PREFACE:

Per the Bylaws and Appendix B, elections at Quelab are overseen by the Vice President, and conducted by a Board of Canvass. This manual will provide the procedures for conducting an election.

• The Directors set a date for the election
• The Vice President calls for nominations, and reserves a location for the event
  • The Call for Nominations will open at least 30 days before the election date
  • A Selection Committee shall be convened by the Vice President to vet the nominations
  • Persons eligible for election include those willing and able to serve a two year term
    • Are over the age of eighteen (the age of majority in New Mexico)
    • Support the Objectives and Purposes of Quelab
    • Candidates will be asked to prepare a short biography for press release
  • Nominations are closed, and the slate of candidates is presented
  • Early Voting is opened two days before the election date for electronic votes
  • eVoting IDs are made availble for absentee members prior to early voting
  • eVoting IDs are issued non-traceably (phone, in-person) to ensure ballot secrecy.
  • An Election/Party is held to coincide with the end of the election period. eVotes must be in by the end of the election period
  • All votes are entered and counted electronically by a Board of Canvass convened by the Vice President
    • For auditing purposes, the votes will be printed and kept for 90 days, and destroyed thereafter
    • Results will be published on the website and announced at the party
  • The newly-constituted Board of Directors will meet within 2 weeks of the election

The voting shall be done via Single Transferrable Vote, wherein the candidates are ranked by the voters; the number of votes required to win will be determined by the Droop method (see below) and this will help eliminate ties and equalize wildly-popular candidates.

For auditing purposes, paper ballots will be printed (even if an electronic voting solution is implemented). Ballot papers will list all candidates for office with a mark to be made for each selection. Ballots which contain more votes than seats will be spoiled, but retained for the audit; ballots which contain fewer votes than seats will be counted normally.

When sequestered, the board of canvass will assign a team of three canvassers to count the votes. The total number of ballots will be compared with the number of members who cast votes, to ensure accountability.

There will be one “Watcher” to observe that the votes are recorded correctly, one “Reader” who will call out the votes cast, and one “Recorder” who will tally the votes cast. Each ballot will be read in full, with each vote and non-vote recorded accurately.

The number of counted ballots shall match the number of ballots cast (less any over-votes), after the counting is complete. A tally sheet indicating the number of votes received by each candidate, the number of ballots received for counting, and the number of ballots counted (less spoiled ballots) will be recorded and signed off by the board of canvass as a summary for any possible audit. A copy of the tally sheet will be made available by request to any candidate or representative.

The ballots and the tally sheet will be retained for a period of ninety days in a sealed envelope, and barring any challenges will be discarded after that period has elapsed.

STV & Droop

The number of votes required to gain a seat on the board shall be as follows:

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Ballots cast for candidates who receive more votes than needed to win will have their subsequent vote rankings used to boost their other choices.