Article 20 - Elections

Section 20.1 - Nominations

Nominations and campaigns for all elected offices will be made during a thirty-one (31) calendar day period (the nomination period), where the sixteenth (16th) day of this period is the date of the Spring Term General Membership Meeting. If the Spring Term General Membership Meeting does not occur, the Voting Committee will choose an alternate thirty-one (31) calendar day nomination period during Spring Term. At the beginning of the nomination period, GEU will provide notice to each member of the right to make nominations and of the election. Nominations may be made from the floor at the Spring Term General Membership Meeting, or via email to the VP of Operations. Nominees may speak at the Spring Term General Membership Meeting, and/or provide the VP of Operations with a written statement to distribute to the membership. Nominees must have given their consent to be nominated and may be nominated in absentia. The VP of Operations will distribute a list of all nominations and any associated written statements received beforehand at the Spring General Membership Meeting. Any subsequent nominations and associated written statements will be distributed by the day after the end of the nomination period.

Section 20.2 - Election Mechanics

20.2(a) 20.2.1 The Voting Committee (see Section 21.5) will conduct an election no more than sixty (60) days after the Spring General Membership Meeting, or by the end of May, whichever is earlier.

20.2(b) 20.2.2 Election will be conducted by a secret ballot vote of members in good standing. Each voter will rank all candidates for each officer position, and rank all candidates for steward for that voter’s employing unit, and rank all candidates for any applicable elected position enumerated in the Constitution and Bylaws. The Voting Committee will select winners by Ranked Choice Voting (see Section 21.2) or Ranked Ranked Choice Voting (see Section 21.3) if needed, where the questions are elected positions, and the options are candidates. Communications sent by the Voting Committee will include the candidate statements described in 20.1.

20.2(c) 20.2.3 The Voting Committee will accept ballots for a period of no longer than five (5) calendar days.

20.2(d) 20.2.4 The Voting Committee will make results of the election public at most (3) calendar days after last day ballots are accepted.

20.2(e) 20.2.5 A general quorum (an uncontested quorum for uncontested elections) of the General Membership is required (see Article 23).

20.2(f) 20.2.6 In the absence of quorum, the Voting Committee will conduct a re-election at most fifteen (15) calendar days after the last day ballots for the previous election were accepted.

20.2(g) 20.2.7 Officers elected to the Executive Board and elected stewards will ordinarily take office on July 1. If no vote has mustered quorum by July 1, the winners of the vote with the largest number of votes counted will win the election. If results of a vote mustering quorum have not yet been made public by July 1, candidates will take office when the results are made public.