TANANA CHIEFS CONFERENCE 2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING ELECTION COMMITTEE RULES Page 0 of 8
TANANA CHIEFS CONFERENCE 2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING ELECTION COMMITTEE RULES RULE 1. SCOPE OF RULES These rules, adopted by the Tanana Chiefs Conference Executive Board, will govern the nomination and election of the Principal Officers, Executive Board Subregional members, AFN Village Representative, IRHA Board Members, TCC Education Council, TCC Regional Health Board, and the Interior Athabascan Tribal College Board of Trustees at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors of TCC. The effective dates of these rules are to be from March, 13, 2018 until the end of the Subregional meetings in March 2018. RULE 2. ELECTION JUDGES The Election Committee ( Committee ) will serve as the election judges. No candidate seeking a seat or position in the 2018 election shall serve on the Election Committee. RULE 3. ELIGIBILITY TO VOTE The Election Committee will receive from the Credentials Committee a list of accredited Directors based upon the Credentials Committee s finding of appointment by each member village. All Directors certified by the Credentials Committee will be eligible to vote in elections for TCC positions. Ex officio Directors (the principal officers, elder and youth advisors) may not vote in an election. RULE 4. ELIGIBILITY TO BE A CANDIDATE Candidates for all positions shall be Alaska Native and residents of the State of Alaska. Certain positions such as principal officers will have further criteria per TCC bylaws (See Rule 6). RULE 5. NOMINATIONS: AFN VILLAGE REPRESENTATIVE and IRHA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Before the election for the AFN Village Representative and IRHA Board of Commissioners, the Election Committee will conduct the following nomination procedure. The Election Committee will receive nominations from the floor for the AFN Village Representative and IRHA Board of Commissioners. Nominations from the floor require a second. Only Directors may nominate or second a nomination, and must identify themselves at the time of making a nomination. Upon the second of a nomination, the nominated individual will be included in the list of nominees. Nominations will be closed upon motion of a Page 1 of 8
Director, a second by a Director, and a majority voice voted in favor of closure. All nominations from the floor and seconds will be made by Directors. Nominations may be reopened upon motion to reconsider by a Director, a second by a Director, and a majority voice vote in favor of reopening nominations. Nominations may not be reopened after the election of officers begins. Upon final closure of the nominations, the election judges will read the list of nominees a second time and proceed with the election. The IRHA nominations will be voted in alphabetical order by seat letter, e.g. Seat A. RULE 6. NOMINATIONS: PRINCIPAL OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD In 2018, there is an election for the Principal Officer of Secretary/Treasurer (three year term). Principal Officers must be Alaska Native members of a member village of TCC and eligible to be selected as a Director of a member village. (Bylaws Article Five, Section 1). Two seats are up for election in 2018 on the Executive Board, one from the Lower Yukon Subregion, and one from Upper Kuskokwim Subregion, both of which are 3 year terms. Voting Executive Board members must be a designated Director of a member village. Directors must be residents of the State of Alaska and be an Alaska Native member of a member village. (Bylaws Article Four, Section 1). Fulltime employees are not eligible to serve as Directors. (Bylaws Article Four, Section 2). Eligible persons declare their candidacy for these offices by submitting a written Declaration of Candidacy during the 30-day period. No nominations for a Principal Officer or the Executive Board are accepted from the floor of the Board of Directors meeting. (Bylaws Article Four, Section 12). RULE 7. NOMINATIONS: REGIONAL HEALTH BOARD, EDUCATION COUNCIL, AND IATC BOARD OF TRUSTEES In 2018, there are two seats for election on the Regional Health Board: Yukon Koyukuk and Yukon Tanana. There are two seats for election on the Education Council: Yukon Flats Subregion and Yukon Koyukuk Subregion. There are two seats for election on the Interior Athabascan Tribal College: Lower Yukon and Yukon Koyukuk. Eligible persons declared their candidacy for these offices by submitting a written Declaration of Candidacy during the 30-day period. (Bylaws Article Four, Section 12). Page 2 of 8
RULE 8. CANDIDATE SPEECHES There will be candidate speeches for the positions of Secretary/Treasurer the AFN Village Representative and the IRHA Board of Commissioners up for election in 2018. Each candidate may speak to the Board for three (3) minutes before balloting starts except for Presidential candidates which will be allowed five (5) minute speeches. There will be no questions from the floor during the official candidate speeches. The Chair of the Election Committee will be the moderator for the candidates speeches. RULE 9. METHOD OF VOTE The Election Committee will prepare a single ballot listing all candidates for AFN Village Representative and the IRHA Board of Commissioners. The Election Committee will distribute the ballots to each Director physically present during the election, who will cast one vote for each office listed on the ballot. Votes will be cast by secret ballot collected by TCC legal staff. No Director will cast more than one vote on each ballot. Directors cannot cast a vote by proxy. RULE 10. MAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED for Principal Officers IRHA Board of Commissioners and AFN Village Representative To be elected to a position, nominees are required to receive a majority vote from the votes cast by the TCC Board. If no nominee receives a majority vote on a ballot, the Election Committee shall conduct a subsequent ballot provided by these Election Rules until a nominee receives a majority vote. The Youth Advisor candidate who receives the most votes will be elected. There will be a second ballot only if needed for a tie breaker. RULE 11. FAILURE TO ACHIEVE MAJORITY 1. In the event of a tie occurring for a Subregional seat, a coin toss will occur to determine the outcome of the election. 2. Ballots where there are four (4) nominees or more. If no nominee receives a majority vote on the first ballot the following rules will apply with the intent to eliminate candidates to achieve a majority: The Election Committee will eliminate all nominees except for the three (3) nominees receiving the highest number of votes and Page 3 of 8
conduct a subsequent ballot. If there are three (3) or more candidates that receive the second highest number of votes, all those with the second highest number of votes will proceed to the next ballot including the candidate with the most votes. The remaining candidates will be eliminated. If there is a tie for candidates with the third highest vote and there are two (2) or more candidates that receive the first and/or second highest number of votes, only the two (2) or more candidates that receive the highest number of votes will proceed to the next ballot. The rest will be eliminated. If there are more than three (3) candidates tied for first highest vote, all of those receiving the first highest will proceed to the next ballot. The rest will be eliminated. If all but one candidate ties for second, the Election Committee will distribute an elimination ballot that includes only the nominees who tied for second. The Election Committee will eliminate the one nominee receiving the lowest number of votes on the elimination ballot and resume the balloting between all remaining nominees. 3. Ballots where there are three (3) nominees. If no nominee receives a majority vote on a ballot having three (3) nominees, the Election Committee will eliminate the one nominee receiving the lowest number of votes, and conduct a subsequent ballot. If all three (3) nominees tie for the votes cast, the Election Committee shall conduct a subsequent ballot including all nominees. If two nominees tie for the fewest votes cast, the Committee will distribute an elimination ballot that includes only the two nominees who tied for the fewest votes cast on the prior ballot. The Election Committee will eliminate the one nominee receiving the lowest number of votes on the elimination ballot and resume the balloting between all remaining nominees. 4. Ballots with two (2) nominees. The nominee receiving a majority vote shall be elected. If neither nominee receives a majority vote, the Election Committee will prepare another ballot without elimination of the nominee receiving the fewer votes. This Election Committee will repeat this process as necessary until one nominee receives a majority vote. RULE 12. WITHDRAWAL AND DISQUALIFICATION OF NOMINEE Page 4 of 8
Prior to a candidate receiving a majority vote, a candidate may withdraw from consideration at any time before the ballots are handed out to the Directors by informing the Election Committee of his/her intent to do so. The Committee may withdraw a nominee from consideration if the nominee is found to be ineligible to stand for election to the respective office under the TCC Articles of Incorporation, the TCC Bylaws, TCC Policies and Procedures, or any applicable law. RULE 13. DISPUTES Any nominee may file a written protest with the election judges. All protests must be filed before certification of the election results or such protests will be deemed to be waived. The election judges will hear all protests and render a decision under these rules by either dismissing the protest or ordering a new election. The decision of the election judges will be final and binding upon the corporation and nominees. The election judges will rule on all protests before certification of the election results. RULE 14. DISPLAY OF BALLOT RESULTS Upon acceptance of the Election Committee s report to the TCC Board, which will include these Election rules that the Board agrees to be bound by, the Election Committee will not display the numerical results of each ballot to the Board. The Board agrees, through a unanimous waiver of the Directors rights to see the election results, that they will allow the Election Committee to certify the results of the secret balloting process to the Board only when a nominee has been successful in achieving a majority of the ballots cast; provided that such certification will not include the numerical results of the balloting process. RULE 15. ELECTION CERTIFICATION After the election for the Principal Officers, AFN Village Representative and IRHA Board of Commissioners, the election judges will certify the election results to the TCC Board, provided that all timely protests have been ruled on. Upon certification, the election becomes final. RULE 17. RATIFICATION OF SUBREGIONAL OFFICE ELECTIONS The Election Committee will present to the Directors for Full Board ratification the results of each subregion s election results for the following offices: Page 5 of 8
1. TCC Executive Board Subregional members; 2. Health Board; 3. TCC Education Council; and 4. Interior Athabascan Tribal College Board of Trustees. Upon presentation of the subregional election results, the Full Board of Directors will ratify the results of each individual subregional election by motion, a second and a majority voice vote in favor of the motion. Once these elections are ratified, the successful candidates will be seated as members. Adopted this 15th day of March, 2018. ELECTION COMMITTEE JUDGES Signatures Printed Names Upper Tanana Subregion Yukon Flats Subregion Yukon Tanana Subregion Yukon Koyukuk Subregion Lower Yukon Subregion Upper Kuskokwim Subregion Page 6 of 8
2018 TCC ELECTION COMMITTEE REPORT The Elections Committee has made the following findings: SUBREGIONAL ELECTION RESULTS REQUIRE FULL BOARD RATIFICATION Yukon Koyukuk: Executive Board (3 year term) Upper Tanana: Executive Board (3 year term) IATC Board of Trustees (3 year term) Upper Kuskokwim: Education Council (3 year term) Yukon Flats: Health Board (3 year term) Yukon Tanana: Education Council (3 year term) Presidential candidates that have filed timely letter of intent: 1. from 2. from 3. from All candidates have been found to be qualified to run. IRHA Commissioners and AFN Representative are nominated from the floor. NOTE: The candidates for the Subregional Executive Board vacancies must be credentialed delegates to the Full Board and must have been the seated delegate or alternate delegate for their Tribe at their Subregional Advisory Board meeting. The candidates for the other positions, which are for advisory committee positions, need not be members of the Full Board of Directors. Page 7 of 8