Standing
Election Procedures
Amended 16 January 2009 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board
Revision of 1. Composition of the Subcommittee
Revision of one part a sentence for clarity Section 2, Paragraph 1.
Revision of Section 2, paragraph 5 for clarity
Addition and revision of Section 3, Paragraphs 4 and 5.
Revision of Section B, 2c
Revision of Section II Use of the Membership list for clarity.
Revision and addition to 2, c. i, ii.
Removed paragraph section III. Use of Registered Voter List, 4.
Revised paragraph for clarity Section III, C, Paragraphs 3 and 5.
Revised paragraph for clarity Section III, D, Paragraphs 6 and 7.
Removed Section E, Paragraph 2.
Revised Section F for clarity.
Amended 8 March 2006 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board
Revision of Section B, Paragraph 3.
Amended 11 September 2004 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board
Insertion of clarify paragraphs regarding terms of EC Members and
Officers.
Amended 17 April 2004 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board.
Removal of Item "i." in Section B, Paragraph 4, Number II.
"i. The appropriate local leadership or appointed contact person
will be notified."
Amended 24 January 2004 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board.
Revision of A, Section 1
Amended 25 November 2003 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board
Additon of Section G
Amended 7 November 2003 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board.
Addition of Paragraph 2, in Section D.
Revised 31 October 2003 by the USGenWeb Advisory Board.
STANDING ELECTION SUBCOMMITTEE
1. Composition of the Subcommittee:
The EC shall consist of 12 members chosen from the Project-wide membership.
Eight members will serve as EC representatives for the XXGenWeb States,
two will serve as EC representatives for the Archives/Special Projects,
one will serve as EC Representative-At-Large and one will serve as
Dataset Manager.
From these members, the EC shall choose a Chair and a Publicist-Secretary,
each to serve for one year as defined in (3) regardless of the length
of their individual terms. The Chair of the EC shall vote only in
the case of a tie. The National Coordinator, as ex officio member,
and one other non-voting Advisory Board Representative chosen by the
Board, shall serve as advisors on the EC subcommittee. They shall
not be eligible to be either the Chair of the EC or its Publicist-Secretary.
2. Formation of the Subcommittee:
MEMBERS
As necessary to select new or replacement EC Members, the EC will
publish a Call for Volunteers on the Election Committee's Webpage,
USGENWEB-Discuss, STATE- COORD, USGENWEB-ALL, the Special Projects
mailing lists, the regional mailing lists, and any lists or other
avenue appropriate to reach the most volunteers including if necessary
a personal e-mail to each project volunteer.
From the list of volunteers, the EC shall select new or replacement
members for the EC. This list of volunteers shall then be submitted
to the Advisory Board for approval and confirmation. The Advisory
Board shall not be allowed to "pick and choose" any individual
committee member. Should the Advisory Board disapprove the slate of
members in its entirety, the process shall be repeated.
ELECTIONS
If deemed necessary by the EC, the EC may take on additional temporary
workers May 1st through the final announcement of National Election
Results.
The selection of the EC Chair and the EC Publicist- Secretary shall
be made by secret ballot sent to the two Advisory Board members for
counting and verification. Both Advisory Board members to the EC list
shall post the results of the voting. The current EC Secretary (or
EC Chair) shall forward the results to the Advisory Board.
SERVING
EC members may serve as Chair or Publicist/Secretary for a maximum
of two consecutive years. Any member of the project who is eligible
to vote is eligible for membership in the EC, the exception being
that no Advisory Board member may serve as a working member of the
EC. An EC member who is elected to national office may continue to
serve on the EC until seated on the AB. Current EC members are exempt
from this exception until completion of their appointed terms."
ELECTIONS
Any EC member or individual (including those from the AB) that is
subscribed
to the EC List, is required to notify the EC chair of his or her intent
to accept a nomination in any election conducted by the EC. The notification
must be made no later than 24 hours before the opening of nominations,
so that he/she may be temporarily unsubscribed from the EC List. If
the member does not accept a nomination, he/she may rejoin the EC
at the end of the nomination period. If the member accepts a nomination,
he/she may rejoin the EC once the election has reached a final conclusion
regarding the position he/she was seeking.
3. Tenure of the Subcommittee:
Initially, each pair of EC members as outlined in (2) shall have one
individual serving for one year and one individual for two years so
as to stagger the turnover in EC members. Thenceforward, regular terms
(not the filling of unexpired terms) shall run for two years. Terms
shall be from January 1 to December 31. EC members shall serve only
one term and be ineligible for reappointment for one year after the
expiration of a full two-year term. Those EC members serving for only
one year initially in order to stagger terms may be re- selected for
another term in the second year.
EC members who are seated initially to fill unexpired terms may volunteer
for a full two-year term at the end of the partial term. Upon the
completion of one partial term and one full two-year term, members
must sit out for one year before reapplying for a seat. Members who
first serve a full two-year term may not apply for a replacement term
without sitting out a year.
EC Members may be removed, by a simple majority vote of the EC, for
Cause including but not limited to: failure to perform his/her duties
on the EC especially during critical election periods; disruptive,
inappropriate, or unprofessional behavior either on the EC list or
publicly; public or private breech of confidentiality of either the
EC list or Project members information; non responsiveness; and/or
other actions not in keeping with the intent and spirit of the EC
which present a conflict of interest or are not in keeping with the
intent and spirit of the EC.
If the EC Members vote to allow the offending member to stay, the
Chair may then remove her/him for showing continued unprofessional
behavior or any other as given above for one more infraction without
a membership vote. This will be true for the remainder of the member's
term.
By majority vote of the EC, the EC may petition the AB for removal,
from the EC, of the AB Advisor to the EC for the same reasons as above.
The request is sent via the NC who will forward the petition along
with documentation to EXEC. The EXEC will give a review the request
in a timely manner.
Replacement of EC members shall be handled in the same manner as 3)
above.
B. Duties of the Subcommittee:
1. The EC's primary responsibility shall be to conduct the USGenWeb
Project's Annual Election. The EC may conduct other polls or elections
within the Project, as appropriate.
2. The EC shall be responsible for maintaining a Project wide Membership
List.
I. Such Membership List shall be updated on a continuing basis through
the following:
a. Solicitation of the appropriate local leadership or appointed contact
person for updates to the State or Special Project's membership list
on a quarterly or as needed basis.
b. Maintaining a site and means for the appropriate local leadership
or
appointed contact person within each state and special project to
notify the EC of changes within their membership.
c. Maintaining a site and means for members to register, change, or
delete their own personal membership information.
d. Other such means as the EC shall deem necessary from time to time.
II. Use of the Membership List:
a. The Membership List may be used for broadcast mailings from time
to time as necessary to notify the entire membership of items of interest
to the whole membership.
b. Other such uses as may be deemed necessary and appropriate by the
AB or EC.
3. The EC shall also be responsible for maintaining an up-to-date
Registered Voter List:
I. All Project members, who are eligible to vote, shall also be eligible
to Register to vote.
II. The Registered Voter List shall be updated on a continuing basis
through the following:
a. Maintaining means for members to register to vote, to change their
membership participation or email address, or to remove their name
from the Registered Voter List.
b. Notification of the availability of registration through postings
to all appropriate Project lists, broadcast messages to the entire
membership through the Membership List, and by other means the EC
shall deem necessary and helpful.
c. Registrations shall be accepted throughout the year, with the exception
of the 30 days before the National Election begins, through the end
of that election.
i. Registrations shall be actively solicited during the spring. In
March a letter will be sent to all the unregistered members of the
USGW In April and May both new and updated registrations shall be
actively solicited from all USGW members.
ii. The EC will send any unverifiable names to the regional AB member(s)
and to the SC. Special Projects/Archives: The archives do not have
SCs and CCs. In those sections and/or cases that apply, information
will be sent to the National Special Projects Representative and the
State File Manager//Project Coordinator.
iii. For Polls and other appropriate elections, a period of not less
than two weeks shall be provided for Registrations.
iv. Registration is necessary for all elections conducted by the EC.
d. Verification of all voter registrations shall be determined by:
i. Checking State and Special Project web site listing of members.
ii. Cross checking against the Membership List
iii. Other means as the EC shall deem necessary from time to time.
e. Though members may use various email addresses for the projects
they are associated with, only one name and e-mail address will be
maintained on the voter list. Each member should register once using
one name and one email address. Multiple registrations under multiple
names and/or email addresses will be handled as a discrepancy.
(1) All names and e-mail addresses used for registering will be screened
for possible discrepancies.
f. Any discrepancy not able to be resolved between the voter and the
EC, unless the discrepancy is possible fraudulent registration, shall
be directed to the appropriate local leadership or appointed contact
person within the voter's state or special project, for resolution.
In the event the appropriate person does not respond in a timely fashion,
or resolution has not occurred, the matter shall be forwarded to the
Advisory Board for resolution.
g. In the event the EC discovers possible fraudulent registration,
the AB shall be privately advised.
h. No names associated with a possible fraudulent registration will
be
removed from the Registered Voter List until such time as the EC receives
a final determination/disposition from the AB.
III. Use of Registered Voter List:
a. The confidentiality of the Registered Voter List, as a whole, shall
be maintained by the EC at all times. Individual information from
the voter list will be released or shared as directed by the Election
Committee's current guidelines.
b. Voting Passwords shall be sent to only those members on the Registered
Voter List.
II. Members shall be removed from the Registered Voter List under
the
following circumstances:
a. Bounced email address
b. Request for removal by the member.
i. Follow-up by confirmation email to member.
c. Notice from appropriate leadership or appointed contact person
that
member is no longer with that particular project.
i. Member will be notified
IV. All unresolved discrepancies shall be referred to the AB Regional
Representative for resolution.
5. The Membership List and the Registered Voter List will be maintained
regionally by the two EC members representing the region, and by the
Archives/Special Project EC members representing the Archives and
Special Projects.
I. If a regional or special project seat is vacant, the EC Chair shall
appoint an EC member to maintain the lists.
II. The regional and archives/special project EC members shall manage
communications with the state and special projects.
III. The Publicist Secretary or the EC Chair shall manage communications
to the Advisory Board and to the project as a whole via appropriate
project lists, and any other avenues deemed appropriate during day-to-day
operations of the Committee.
IV. The Publicist Secretary or the EC Chair shall be responsible for
writing quarterly and post-election reports for submission to the
Board and the Project.
C. Eligibility of voters
All members of the Project (as defined in USGenWeb By-Laws ARTICLE
IV.
MEMBERSHIP) shall be eligible to register to vote and to vote in any
election or poll in which they are a qualified voter.
A requirement that one be a member for at least 30 days prior to the
start of an election is acceptable purely on an administrative basis.
State-level or Special Project-level voting restrictions shall not
affect a member's right to register to vote, and as a registered voter
to vote in any national level election or poll.
Challenges to a member's eligibility to vote shall in no circumstances
be addressed by the EC. The XXGenWeb State Coordinator or Project
Coordinator shall address the challenge in a timely fashion so as
to allow the person to vote in the current election. If they do not,
the person shall be given the benefit of the doubt and allowed to
vote. If a Local Coordinator continues to challenge the decision of
the State Coordinator, then the matter shall be referred to the regional
Advisory Board rep. If the Local Coordinator continues to challenge
the decision made by the Regional Advisory Board Representative, then
the matter shall be referred to the entire AB. The decision of the
entire Advisory Board shall be final. However, should the matter fail
to be decided before the end of any election or voting issue, the
person shall be given the right to vote by default.
Eligible registered voters may vote once for each region or special
project position, for which they are eligible, once for national positions
including NC and RAL, and once for any national issue that may be
placed on a ballot, including but not limited to bylaws amendments.
Changing a vote will not be permitted.
D. Nominations
1. When nominations are made, the EC shall be responsible for obtaining
verification that the nominees are eligible to run for and hold the
office for which they are nominated, by contacting the appropriate
project leadership, and based solely on the criteria in Article VI,
Section 9 of the Bylaws. No determination of eligibility shall be
made by the EC, including that of good standing. Nominees shall be
assumed to be in good standing unless determined otherwise by the
Advisory Board or State Coordinators or Special Projects leadership.
2. It is consistent with the spirit of Bylaws Article VI, Section
9 that Assistant State Coordinators and State Co-Coordinators shall
have the same right and privilege as State Coordinators to run for
and hold office.
3. Contact persons for eligibility verification:
County Coordinator Representative nominee - The State Coordinator
State Coordinator Representative nominee - The AB Representative At
Large, or the National Coordinator.
National Coordinator or Representative At Large nominee - The State
Coordinator and the seated AB Rep for the region in which the individual
serves.
4. In the event the appropriate project leadership does not respond
in a timely fashion, the NC or an available AB Representative will
be contacted.
5. If the nominee or member challenges a finding that they are ineligible
to run for and hold office, or to vote, the EC shall in no circumstances
make a ruling on the challenge. It shall be incumbent upon The Advisory
Board to address the challenge in a timely fashion. In the case of
a nominee, not later than two days after the close of nominations;
in the case of voting, not later than one week prior to the voting
period.
6. Nominees shall have not less than 48 hours from the time that they
are notified of their nomination, to inform the EC of their decision.
7. In the event two AB seats are available in a region (one to fill
an early vacated seat, the other to fill a full term seat). Members
shall be nominated for either the two-year term, or the one-year term.
Voting will be handled as usual.
E. Voting Mechanism
The voting mechanism selected should be confidential and secure, accept
votes according to member participation and eligibility to vote for
an
individual position, give notice either online or via personal email
that the vote or votes were recorded, count votes and return reliable
results within a short period. It should also be flexible, and free.
F. EC Website
a. The EC shall be responsible for maintaining a web site for the
EC that shall include but is not limited to a page or pages easily
accessible from the home page:
I. containing a form (or forms) to allow members to Register, make
changes to their individual information including changes in Project
participation and email address, and the ability to remove their names
from Registration;
II. Containing a form (or forms) to allow local project leadership
or
appointed contact persons to inform the EC of changes within their
membership.
III. detailing eligibility guidelines including how and who to contact
regarding problems or questions;
IV. listing all EC members with emails both clickable and written
out, their region of responsibility including the listing of the states
in each region, as well as noting the names and email addresses of
the current Chair and Publicist-Secretary; In addition the website
should include:
V. A general page about how the elections are conducted (nominations,
voting process, result release).
i. During an actual election this page will be replaced with a similar
one detailing the specifics of that particular election.
ii. It will include a listing of states in each region
iii. Voters having any problems should contact the chair and/or the
dataset manager immediately.
VI. A page linking to all quarterly election committee reports from
the
first of those given to date;
VII. During an election period a page listing all candidates with
URLs to their campaign pages both clickable and written out.
VIII. A page containing information on past members of the Advisory
Board.
IX. A page containing information on past members of the Election
Committee.
G. Election Schedule
The voting period for elections shall be July 1 through July 31, with
any necessary run-off elections scheduled to begin as soon as possible
after July 31.
