Agenda Item # 12
SUBJECT: Election Process – Postmark Dates (Section IX.)
STATEMENT OF QUESTION:
Should the requirement for a postmark date be eliminated from the process to elect Local Officers?
SOURCE AND DATE SUBMITTED: International President – February 27, 2015
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Department of Labor (DOL) publishes guidelines for electing Local Union Officers by mail. Within those guidelines, DOL direction is that the Union must establish a date and time by which voted ballots must be received in order to be counted, and that it must clearly announce this deadline in the voting instructions.
The DOL specifically states “do not use a postmark date for the ballot return deadline date because a significant percentage of mail is not postmarked.” Additionally, the DOL will normally defer to a process that is more inclusive. If a ballot is received before the count date, but has a late postmark, then not counting the ballot would go against the desire to be inclusive.
PROPOSED RESOLUTION:
WHEREAS, the Department of Labor (DOL) specifically states “do not use a postmark date for the ballot return deadline date because a significant percentage of mail is not postmarked;”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the International Secretary-Treasurer is directed to make the necessary changes in Section IX of the AFA CWA Constitution and Bylaws so as to remove the requirement for a postmark date in any Local Officer election, and ensure that the appropriate deadline for the date that ballots must be received by is noted.
