[nabs-l] NABS Election Procedures

[Arielle Silverman]

If you'd like to see any of these changed, please tell us on the
conference call or let someone know who will be on the call.

NABS Election Procedures

	The below assumes that we do not have a nominating committee. If NABS
decides to appoint a nominating committee, then a nominating committee
report will be added to the beginning of the election process.

For each elected position, I will announce the position and then ask
for nominations from the floor. I will ask for nominations three times
and then request a motion and a second to close nominations. If only
one candidate is nominated, then that candidate will be elected by
acclamation.

	If more than one candidate is nominated, then each candidate will be
given thirty seconds to speak to the membership. Candidates will speak
in the reverse order in which they were nominated. So if the
nominations were John-Cindy-Karen, the speeches would go
Karen-Cindy-John.

	Following speeches, a voice vote will be taken. If one candidate
receives all or nearly all of the “I” votes, then I will declare that
person the winner and ask if any of the other candidates want an exact
count. If not, then the candidate garnering the majority of the voice
votes will win. If the voice vote is inconclusive (as almost always
happens) or if the candidate(s) declared losers of the voice vote
request a count, then a count will be taken.

	The procedure for determining an exact vote count has not yet been
determined—will be decided by the NABS board this year with feedback
from the membership. All persons recruited to help count votes will be
recruited and trained prior to the election, and back-up vote counters
will be recruited in case the original counters cannot stay for the
duration of the election.

	If one candidate receives more than half (50%) of the total votes,
that person will be declared the winner. If not, then the candidate
receiving the least amount of votes will be dropped and a recount will
be conducted. This will continue until one candidate has received more
than half of the total votes. All voting will proceed in the same
order as speeches (so in the above example, Karen-Cindy-John).

	If at any point during the elections any member believes that proper
procedures are not being followed, counters are not reporting
accurately, etc. that member should come to the podium and get my
attention during a count so that I can be aware of and address the
problem immediately. Alternatively, any member can interrupt the
election process by saying, “Madame President, point of order” and
that person will be given the floor. The “point of order” request
overrides any ruling I might have made about moving on to the next
election.


-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org