• Upon closing the doors at the time appointed, the chair shall oversee the committee as votes are tabulated. All members of the committee should participate either in the actual counting or in observing the counters.( See instructions below.) If a break is allowed for committee members, no fewer than three persons should remain in the room with the ballots and credential cards.
• Prepare the tally sheet for the elections report. While the chair is out of the room, no fewer than three committee members will have custody of the credential cards and completed ballots. If the entire committee prefers to go into the convention room, the boxes and ballots shall be secured by the chair. Members of the Election Committee should remain apart from the convention body until the election is final.
• Include in the report any spoiled ballots or illegal votes. The chair does not state that anyone is elected; she merely reads the totals as listed on the Election Committee Report.
• If a recount is ordered, the state president will appoint another 3 members to join the original election committee for a recount. Before the vote is recounted, the members of the recount committee will take the same oath as the original election committee. The president will appoint someone to swear in the recount committee.
• Handle a run-off election, if required, using the same procedure as for the regular election.
• Any irregularities, questions or problems are to be reported to the parliamentarian, then the state president, if necessary. In the case of a ballot whose validity cannot be determined using normal parliamentary rules, the assembly will decide the question.
• Once the election is final, the chair of elections shall destroy the ballots when instructed by the president and return the credential cards to the credentials chair.
Election Rules for State Convention:
• Blank ballots are ignored completely. If a blank ballot and a filled out ballot are folded together, the blank is ignored and the filled out ballot is recorded.
• If two or more filled out ballots are folded together, they are recorded as one illegal vote for each office on the ballot.
• If a ballot is marked for some offices and not for others, the blank spaces in no way affect the validity of those choices which are marked; the blanks are not recorded.
• A voter should mark one choice for each office, unless more than one office in a category is to be filled, fold the ballot once as instructed by the election committee and place it in the ballot box. No one should touch a voterʼs filled out ballot until the polls are closed and the committee removes all ballots to count them.
• A majority vote is needed to be elected. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, another ballot vote will be necessary.
• The number of votes cast for each office individually will be divied by 2 to determine the number necessary to elect.
• A majority vote is more than one-half of the votes cast. Fractions are rounded up to the next number. Therefore, if 101 votes are cast, a majority would be 50.5 rounded up to 51 votes. This is the number written into the“ Necessary to Elect” column.
Instructions to the voters must be exact and should be announced during the business meeting, then repeated, if necessary, at the door to the election room. The election rules will also be printed in the convention program.
Campaign Rules in Election Area Members should be familiar with campaign rules and be aware that no campaigning will be within 100 feet of the election room. It is not necessary to remove campaign materials before entering the election room, but it is not allowed to discuss candidates in the area within 100 feet of the room. If space does not permit the establishment of the 100 foot zone, the state president and the convention chair will designate the area in which campaigning will not be permitted.
36 June 2010