SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION

a. This Policy sets out the procedures for the conduct of the NWHA General Election and the duties and responsibilities, in general, of the various individuals involved in the management of the election process.

b. The purpose of this Policy is to adequately inform Members, in order to assure that the annual General Election is conducted in a manner which is open, honest, fair, and valid.

SECTION 2 - ELECTION COMMITTEE

a. The General Election by the Membership shall be administered by an Election Committee consisting of volunteer adult Members in good standing approved by the NWHA Board. Ideally, one representative of each Active Unit shall serve on the Election Committee.

b. In general, the duties of the Election Committee shall be:

2. To confirm with the NWHA Secretary the Membership status of each Nominator and each Nominee;

3. To confirm the willingness of each Nominee to serve in the position for which nominated;

4. To prepare a master ballot for delivery to the Secretary;

5. To receive, secure, open, validate, count, and record the returned ballots; and

6. To report the results of the election to the NWHA Board.

Specific duties and procedures are contained in the following Sections.

c. The mailing address to which ballots are to be returned shall be approved by the NWHA Board.

SECTION 3 - NOMINATION PROCEDURES

a. The opening of the period for nominations for NWHA Directors and Officers shall be announced by the NWHA Secretary no later than September 30th. The announcement shall take the form of a notice mailed to each Member at his or her latest address of record via First Class Mail, postage prepaid, delivered to the US Postal Service, and shall contain complete information about the nomination process. The open period for nominations shall be from the date of mailing of the announcement through October 31st of the same calendar year, but shall be not less than 30 days in length. Each Unit Commander shall insure that each Member of his or her Unit is notified of the opening of the nomination period and of the procedure for submitting nominations.

b. Nominations shall be submitted by Members to the Chairman of the Election Committee, and may be submitted verbally, by email, or in writing. Any Member may self-nominate. The Chairman of the Election Committee shall acknowledge receipt of each nomination. The Chairman of the Election Committee shall confirm that each Nominator and each Nominee is a Member in good standing at the time of the submission of each nomination. The willingness of each Nominee to serve in the position for which nominated shall be confirmed by the Chairman of the Election Committee at the closing of the nomination period through verbal confirmation with the Nominee. Since this is an open nomination process there are no provisions for write-in candidates.

SECTION 4 - BALLOTING PROCEDURES

a. At the close of the nomination period the Chairman of the Election Committee shall provide to the NWHA Secretary a master ballot identifying all confirmed Nominees for each position. At the same time, the NWHA Secretary shall provide via email to each Unit Commander a list of their current Members of record and the mailing address of record for each current Member. It shall be the responsibility of each Unit Commander to quickly identify and remedy any discrepancies.

b. The NWHA Secretary shall mail one Ballot to each member at his or her latest address of record via First Class Mail, postage prepaid, delivered to the US Postal Service. These Ballots shall be mailed no later than November 30th of the same calendar year. Ballots shall be marked in such a manner as to prevent duplication.

c. Ballots shall be returned to the approved address of the Election Committee. Returned Ballots shall be postmarked no later than December 31st of the same calendar year in order to be valid.

d. Returned Ballot Envelopes shall be held unopened in a secure location until the meeting of the Election Committee.

SECTION 5 - MEETING OF THE ELECTION COMMITTEE

a. No earlier than January 7th and no later than January 15th of the following calendar year, all members of the Election Committee shall meet together and, in each other’s presence, open only those sealed NWHA Ballot Envelopes which were postmarked no later than December 31st of the preceding calendar year and shall annotate the enclosed Privacy Envelope with the date of the postmark. All annotated Privacy Envelopes shall be mixed together sufficiently to insure that each is unidentifiable. The mixed Privacy Envelopes shall be individually opened. The Election Committee shall validate each Ballot by insuring the presence of the approved marking, and shall count and record each vote. The count shall be conducted and recorded three times to insure accuracy.

b. The Election Committee shall produce an official written report to the NWHA Board. This report shall be dated and signed by all members of the Election Committee and shall include the following information:

2. The number of ballots postmarked late and unopened; and,

3. The number of votes cast for each nominee for each position.

c. The Chairman of the Election Committee shall report to the NWHA Board and to each of the Candidates via email the results of the election no later than January 17th. The Candidate who received the greatest number of valid votes for each position shall be declared the Electee for that position.

d. No later than January 19th, the NWHA Board shall publish, or cause to be published, notice of the results of the election. The Election Committee shall deliver the official signed report to the NWHA Board at the first event of the calendar year which occurs after January 19th, and the Chairman of the Election Committee, or his or her designee, shall verbally announce the results of the election at this event.

SECTION 6 - TURNOVER

a. The Directors-Elect and Officers-Elect shall take office at the first event of the calendar year, but not later than January 31st. At this time the outgoing Directors and Officers shall provide all pertinent corporate documents and property to the incoming Directors and Officers.

b. Each incoming Director-Elect and Officer-Elect shall be a Member in good standing as of the date of the turnover. In the event that the Electee for a position is not a Member in good standing as of the date of turnover, that position shall be declared vacant.

SECTION 7 - BALLOT TIE

a. In the event that two or more Candidates for one position have received an identical number of votes, the Chairman of the Election Committee shall ascertain whether any such Candidate concedes the election. If there is only one Candidate remaining following any concessions by any other Candidates, that Candidate shall be declared the Electee to that position.

b. If, following any concessions, two or more Candidates remain who have received an identical number of votes, a run-off election shall be held for that position. All procedures described above for the General Election shall be followed, other than calendar dates. A Ballot shall be prepared and mailed no later than February 1st. Returned Ballots must be postmarked no later than March 2nd. The Election Committee shall meet no earlier than March 9th and no later than March 17th and shall report the results to the NWHA Board no later than March 19th. The NWHA Board shall announce the results to the Membership via email no later than March 21st. Until such time as the run-off election process has been completed, the position shall be considered vacant.

SECTION 8 - VACANT POSITION OF DIRECTOR OR OFFICER

a. In the event that any position of a Director or Officer of the NWHA is, or becomes, vacant for any reason, the NWHA Board reserves to itself the authority to appoint at its discretion a qualified adult Member of the NWHA in good standing to fill that position on an interim basis pending the next General Election by the Membership.

b. The Board shall publish or cause to be published notice to the Membership of any appointments made under this Section.