Trustee Election Ballot Policy
Section 13.1 of our constitution requires that one-third of the elected trustees retire at each Annual General Meeting and that the members have the opportunity to fill the resulting vacancies (and others that may exist).
Nomination
Nomination to stand for election must be received by the trustees at least 30 days prior to the date for the election.
The trustees have no obligation to provide publicity for any candidate.
In the event that there are the same number of candidates (or fewer) than vacancies available, then the election of those candidates shall be via acclamation
If there are more candidates than vacancies, then an election via ballot will be carried out using sequential proportional approval voting
Election via Acclamation
Each candidate is named and presented to the members present at the meeting.
For each candidate, the meeting chair asks for a show of hands for those in favour and those against the election of the given candidate.
The meeting chair may declare the candidate elected or not if the result of the show of hands is obvious.
If there is any reasonable doubt in the result of the show of hands, the meeting chair must order that a ballot be carried out.
Election via Ballot
Each member present is provided with a ballot paper listing the candidates.
The meeting chair instructs the members that they may cast any number of votes.
The meeting chair informs the members that casting more votes than the number of vacancies renders the ballot paper void.
The meeting chair informs the members that casting the same number of votes as the number of vacancies, whilst permissible, is equivalent to casting no vote at all.
Members who make a mistake when casting their vote may exchange their ballot paper for a fresh but must surrender the original.
Ballot papers are collected from members and held securely until counting commences.
At counting, ballot papers are grouped by the combination of votes cast and the total number in each group recorded.
The counts will be recorded according to the Decision Making Policy.
From the number in each group, the number of votes for each candidate is then calculated and the candidate with the highest total is duly elected.
For those groups which include a vote for the winning candidate, any remaining votes count for one half of a vote. The total for each group is recalculated and is the resulting total for each candidate and the candidate with the highest total is duly elected.
The process is repeated until all vacancies are filled with each subsequent round reducing the remaining vote value to one-third, one-quarter etc.
In the event of a tie at any point, the candidate whose nomination was received by the trustees earliest shall be elected.