Procedures For Nominating and Electing Gallaudet University Alumni Association Officers and Board Members

(Approved June 22-23, 1973)

Step One—NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES(To be implemented in the spring, one year before elections)

An Election Committee of five members shall be selected at the discretion of the Board. The Committee shall send out lists of Life Members of the GUAA who are Gallaudet graduates (as provided by the Bylaws) and nomination forms to each chapter. Nominees shall be selected only from this list.

The Committee shall also send out letters and nomination forms to active and associate members of the GUAA, inviting them to submit nominations. Active members may nominate themselves or other active members. Associate members may nominate active members only.

Chapters and members are entitled to submit one or two names for each of these offices: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Board Member. Chapters and members may nominate anyone for President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, but nominations for Board Members shall be restricted to those individuals who live within their own regions. The boundaries for these regions shall be predetermined as set forth in Article V (Officers), Section 4.

Active Life Members who are interested in being nominated for office may contact the most convenient chapter and request that that chapter nominate them for a specific office, or they may nominate themselves.

Step Two—NARROWING DOWN THE NOMINEES(Summer-Winter)

The Election Committee shall obtain the written consent of those nominated to serve as candidates for specific positions. This shall be done on standard forms provided for this purpose by the Election Committee. In the event that a specific position has no candidate, the GUAA Board will nominate at least two candidates for the position, as set forth in Article VI (Duties of Officers), Section 1.

No person may accept to run for more than one office. If a person is nominated for more than one position, he or she is to indicate his/her preference.

The Election Committee then sends the names with biographical information of those accepting nominations under the positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Board Member to GUAA chapters. (See Step Four for the process of selecting the Treasurer.)

Each chapter will have the privilege of indicating its preference for each position as “first choice,” “second choice,” and “third choice,” as indicated in Step Three.

Step Three—DETERMINING THE SLATE

A Screening Committee shall be formally established by the Board of Directors at least one year prior to elections. The Screening Committee shall comprise of eight Active Life Members, two from each of the four regions, and the Executive Director. The Executive Director shall serve as non-voting Chair and may cast a vote only in the event of a tie. Two of the eight members on the Screening Committee shall be those individuals who served as the chairpersons for the previous two GUAA Elections and they will automatically represent their respective regions. Should an Election Committee Chairperson be unavailable for service, the Board shall select another member from that committee.

One month prior to its meeting on the Gallaudet University campus, Screening Committee members will receive a copy of each nominee’s biographical information, a Rater Sheet with instructions, a letter from the Election Committee Chairperson announcing the names of all individuals who have been nominated, and a letter from the Executive Director on the meeting date, location, and other pertinent information.

An incumbent GUAA Board officer or Board member who wishes to run again for the same position shall have his or her name placed on the ballot without going through the screening process.

An incumbent GUAA Board officer or Board member who wishes to run for a different position shall go through the screening process, as described below. For example, if an incumbent Board member wishes to run for Vice President, he or she must go through the screening process.

At its meeting on campus, the Screening Committee will review and discuss the qualifications of each nominee for the positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Board Member. Criteria and guidelines will be made available to the members of the Screening Committee for their consideration. Based on a ranking, or point system, the two nominees with the highest number of points for their respective positions will automatically be placed on the official election slate. The two nominees for the Board slate for each of the four regions will be those with the highest number of points in the Board category.

Step Four—ELECTION(To be implemented in the spring of election year, not less than 30 days before the deadline set up for return of election ballots.)

Official election ballots shall be mailed to every alumni life member of the GUAA. These ballots shall be accompanied by brief biographical sketches and photos of each candidate.

Members may elect any one of the two final candidates for the positions of President, Vice-President, and Secretary. Members may elect only one Board Member from within their region as set forth in Article V (OFFICERS), Section 4. The selection of the Treasurer is described below.

In the event a Board Member candidate moves to a different region before official voting has occurred, the runner-up candidate from his/her original region shall become eligible to run for that position. In the event a Board Member moves to a different region after he or she has begun his/her term, he or she shall be allowed to complete that term.

Ballots shall be sent to the Election Committee chairperson and turned over unopened to Election Committee tellers for counting on a day and time designated by the Board.

During the period that the official ballot is taking place, all Treasurer candidates shall be interviewed by a committee of three persons selected by the current GUAA Board. The committee shall consist of the Executive Director, a member from the Board (except the current Treasurer), and an alumnus who is either a faculty member from within Gallaudet University’s School of Management or who is an individual that possesses qualifications befitting the nature of this position (e.g., an accountant). Each committee interviewer shall maintain a private “ranking” sheet on each candidate. The committee shall not discuss and compare these sheets until after the last candidate has been interviewed. The committee shall recommend no more than three candidates to the current GUAA Board when the Board convenes for its last meeting. The current GUAA Board officially selects the Treasurer from this pool of recommended candidates.

Announcements of the election results will be made at the regular meeting or as the Board may determine.

Revision History: (Revised June 20-21, 1985; Revised July 16-17, 1992; Revised October 9, 1998; Revised April 7, 2000; Revised March 8, 2012)

History

From 1889 to 1976, elections of new board members were done at alumni association reunions. The first mailing ballot system began in 1976 and one chapter was selected to oversee ballots and do tallying. The following chapters have assisted with our Board elections:

Kentucky (1976); Metropolitan, NYC (1979); Riverside, CA (1982); Kaw Valley, KS (1985); Indiana (1989); Mohawk Valley, NY (1992); Metropolitan, NYC (1995); San Diego, CA (1998); Minnesota (2001); Free State, MD (2004); Connecticut (2008); Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, AZ (2012), Abraham Lincoln, Jacksonville, IL (2016).