#1 -Nomination Process and Notification of Nominees:

A.  All candidates for office, submitting papers to the Nominations & Elections Committee, shall be notified in writing upon receipt of materials by the MNA staff person assigned to the Nominations & Elections committee.  The letter of acknowledgement will identify the office sought. All notifications will be sent by MNA no later than June 5 of each year. If no acknowledgment has been received by that date, it is the nominees’ responsibility to contact MNA regarding the status of their nomination.

B.     All candidates must be an MNA member or a Labor Program member in good standing at the time of nomination and election.

C.     A statement from each candidate, if provided, will be printed in the Massachusetts Nurse.  Such statements should be limited to no more than 250 words.

 

#2 Publication OF BALLOT

A)    Preliminary Ballot: All candidates  who are members in good standing shall have their names printed on the ballot provided the nomination papers have been received by the Nominations & Elections Committee or designee by the deadline date established by the committee and communicated in the Massachusetts Nurse.  The order names are listed on the ballot is determined by random selection.

B)     Final Ballot: All candidates who are members in good standing, shall have their names printed on the ballot provided the nomination papers have been received by the Nominations & Elections Committee by the deadline date established by the committee and communicated in the Massachusetts Nurse.

The order names are listed on the ballot is determined by random selection by the Nominations & Elections Committee or their designee.

All candidates will receive a draft copy of the Final Ballot prior to the Election Mailing for verification purposes.  Confirmation/request for corrections to the ballot should be made in writing to the Nominations and Elections Committee or their designee postmarked within 7 days of receipt of the draft ballot.

For uncontested positions the Nominations & Elections Committee may solicit candidates, accept late applications, and add to the ballot after the final ballot deadline with approval of the majority of members of the Nominations & Elections Committee present and voting.

C)     Ballot Information: All inquiries related to deadlines, status, policies, eligibility to vote and receipt of ballots are to be addressed to the staff person to the Nominations & Elections Committee or a designee.

# 3 - Publication of Policies/Procedures/Campaign Practice

All policies, procedures and campaign practices related to the MNA elections shall be distributed to candidates upon receipt of their nomination papers.  Notice to all members of availability shall be published in the Massachusetts Nurse annually.

 

#4 - Campaign Practices

A)    All candidates shall have access to the following: membership lists/labels; structural unit rosters; bargaining unit rosters; and MNA on site mailboxes. Candidates may also have access to campaign space in the Massachusetts Nurse and may request time on structural unit and bargaining unit agendas. The following conditions must be met.

1. Request for labels/lists/rosters* must be in writing and signed by the candidates. All requests will be honored provided they comply with the MNA information/label request policies.

2. Requests from the candidate for time on structural unit or bargaining unit agendas must be in writing and directed to the appropriate chair. The staff person for the group must also be notified of the request. All candidates for a specific office must be provided with equal access and time.

3. Structural units and bargaining units may invite candidates to speak at a meeting. All requests must be in writing with a cc to staff. All candidates for a specific office must be provided with equal access and time.

4. All costs for labels/space in the Massachusetts Nurse, and mailing shall be the responsibility of the candidates. Labels will be provided at cost. Ad space in the Massachusetts Nurse will be at a specific advertising rate.

5. Records of requests received, the date of the request, as well as distribution of materials shall be kept by the Membership Department.

6. All campaign mailings utilizing MNA membership labels shall be sent through a mailing house designated by the MNA. Mailing utilizing rosters may be done directly by the candidates.

7. The membership list shall be available for review/inspection, by appointment with the Membership Department. Lists or records must remain on the premises.

B.     All candidates must follow acceptable practices in the acceptance of goods, services and contributions. This includes

1. Employers shall not provide money, supplies, refreshments or publication of and “endorsement” on behalf of a candidate.

2. Candidates may not use MNA, District or employer stationary to promote their candidacy.

3. Candidates may not use postage paid for by MNA, District or an employer to mail literature to promote their candidacy.

4. Neither MNA its structural units or bargaining units may use dues money for a function to promote the candidacy of a particular candidate. MNA may sponsor a function at which all candidates for a particular office are invited and no candidate is shown preference over another.

5. Individual members may make voluntary contributions of money, goods or services to a candidate.

6. The amount that a candidate may expend in campaigning is not limited by MNA.

7. MNA elected and appointed officials may endorse candidates. In the event that the endorsement is to appear in the Massachusetts Nurse, then and only then, the endorsements must be verified on the official MNA Campaign Endorsement Form and must accompany ad copy. However, no endorsements may carry identification as to the MNA office held by the endorser (see attachment A).

8. MNA staff shall not wear promotional materials of any candidate or in any manner promote the candidacy of any individual.

9. Candidates shall not use the MNA corporate logo on campaign materials.

10. Campaigning or campaign materials are not allowed on MNA premises with the following exceptions:

·            When invited to a MNA structural unit or bargaining unit meeting.

·            Meeting attendees may wear promotional material.

·            Access to MNA structural unit and bargaining unit on site mailboxes is

                          unrestricted.

 

#5 - Ballot/Voting Instructions:

A.     Ballot will be mailed at least 15 days prior to the date which it must be mailed back (postmarked).

B.     Complete area (as per instructions on form) next to the name of the candidate of your choice. You may vote for any candidate from any district.

C.     Do not mark the ballot outside of the identified area.

D.     Write-in votes shall not be considered valid and will not be counted.

E.      Enclose the correct and completed voting ballot in an envelope (marked Ballot Return Envelope), which does not identify the voter in anyway, in order to assure secret ballot voting. ONLY ONE BALLOT MAY BE PLACED IN THE ENVELOPE.

All mailing envelopes will be separated from the inner envelope containing the ballot before the ballots are removed, to assure that a ballot can in no way be identified with an individual voter. (At the discretion of the Nominations & Elections Committee, mailing envelopes containing the voter’s name and address may be checked off on a master membership list. This process may be of the total membership list, or randomly selected envelopes.)

If the mailing envelope has been misplaced, another envelope can be substituted. This envelope must be addressed to:

MNA Secretary, c/o Contracted Election Administrator

(address)

In the upper left-hand corner of this envelope you must:

a.    Block Print Your Name

b.    Sign Your Name (Signature required)

c.    Write Your Address & Zip

If this information is not on the mailing envelope, the secret ballot insidE is invalid.

F.      The ballot must be received no later than ________ AM/PM

       on __________ ,    ____________ in order to be counted.  

           (Day)               (Date)

G.     The ballots must be mailed to : _____________________ MNA Secretary.

Contracted Election Administrator

(Address)

 

#6 – Observation:

1. Each candidate or their designee who is a current MNA and/or Labor Relations Program member is to be permitted to be present on the day(s) of the mailing, receipt, opening and counting of the ballots.  Notification of intent to have an observer present must be received in writing or electronic message from the candidate 5 working days prior to the ballot counting date.

2. Each observer must contact the MNA staff person assigned to the Nominations & Elections Committee 5 working days prior to the day in question for space allocation purposes only.

3. The observer must provide current MNA membership identification to election officials and authorization from the candidate.

4. No observer shall be allowed to touch or handle any ballot or ballot envelope.

5. During all phases of the election process, the single copy of the voter eligibility list will be present for inspection.

6. All observers and candidates will keep election results confidential for 72 hours after the ballot procedure is completed and certified.

#7 - Candidate Notification:

1. Results of the MNA Election will be made available to candidates (or their designee) within 72 hours after completion of the ballot counting.  Only the names of those elected will be posted on the MNA website when all candidates have been notified after the ballot procedure is completed and certified.  Hard copies of the election results shall be sent to each candidate.

2. Results of the MNA election will be kept confidential until all candidates are notified.  Notification of all candidates will occur within 72 hours of certification of the election.

3. Results will include the following:

• Number of total ballots cast for the office in question
• Number of ballots cast for the candidate.
• The election status of the candidate (elected/not elected)

4. Any MNA member may access these numbers by written request.

5. Election results will be posted at the annual meeting.

 

#8 - Storage of Election Materials:

1. Pre Election: All nomination forms and all correspondence related to nominations shall be stored in a locked cabinet at MNA headquarters. The Nominations & Elections Committee and staff to the committee shall have sole access to the cabinet and its contents.

2. Post Election: All election materials including ballots (used, unused and challenged), envelopes used to return marked ballots, and voter eligibility lists shall be stored in a locked cabinet at MNA headquarters for one year. The Nominations & Elections Committee Chairperson and staff to the committee shall have sole access to the cabinet and its contents.

 

#9 - Post Election Press Release:

The Department of Public Communications shall check the information on file/CV data for accuracy/currency with the elected candidate prior to issuing a press release.

*Member List – a computer listing of the total MNA membership eligible to vote, including name, address, billing information etc.

*Membership Labels – computer generated labels of the total MNA membership eligible to vote, provided in keeping with MNA Label Sales Policies.

*Rosters – computer generated list of the Board of Directors of MNA and all MNA structural units. List includes names and addresses.

*On-Site Mailboxes – areas at the MNA provided for communicating with structural units and bargaining units.

Approved by Board of Directors: 5/16/02

Revised by BPC:  11/21/02

Approved:  BOD 12/19/02

Revised by BPC:  8/11/03

Approved:  BOD 8/21/03