The 2019-2021 Executive Committee will be elected at this year's Annual General Meeting on March 30, 2019. Here's what you need to know to cast your ballot in the election.
– Kate McGrath (Chair), Renee McCormack and Bill Holaday, 2019 Nominations and Elections Committee (NEC)
Important Dates:
| February 28 | Call for Nominations |
| March 13 | Nominations close |
| March 17 | Voting begins for those who would like to vote electronically |
| March 29 | Deadline for eligible voters to become DAA members Electronic voting ends |
| March 30 | Elections are held at the Annual General Meeting All ballots, including electronic ballots, will be counted and results announced by NEC |
Important Change:
This year DAA will accept electronic votes. All members will receive a ballot via mail on March 17. If you would like to vote electronically, please fill out your ballot and return it to [email protected] no later than 23:59 on March 29.
In the past, nominations were accepted from the floor at the AGM. Because we will accept electronic ballots this year we will not be accepting nominations from the floor.
Below are the Rules Governing the Election for 2019 as excerpted from the DAA Bylaws.
Addendum A: DAA 2019 Election Rules
(As mandated by DAA Bylaws. You can find the current DAA Bylaws here.)
- To promote the greatest participation, the Nominations and Elections Committee decided (Art. Vlll, 8.2) to hold this vote in person, by email, and by proxy. No member may hold more than two proxies. (Art. Vlll, 8.7)
-
Vote by Email: The NEC will prepare ballots and distribute them via the DAA website and email to DAA members no later than 14 days before the election. (Art. Vlll, 8.4) Any ballot returned by email or scanned attachment must be sent from the member’s registered email address and must be signed. For purposes of a ballot being deemed “signed”, a voter’s email signature in a typed form sufficient to identify themselves shall serve as a personal signature. DA-CCEP Feb. 2017 5.d(5)
Any ballot returned by post, hand delivery, or email attachment must be received by the NEC no later than 23.59 on 29 March 2019. Otherwise, voting must take place in person or by written proxy at the election meeting. DA-CCEP Feb. 2017 5.d(6)
-
Vote by Proxy: No member may hold more than two proxies. (Art. Vlll, 8.7). A non-attending DAA member may authorize any other attending DAA member to vote on his/her behalf. The authorized person must provide a written statement clearly stating that they have been given the permission for the proxy vote, such as a note or email that reads:
“I authorize ______name of the authorized person_____ to cast a proxy vote on my behalf at the Democrats Abroad Austria AGM 2019."
The statement should either be signed or have clearly come from the authorizing person’s email account.
- The elections will be decided by majority vote (Art. Vlll, 8.7). We will use paper ballots. All ballots must be signed – Democratic Party rules strictly prohibit secret ballots in Party elections (Art. Vlll, 8.9).
- The lesser of 10% of the Membership, or twenty (20) members is needed for Quorum (Art. X, 10.5(i)).