Section 10. Nomination, Election, and Installation of Officers
10.1 Nomination
- To be eligible for nomination a member shall have attended at least 50% of the regular membership meetings held in the previous twelve months or in the period they were a member, if less than a year. No nomination shall be accepted unless the member is in attendance at the meeting or has allowed to be filed at the meeting their consent in writing, duly witnessed by another member.
- Nomination for President, First and Second Vice-Presidents, Secretary Treasurer, Recording Secretary, and Membership Officer shall be restricted to St. John’s members. Nomination for the Third Vice-President (Corner Brook, Grenfell Campus) shall be restricted to Corner Brook members. Trustees may be nominated from either St. John’s or Corner Brook members.
10.2 Elections
- Prior to the Biennial General Meeting the Executive Board shall appoint a Presiding Officer, who will be subject to the approval of the meeting. The Presiding Officer will have full responsibility for voting arrangements and shall treat all information submitted to them as confidential.
- The Executive Board shall determine the form of the ballot and ensure that sufficient quantities of ballots are made available in good time to the Presiding Officer.
- The Presiding Officer shall appoint two scrutineers to assist in the issuing, collecting and counting of ballots. Neither the Presiding Officer nor the scrutineers shall be an officer of the Local or a candidate for office. They must be scrupulously fair and impartial and see that all arrangements are unquestionably democratic.
- The voting shall take place at the Biennial General meeting in January on even years. No person shall be allowed in or out of the Election Hall once the scrutineers have begun to distribute ballots. Members shall be able to leave or enter the Election Hall once the ballots have been collected. The vote shall be by secret ballot.
- Voting to fill one office shall be conducted and completed, and recounts dealt with, before balloting may begin to fill another office.
- A majority of votes cast shall be required before any candidate can be declared elected, and second and subsequent ballots shall be taken, if necessary, to obtain a majority. On the second and subsequent ballots the candidate receiving the lowest number of votes in the previous ballot shall be dropped. In the event of a tie vote, a second and subsequent ballot(s) will be taken if necessary until a candidate receives a majority of votes cast and can be declared elected. In the event a tie vote persists, subsequent ballots may be deferred to the next membership meeting (Article 2.3).
- Any member may request a recount of the votes for any election and a recount shall be conducted if the request is supported, in a vote, by at least the number of members equal to the quorum for a membership meeting as laid down in Section 4.4(a).
- When two or more nominees are to be elected to any office by ballot, each member voting will be required to vote for the full number of candidates to be elected or the member’s ballot will be declared spoiled.
10.3 Installation
- All duly elected officers shall be installed at the meeting at which elections are held and shall continue in office for two years or until a successor has been elected and installed provided, however, that no term of office shall be longer than three years. However, the terms of office for Trustees shall be as laid down in Article B.3.10 of the CUPE Constitution (Article B.2.4).
- Upon completion of the election, the newly elected officers and executive board members shall come forward and clearly and audibly speak the following lines to the assembled delegates:
“I ___________________________, do most sincerely promise, that I will truly and faithfully, to the best of my ability, perform the duties of my office, for the ensuing term, as prescribed in the constitution and laws of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and as an officer of this union will at all times endeavour, both by counsel and example, to promote the harmony and preserve the dignity of its sessions.
I further promise, that at the close of my official term, I will promptly deliver all monies, books, papers, or other property of this union in my possession to my duly elected successor in office.”
10.4 By-Elections
- Should any office fall vacant pursuant to Section 7.6 of these By-Laws or for any other reason, the resulting by-election should be conducted as closely as possible in conformity with this Section.
- Should the office of President become vacant the First Vice-President shall automatically become the President of the Local. The Second Vice-President shall automatically become the First Vice-President. An election shall be held to fill the post of Second Vice-President.