Proposed Rules for Elections

The election committee proposes these rules for adoption by the members at the annual meeting.

Preliminary Information

1. Prior to the beginning of the nominating period, the election committee will publish a timeline for nominations, the question-and-answer period, and elections. This timeline will include all relevant deadlines and record dates.

Nominations

2. Candidates may self-nominate for a position during a period of time that is published by the election committee. This nominating period must be at least one week.
3. Prior to the nominating period, the election committee will publish an announcement that states when and how nominations will be published.
4. The election committee will provide a form or other procedure for candidates to submit their nominations. This form may also collect the candidate’s nominating statement or answers to questions approved by the election committee.
5. The election committee may reject a nomination only if it determines the candidate is not eligible to be elected to the office or if it cannot determine the authenticity of the nomination.
6. No later than the closing of nominations, all nominations will be published, and the question-and-answer period will begin.

Nomination Platform

7. Nominations will be published via a forum, blog, or site controlled by the election committee. No candidate will have the ability to post or view draft posts in this system.
8. The election committee will create a thread or post for each candidate and provide access to these threads or posts for all members to read. Each candidate’s thread or post will contain their nominating statement, questions posed to them, and their answers.

Nominating Statements

9. Candidates will be asked to submit a nominating statement when they nominate themselves for a position.
10. A nominating statement is optional.
11. A candidate may edit their nominating statement any time until the conclusion of the question-and-answer period.

Questions

12. Some questions may be asked of the candidates when they nominate themselves, and additional questions may be submitted after the nominations are published.
13. Members may ask questions of the candidates by sending them to the election committee. Candidates will send their answers to the election committee.
14. The election committee will review each question and may edit for clarity and neutral wording. The election committee may combine multiple similar questions. The election committee has full authority to choose which questions to ask and their wording in the official campaigning platform. The election committee will exercise this authority to reject or reword questions that support or attack any individual candidate.
15. A candidate is not required to answer a question, but the question will be published even if the candidate did not answer.
16. Questions will be published no later than seven days after they are posed to the candidates, and answers will be published no later than three days after the election committee receives them.
17. A candidate may edit their answers any time until the conclusion of the question-and-answer period.

Closing Statements

18. At the conclusion of the question-and-answer period, each candidate may submit a closing statement.

Moderation

19. Questions will be posed by the election committee using neutral phrasing and without disparaging any candidate, incumbent, or policy.
20. The election committee shall establish length restrictions and standards of behavior and conduct for statements and answers to questions.
21. The election committee must not edit any nominating statement, answer to a question, or closing statement. If any of these items exceeds a length limit, or in the opinion of the election committee, is unfit for publication due to incivility or personal attacks, the election committee may return it to the candidate with an explanation.
22. Conduct of candidates in spaces other than those used for nominations and questions is out of scope of the election committee.

Extension of Time Limits

23. Candidates shall have at least seven days to respond to a question posed by the election committee, and shall have at least seven days to submit edits to a statement or response which is rejected for moderation reasons, counting from the first time that statement or response was rejected. If deadlines are extended in this way, that extension applies only to that candidate and that specific statement or response. Such extensions will not delay the start of voting.

Eligible Voters

24. The election committee will determine and publish the list of eligible voters as soon as practical after the record date.
25. The election committee will use JudgeApps export to determine this list. The list will be verified by the Board of Directors to ensure that members who are ineligible due to nonpayment of dues are removed.
26. The voter list will be shared with all members, with voters identified by name and JudgeApps username or profile link. Members may challenge this list by contacting the election committee.
27. If regions are used to subdivide the electorate for purposes of electing regional leaders, and voters are to be assigned to a region by the election committee, the region to which each voter is assigned will be included in the voter list.

Eligible Voter Determination

28. A provisional voter list should be made available as soon as practical after the election has been announced.
29. The final eligible voter list must be generated on the record date, as specified in applicable law or the bylaws. If applicable law or the bylaws do not provide for determining a record date for the ballot, the election committee will choose the record date.

Official Voter Lists

30. Members have the right to request a copy of the official voter list, which will contain all information required by law. Members are prohibited from using such a list for any purpose other than those authorized by law. Members shall not share such a list with any person except as required by law.

Ballot Design

31. Each ballot shall have an introduction which describes the ballot, links to additional information on the Judge Foundry elections site, the minimum number of members who must submit a ballot in order for the vote to be valid, and the deadline to submit the ballot. This information may be provided by the election provider or added by the election committee. These items will also be included in the notification email.
32. Each resolution or motion on a ballot will, if applicable, state the percentage of affirmative votes required to adopt the resolution or motion.

Voting

33. The election committee will select an online voting platform and will configure the ballot as required.
34. To allow adequate time for questions and answers, debate, and discussion, candidates and ballot measures will only appear on the ballot if they were submitted in accordance with the schedules and procedures announced by the election committee.
35. Contests with a single winner will use instant runoff voting (IRV), and contests with multiple winners will use Meek single transferable vote (STV), in both cases using the election provider’s default settings for that type of contest. In IRV, if manual tie-breaking is required, ties are broken first backwards, then randomly.
36. Abstentions are permitted on all ballots.

Election Opening

37. Prior to opening the election, the election committee will publish a sample ballot, to allow members to ensure correctness.

Election Operations

38. The election committee has broad authority to respond to any issues or incidents discovered during an election as needed. However, the election committee does not have access to any individual user’s vote, and therefore can not and must not modify any user’s vote. Claims that a user “voted incorrectly” may not be possible to verify or to correct, including accidental submission of a blank ballot. Voters are advised to give their vote the appropriate care and attention to ensure that it is submitted as they intend it to be.

Election Closing

39. When the election is complete, the election committee shall perform any audits they deem appropriate, and then shall announce the results of the election.

Auditing Products

40. The election committee shall publish as soon as possible after the election:

• A list of voters who submitted a ballot, in a format which can be cross-referenced with the list of eligible voters.
• A list of ballots received in each race, presented in an order which prevents connecting a ballot with the voter who casted it.
• An explanation of the counting process for each race, such as a report provided by an election provider for a Meek STV contest, or a written statement of the process of counting the winner of an IRV contest, if the contest was counted manually rather than using an election provider.

Accelerated Procedures

41. In special elections or other time-sensitive matters, the recommended minimum time limits in these rules may be changed by the election committee. Any changes must be published with the timeline before the nominating period begins.

Exceptions

42. In any unforeseen circumstance, or in any case where the law, the bylaws, or other rules do not provide a clear answer to a situation, the election committee shall determine how to proceed.

Specialist Advisors

43. In the case of elections which relate to a specific topic area, such as regional advocates, the election committee will consult with the relevant lead or team on a regular basis, including with regards to scheduling, questions and answers, or unforeseen situations.