SPJ DC Chapter May 2017
Submitted by Stephenie Overman,
Nominations and Elections Committee Chair
Draft: Timeline and procedures for chapter nominating process and election
February
The chapter president names a nominating committee to prepare a slate of candidates for the upcoming election. The chapter president names individual(s) (who will not be running for any office) to tally the votes and announce the results.
The chapter publishes a “call for candidates” in the February newsletter.
Information to include in the announcement:
Any member in good standing (meaning local dues and national dues are current) is eligible to run. Positions on the full board include: president, vice president, recording secretary (who handles minutes), corresponding secretary (who is responsible for membership), the treasurer and six directors. Any candidate for president must have spent at least one year on the chapter’s board, though it is not mandatory that it be for the current board year.
The term for officers on the executive board is one year. With the directors, three of the six directors are elected each year for two-year terms.
Interested candidates should notify the chairman of the chapter’s Nominating Committee at the chapter’s email: spjdcchapter@gmail.com. Questions about the process should be directed to the chapter president XX at: XXX
Deadline for consideration is March 15. The submission should include
the candidate’s name, office sought, contact details and a short career bio (maximum 400 words) that includes SPJ involvement. (There will be room on the actual ballot for write-ins.)
March
In early March the chapter (who is responsible?) will send an email to chapter members as a reminder to submit their names or that of a colleague to the Nominating Committee for consideration.
The Nominating Committee checks with officers and board members who are up for election to find out if they plan to run again. The Nominating Committee solicits members who are in good standing (based on the current payment of dues), to run for positions. (The National SPJ membership office and the recording secretary are responsible for maintaining the list of eligible voters.)
The Nominating Committee sends a memo to all declared candidates for office asking them to send a bios/reasons.
April
The Nominating Committee presents the slate of candidates to the Executive Committee to the board by April 1. According to the bylaws, the Executive Committee must approve the slate.
When the slate is approved the Nominating Committee forwards all bios received to the newsletter editor. The limit for each bio is 400 words. All statements will use the same type font and size and will not be edited by the Nominating Committee.
Under the chapter’s Bylaws, the ballots must be sent out “no later than April 15 and returned by May 1.”
Eligible voters, as determined by National SPJ membership office and the recording secretary, are sent email ballots.
Part of setting up the online ballot includes making sure it is set for access only by invitation. The invitation is a URL that is generated at the end of the set-up process. That URL can then be sent to members only. (Who will be responsible for sending the ballots?)
An announcement will run in the April newsletter:
“Election Announcement: SPJ DC Chapter Election Time
Balloting for the leadership of the Washington DC SPJ chapter is now open.
Follow this link https://www.XXX — or copy and paste it in your web browser to vote.
If you are not familiar with the candidates, you read their statements at https://spjdc.org///XXX
This is your chance to decide who will be running our chapter for the next year. Please take a couple of minutes to familiarize yourself with the candidates and then vote.
The online ballot will be available until Monday, May 1 at 5:00 p.m.”
The chapter will also post on an announcement on the chapter website:
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May
Electronic ballots returned by May 1 are counted by the designated ballot counter(s).
Paper Ballots: As has occurred in the past, Julie Asher will send, by regular mail, paper ballots to those who do not want them by email. Bill McCloskey checks the SPJ box to pick up any of the returned ballots during the election period specified for returning results by May 1. He forwards the paper ballots to the individual(s) responsible for tallying the ballots.
(Bill McCloskey notes: “The latter procedure is what has been followed for the last 25 or more years that I have been picking up the mail. Historically, since we went to the email ballot we get about six postal mailed ballots.”)