two) 2 tellers to distribute, collect and count the ballots and to report the vote. The format of the ballot will be determined by the Presiding Officer and will be presented in such a manner as to ensure confidentiality. The initial nominating ballot will be distributed 3 weeks prior to the regular election. It will be the responsibility of the Presiding Officer to close the polls and to announce the results.
II. Nominations
Directors shall be nominated and elected by Members of the Corporation for openings created by expiration of a Board Member’s term. A nominating ballot will provide the Members of the Corporation with an indication of the nominations made.
Any Member whose dues are paid prior to the beginning of the nomination process is eligible for nomination. Self nominations are acceptable. Not eligible for nomination are Advisory Board Members who are NOT also paid members, our Honorary Members, or any Board Member that has just served 3 consecutive terms.
III. Eligibility of Voters
Any Member whose dues are paid prior to the publication of the final ballot are eligible to vote in that year’s elections.
IV. Final Ballot
All individuals nominated are required to accept their nomination in writing to the Board at least one week prior to preparation of the final ballot. Unless the nominee accepts the nomination, their name will not be present on the final ballot. All nominations accepted cannot be withdrawn from the final ballot. (Should circumstances arise that would preclude completing the board term, once elected, the board member may resign and their slot will be filled by the board in any manner it deems appropriate in accordance with the bylaws.)
The nominating ballot would become a slate only if the number of nominations is less than or equal to the number of positions open for election. In the case of a slate, the Members will be asked for a vote of confidence on the slate.
The ballots cannot be deemed totally secret (at this point) because the name of the voter is clearly on the email, and votes mailed in are instructed to place their name on the ballot. This is done to be sure that only members entitled to vote are tallied. However, this information is only available to the tellers and not for public record.
V. Voting
In the case of no slate, voting will then be made by ballot. Ballots may be cast by paper, electronically, or in any other way deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors; the ability to vote via paper ballots will be available to those who request it. Cumulative voting for the election of Directors shall not be permitted. Directors shall be elected by a plurality of the votes of the Members.
In the event of a tie, a run-off election will be held between the tied candidates. A tie will be announced if two or more nominees receive the same number of votes and there are not enough seats to be filled. For example, if there are 5 seats to be filled and the votes fall as follows:
Example 1
A 40 votes B 37 votes 36 votes 30 votes E 30 votes F 30 votes G 28 votes
Example one: three seats are filled and the remaining two will be filled by runoff vote of the three nominees receiving 30 votes each.
Example 2
A 40 votes B 37 votes 36 votes D 33 votes E 30 votes F 30 votes G 28 votes
Example two: four seats are filled and the remaining seat will be filled by runoff vote.
Example 3
A 40 votes B 37 votes 37 votes D 33 votes E 30 votes F 28 votes G 25 votes
Example three: Because our Board seats are not filled specifically, the top five votes will fill the five seats available. Therefore, no tie will be announced.
A member need not vote for every office or issue (as seen in Bylaws Section 3.7). If a member leaves one or more choices blank, it in no way affects the validity of the votes and the member shall be given credit for each legal vote. If the member votes for too many candidates, that ballot is illegal, because it is not possible for the tellers to determine for whom the member desired to vote.
VI. Tellers
The Presiding Officer will appoint two or more tellers to distribute, collect and count the ballots and to report the vote. The tellers will report the vote back to the Presiding Officer. Should the tellers have any questions regarding their assigned responsibilities, they shall ask the Presiding Officer, who in turn will look to the Board for direction1.
The tellers will not have a direct personal involvement in the result of the vote. The tellers’ report shall consist of the number of votes cast in total as well as the results of the election. The tellers’ report will be entered in full in the minutes, becoming a part of the official records of the organization2.
Tellers will ignore blank ballots and do not credit illegal votes. Illegal votes include: unintelligible ballots, votes for unidentifiable candidate, votes for a fictional character, votes for ineligible candidates, cumulative voting, and votes for too many candidates.
The tellers shall give their report to the Presiding officer without announcing the result. The election report shall follow this format:
Number of votes cast …………………. 97
A received ……………………………….. 51
B received ……………………………….. 24
C received ……………………………….. 14
Illegal Votes (if any) Mr. Friend who is ineligible ………….. 7
Members “over voting” ………………… 1 
VII. Announcing Election Results
The tellers never report the results of the election. The results of the election are always announced by the Presiding Officer, who reads the tellers’ report before doing so.
When there is no possibility that the members will order a recount (which requires a majority vote), the ballots shall be ordered destroyed by the Board. The proximate time frame for destruction of the ballots is one month.
VIII. Interested Persons
According to the bylaws, not more than 25% of the Board may comprise of Interested Persons. Should the results of the election result in more than 25%, the Board will have the authority to come into compliance with the bylaws by selecting the Interested Persons with the most votes to comprise the allowed 25% of the Board. The remaining seats will be filled with the nominees who received the next highest votes and are not Interested Persons. This adjustment will be announced by the Presiding Officer with the Election Results.
Notes:
1. ASSEMBLY’S PREROGATIVE IN JUDGING VOTING PROCEDURES. Unless the bylaws provide otherwise, the assembly itself is the judge of all questions arising that are incidental to the voting or the counting of the votes. In an election by ballot, for example, the tellers should refer to the assembly for decision all questions on which there is any uncertainty. RONR (10th ed.), p. 395, l. 14-20
2. The tellers’ report is entered in full in the minutes, becoming a part of the official records of the organization. Under no circumstances should this be omitted in an election or in a vote on a critical motion out of a mistaken deference to the feelings of unsuccessful candidates or member of the losing side. RONR (10th ed.), p. 404, l. 9-14