ARTICLE IV – Election and Appointment Procedures

Section 1-Election Schedule: The election for all positions will be concurrent with our current Graduate Student Representative elections and will be held at the end of April each year. The date of the election will be announced immediately prior to the general meeting of each Spring semester.

Section 2-Nomination Schedule: Ten (10) days before the election, a notice will be thoroughly distributed by the Secretary to announce the election and to invite nominations for each position.

Section 3-Nomination Eligibility: Any active member that has completed one academic semester may be nominated for any position. Any active member may nominate any active member who has completed one academic semester, including herself/himself.

Section 4-Nomination Acceptance: Eight (8) days before the election, each nominee will be given one day to accept or decline the nomination of her/his name.

Section 5-Campaigning Period: Beginning seven (7) days before the election, each nominee will be permitted to forward a statement to the secretary to be posted on a webpage devoted to nominees’ statements.

Section 6-Election Period: SPUGSO active members will vote using an electronic secret ballot and each position will be filled by the person with the greatest number of votes.

Section 7-Votes Counting: Votes will be counted by the Chair/Co-Chair, the Secretary, and the GSS Representative.

Section 8-Determinations: The winner will be the one receiving the majority of votes. In the event of a tie, the leading candidates sharing the tie will participate in a runoff election following the general procedures in sections 5 through 7.

Section 9-Appointment Procedures: In the event of a sudden or continued vacancy in an executive position, the Chair may choose to appoint an active member to the position in a temporary manner until an election can be held for the position.