International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers
Local Union No. 659
4480 ROGUE VALLEY HWY., SUITE 3
CENTRAL POINT, OREGON 97502
(541) 664-0800 ? FAX (541) 664-0806
March 7, 2008
TO: ALL MEMBERS OF LOCAL UNION 659, I.B.E.W.
Dear Sister and Brother:
In accordance with provisions of the I.B.E.W. Constitution and Article
III of the Local Union Bylaws, this will serve as notification of election of Local Union
officers and Unit officers in 2008.
Nominations of Local Union officers will be made at the regular
meetings in April 2008, and election will be held by secret mailed ballot in June
2008. The ballots will be mailed on June 9, 2008 and will be counted on June 30,
2008 at 9:30 a.m., 4480 Rogue Valley Hwy #3, Central Point, Oregon. Ballots received
after 8:00 a.m. on June 30, 2008 will not be counted. Instructions on the use of the mail
ballot will be enclosed with the ballot.
In the event a run-off election is required, ballots will be mailed on
July 7, 2008 and will be counted on August 2, 2008 at 9:30 a.m., 4480 Rogue Valley Hwy #3,
Central Point, Oregon. The same rules shall apply to the run-off election as were
applicable to the regular election.
Those offices to be filled by election are as follows:
President
Vice President
Recording Secretary
Financial Secretary-Business Manager
Treasurer
Three Executive Board positions
Qualification requirements for candidates are specified in Article III of the Local
Union Bylaws as follows:
ARTICLE III
VOTING BY MAIL BALLOT
Officers - Elections - Duties
Sec. l. The officers shall perform such duties as are stated in Article
XVII of the IBEW Constitution. In addition, they shall perform such duties as are outlined
in these bylaws, and such duties as may be assigned to them by the Local Union and which
are not in conflict with the IBEW Constitution and these bylaws.
Sec. 2. Failure of officers to perform their duties, the suspension or
removal of any officer and the filling of any vacancies, shall be dealt with as stated in
Article XVI of the IBEW Constitution.
Sec. 3. All officers and representatives and all employees shall be
bonded to the extent required by the International or any applicable Federal or State law
whichever is greater. The bond shall be secured through the International and the premium
shall be paid by the Local Union.
Sec. 4 (a) The officers shall be those provided for in Article XVI of
the IBEW Constitution.
Sec. 5. The Executive Board shall consist of President, Vice President,
Recording Secretary, Treasurer and three elected members.
Sec. 6. The Executive Board shall serve as the Examining Board. There
shall be separate meetings held and separate records kept.
Sec. 7 (a) Nominations for officers shall be held in April 2008 and
election of officers shall be held in June 2008 and every three (3) years thereafter,
as stated in Article XVI of the IBEW Constitution. Notice shall be mailed to all members
at least twenty (20) days prior to the meeting for nominations in election years.
(b) Members of one Unit may nominate members of another Unit for Local
Union office. It is not necessary that such nominees be confined to a particular Unit. A
member placing the name of another member in nomination for office when the nominated
member is not present, shall at the time the nomination is made, give to the Unit Recorder
evidence, in writing, signed by the nominee, that the nominee agrees to be a candidate for
a specific Local Union office. However, any member being nominated in this manner cannot
signify his/her intentions to be a candidate for more than one (1) specific Local Union
office. This provision shall not apply to offices that have been combined with the
approval of the International President.
(c) Immediately after nominations, the Unit Recorder shall forward a
list of the names of the candidates, signed by the Unit Recorder and the Unit Chairman, to
the Recording Secretary of the Local Union.
(d) The Local Union shall comply with all reasonable requests of any
bona fide candidate for Local Union Office to distribute his/her campaign literature to
the membership at the candidate’s expense. In handling all such requests, the Local
Union shall comply with the IBEW Local Election Guide and with the applicable Department
of Labor Regulations under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.
(e) Every candidate shall have the right, once within thirty (30) days
prior to the mailing of the ballots, to inspect a list containing the names and last-known
addresses of all members of the Local Union. Such list of members shall be maintained and
kept by the Local Union. The membership list shall not be copied for the use of any
candidate.
(f) No member shall be eligible for office unless he/she has been a
member of Local Union 659 in continuous good standing for at least two (2) years
immediately prior to nomination.
(g) No apprentice shall be eligible to hold office in the Local Union,
except that a member who was previously eligible to hold office in the Local Union shall
remain eligible if he/she entered an apprenticeship program for the purpose of upgrading
his/her classification.
Sec 8. (a) The election of officers shall be conducted by mail ballot.
The Executive Board shall decide the date for the mailing of the ballots, the last day on
which ballots for the election will be received, the date, time and place the ballots will
be counted, and similar information in the event a run-off election is necessary. This
information shall be included in the notice of the nominations meeting and in the ballot
package sent to the members.
(b) The Executive Board may appoint an individual to perform certain
tasks, including but not limited to procuring restricted access post office boxes, mail
permits, or an outside impartial balloting company, prior to the nominations meeting. All
disbursements related to these tasks shall be processed in accordance with the IBEW
Constitution and these bylaws. Once the Election Judge is appointed, such individual shall
inform the Election Judge of all advanced tasks preformed and shall immediately turn over
to the Election Judge all records, receipts, post office boxes, etc. for further
processing.
(c) At the meeting of the Local Union, in the month preceding the month
in which nominations are made, the President shall appoint an Election Judge and as many
Tellers as are required, who shall serve as the Election Board to conduct the election. No
candidate for any office shall be eligible to serve on the Election Board.
(d) After nominations have been made and those nominated are found by
the Election Judge to be qualified, the Election Judge shall have the ballots prepared
listing in alphabetical order the names of all candidates for each respective office,
beginning with President and continuing in the order named in the IBEW Constitution. The
ballots shall not contain any number or other marks identifying the voter. If the Local
Union retains an impartial outside balloting company to assist and/or conduct the mail
ballot election, the Election Judge may, with the approval of the Local Union, authorize
the outside balloting company to perform the tasks of printing, mailing, receiving,
tabulating and/or counting the ballots.
(e) Any candidate for office, or an IBEW member designated by the
candidate as an observer, may be present at the preparation and mailing of ballot
packages, the ballot pickup and the counting of the ballots.
(f) The Financial Secretary shall furnish the Election Judge, not less
than ten (10) days before the date for the mailing of the ballots, an alphabetical list of
the names and addresses of all members eligible to vote. All members in good standing and
qualified shall be entitled to vote.
(g) If not already arranged, the Election Judge shall select a
depository to which the envelopes containing the ballots shall be mailed. This shall not
be the Local Union Post Office Box or the Local Union headquarters. (Cost of such
depository shall be paid by the Local Union.) The Election Judge shall see that the
address of such depository is placed on the preaddressed envelopes.
(h) The Election Judge shall mail or cause to be mailed to all eligible
voters an official ballot and two (2) envelopes. One (1) envelope shall be smaller than
the other and shall have the words OFFICIAL BALLOT stamped or printed on it. The
larger envelope shall be preaddressed to the Election Board and shall contain a space in
the upper left hand corner where the member shall place his/her name and address.
(i) Upon receiving the ballot, the member shall mark the ballot and
enclose it in the smaller envelope marked OFFICIAL BALLOT. This envelope shall be
placed in the larger preaddressed envelope and mailed to the Election Board.
(j) Write-in votes shall not be permitted.
(k) No envelope received later than the time and date set by the
Executive Board in the notice of election shall be opened or counted by the Election
Board. The Election Judge may extend the time for the receipt of ballots in the event of
an extraordinary event beyond the control of the Local Union.
(l) Prior to the counting of the ballots, the Election Board shall
verify voter eligibility by comparing the return ballot envelopes to the voter eligibility
list. A ballot challenged by either the Election Board, a candidate, or a candidate’s
observer shall be set aside. Before removing the official ballot envelopes from the return
ballot envelopes, the Election Judge shall attempt to resolve the challenged ballots,
recording all decisions in writing. Unresolved challenged ballots shall be set aside and
not counted unless such ballots are deemed determinative of the outcome of the election.
(m) The Election Board shall count the ballots or have an outside
impartial balloting company count the ballots in the presence of the Election Board. The
Election Board shall remove or cause the removal of the smaller envelope marked OFFICIAL
BALLOT from the larger envelope. The OFFICIAL BALLOT envelopes shall then be
mixed together to preserve ballot secrecy. The ballots shall then be removed from the OFFICIAL
BALLOT envelopes and tabulated. If the challenged ballots are not determinative, the
Election Judge shall certify the results in writing to the Executive Board immediately
after the ballots have been counted. If the challenged ballots are determinative, the
Election Judge shall, as soon as possible but no later than five (5) days from the
counting of the ballots, investigate and rule upon the challenges. All challenged ballots
determined to be eligible shall then be counted, and the Election Judge shall certify the
results in writing to the Executive Board.
(n) All election records including envelopes and ballots shall be
preserved for one (1) year from the date of election, after which they shall be destroyed
unless a question has arisen in connection with the election.
(o) The Election Judge shall have the authority to establish additional
procedures and safeguards not inconsistent with the above rules and in conformance with
the conduct of a fair election and applicable law. The Election Judge shall also have full
authority to make rulings and decisions concerning disputes, controversies or unexpected
occurrences that might arise in order to assure a fair and orderly election process. These
rulings or decisions shall not conflict with any provisions in the IBEW Constitution or
these bylaws.
(p) The election shall be decided for the candidate receiving the most
votes for a specific office.
(q) In the event of a tie vote affecting the outcome of the election,
the Election Committee shall conduct a run-off election of twenty-one (21) days after the
regular election between the tied candidates.
Eligibility of Candidates are specified in Article XVI, Section 10 of the IBEW
Constitution as follows:
Sec. 10. No member shall be nominated for office unless he is present or signifies
his willingness in writing, nor shall he be eligible for any office unless he has been a
member in continuous good standing at least two (2 years in the L.U. immediately prior to
the nomination, providing the L.U. has been in existence for this length of time. When it
is impracticable or impossible for a L.U. to elect officers with the required standing,
the I.P. may grant special dispensation.
The two (2) year membership requirement shall not be applicable to members of L.U.'s
affiliated with System Councils, who are employed by a single employer and who transfer
between L.U.'s within a System Council, provided, however, that any such member must have
been a member in continuous good standing for two (2) years in at least one of the L.U.'s
affiliated with the System Council involved.
Unit officers will be nominated in April, 2008 and elected at the regular
June meeting in 2008 in accordance with Article XIII of the Local Union Bylaws, Sections
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (listed below):
ARTICLE XIII
Units
Sec. 1. Unit officers shall be members of their respective Units. Each
Unit shall have the following officers: Chairman, Vice Chairman, Recorder, and an
Executive Committee consisting of the Chairman and four (4) elected members.
Sec. 2. Unit officers shall be nominated at the regular meeting of each
Unit in April and elected in June of the year the Local Union elects officers. Only
members of each such Unit in good standing are eligible to nominate and vote for the
Unit's officers.
Sec. 3. No member shall be a candidate for more than one (1) Unit
office. If nominated for more than one (1) office, the member shall immediately declare
for which office he/she will be a candidate. No member shall be nominated for Unit office
unless he/she is present or signifies his/her willingness in writing to be a candidate.
Sec. 4. A member must have at least six (6) months continuous standing
in the their Unit immediately prior to nomination to be eligible for office in their Unit,
provided the Unit has been in existence for six (6) months or more.
Sec. 5. One (1) Judge and as many Tellers as are required shall be
appointed by the Unit Chairman to conduct the election. No candidate for any office shall
be eligible for Election Judge or Teller. Any candidate may be present or have an IBEW
member as an observer present during the voting and at the counting of the ballots.
Sec. 6. Voting shall be by secret ballot. The candidate receiving the
highest number of votes for each Unit office shall be declared elected.
(Note) In accordance with Article XVI, Section 6 of the I.B.E.W.
Constitution, a candidate for the position of Business Manager-Financial Secretary must be
a participant in the Pension Benefit Fund.
(Note) All members considering running for an office should pay
particular attention to the rules and the requirements of the I.B.E.W. Constitution,
Article XVI.
President Mike Bureau appointed Mr. Rick Wheeler as judge for the 2008
election of officers of IBEW Local 659 on February 15, 2008.
Absentee ballots shall be available to any member upon written request
to the election judge. Such request will be accepted up to 5 days prior to the date of the
election.
Likewise, if a member does not receive an election ballot by June 15,
2008, they should make written request to the election judge for a replacement ballot.
Such requests will be accepted up to 5 days prior to the date of the election.
All members running for an office may submit a resume of up to 300
words for a voter’s pamphlet. No personal comments can be submitted for the
voter’s pamphlet. The member’s resume must be received by the election judge in
the Local Union office no later than 10:00 a.m. May 1, 2008 to be included in the
voter’s pamphlet. No additional campaign literature will be mailed at Union expense
except the resume. The resume shall be restricted to Union activities. The election judge
will review the voter’s pamphlet and mail to each member prior to the election in the
Northwest Labor Press.
The effectiveness of your Local Union and its ability to serve your
needs is directly related to your selection of those candidates both able and willing to
serve.
Fraternally,
LOCAL UNION NO. 659, I.B.E.W.
Ronald W. Jones
Business Manager-Financial Secretary
RJ/cb
