NPU-S Officer Election Explainer

This upcoming November, NPU-S will be holding its biannual officer elections. The Nominating Committee wants to make sure that all members of the NPU understand how these elections work in accordance with the NPU-S Bylaws.

Officer Positions and Terms

The positions are:

• Chair
• Vice Chair
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Assistant Secretary

The elected officers will serve a two-year term with a retention election held in the middle of the term.

Relevant bylaws: Article VI, sections 1-7 (Officers); Article VIII, sections 5+6 (retention elections)

The Current Slate

Currently running for officer positions:

• Chair: Nick Hess 
• Vice Chair: Kyle Lamont
• Treasurer: Roslyn Baughn
• Secretary: Matt Quinn
• Assistant Secretary: Jerilyn Lewis

Nominations and Elections

Nominations are managed by the Nominating Committee, currently chaired up by Karen Babino. To run, contact Karen at kbabino@gmail.com or (770) 912 3922.

Nominations may also be made from the floor during the November meeting by members of the NPU.

Elections will be held by ballot. In the case of a vote with multiple candidates where nobody wins a majority of ballots, successive rounds of runoff voting will be held, with the candidate with the lowest number of votes eliminated at each round.

Relevant bylaws: Article VII, sections 1-3 (Elections). Runoff procedures are not specifically covered by the Bylaws and have been determined by the Nominating Committee.

Who Can Vote, Who Can Run

Unlike votes to change the bylaws, which are open to the entire NPU community, officer elections are no different than any other vote held by the Body. Therefore, only NPU-S residents and business representatives who have attended at least three meetings in the past year can vote in the Officer Elections.

Officers are members of the Executive Committee, and are thus bound by the eligibility requirements for the Committee. To qualify as an Executive Committee member an NPU-S member must have attended at least 6 meetings in the past year.

Relevant bylaws: Article IV, Section 3 (voting); Article V, Sections 2+3 (executive committee composition and eligibility); Article IX, Section 1 (Bylaws votes)

Term Limits

An officer may not serve more than two consecutive terms unless there's a two-thirds supermajority vote to retain them for additional terms.

This election, we have two officers who are running for third terms: Nick Hess, the Chair, and Roslyn Baughn, the Treasurer.