Page 16 - Work Force January 2025

2025 CSEA ELECTIONS INFORMATION
Public Sector Local and Unit Elections, Private Sector Local Elections
Elections will be conducted for all Public Sector and Private Sector officers
The term of office for all current Local and Unit officers expires June 30, 2025. Public Sector officers and local delegates will be elected to four-year terms. Private Sector officers and local delegates will be elected to three-year terms.
Before the election process
can begin, each Local and Unit executive board must select its own election committee and Election Committee Chairperson, or Election Meeting Chairperson, if applicable.
The Election Committee/Election Meeting Chairperson is responsible
for conducting the election, which includes choosing an election schedule, providing notices and forms, and
coordinating nominations and voting. Members may run as individual
candidates, or they may run as a slate. For Locals and Units of more than 150 members, nominations will be by
petitioning. For Locals and Units of 150 or fewer members, nominations will instead be made using applications by self-nomination.
Nomination forms will be available from your applicable Local or Unit Election Committee or Election Meeting Chairperson. Check your worksite’s bulletin boards for detailed election information.
If necessary, balloting for officers will be conducted between May 15 and June 15, 2025.
ATTENTION: All Public and Private Sector Local and Unit Presidents
Aslate must contain a candidate running for each and every office: President, one or more Vice Presidents as per the Local or Unit by-laws, Secretary and Treasurer, and any other offices that have been created according to the Local or Unit Constitution and any existing by-laws (for example, the combined Secretary-Treasurer position).
Candidates should know the following:
• A member cannot be a candidate for officer and for delegate on the same slate. An officer candidate must separately nominate to appear on the ballot also as a candidate for delegate. The member will appear on the ballot as a candidate for office as part of the slate and as
an individual for the position of
delegate.
• When circulating and signing
petition forms, members must write in their own CSEA ID numbers or they will not be accepted.
• A member may sign petitions for more than one candidate or slate.
• A member may sign a petition for the same candidate or slate only once.
• A candidate may sign their own petition.
• A member may call CSEA at 1-800- 342-4146 to request their ID number, on CSEA’s website at cseany.org, or on the MyCSEA app.
• Candidates who run as a slate must complete a Slate Eligibility and Consent Form and a Slate Petition Request Form. By petitioning as a slate, candidates who appear as part of a slate need to submit only one set of the required number of signatures to qualify as a candidate. In other words, they can pool their signed petitions together to meet the required number.
• Candidates who withdraw from
a slate must complete a Slate Withdrawal Form and return the form to their election committee.
• More detailed information about election slates will be available from each Local/Unit election committee/ meeting chairperson.
Did you send your Election Committee and Election Meeting Chairperson Data Form to CSEA Headquarters?
Beginning early February, all registered Election Committee Chairs and Election Meeting Chairs will receive an essential election package from
CSEA to assist them in performing their election duties.
Election packages will only be mailed to those Chairs who are on file. CSEA Headquarters cannot send material and information to any Chairperson, without first receiving the completed Election Committee and Election Meeting Chairperson Data Form from the Local or
Unit President.
A letter was sent by the Statewide
Election Committee in Fall 2024 to
each Local/Unit President (or, where applicable, to the CSEA Administrators) requesting each Executive Board to appoint their election committees and chairpersons. If this request has not been complied with, please do so immediately. It’s not too late. Locals and Units will risk going into administratorship if elections are not held in a timely fashion.
Inquiries regarding the election process may be directed to the CSEA Statewide Election Committee at 1-800- 342-4146, ext. 1447 or sec@cseainc.org.
Break in membership affects eligibility for union office, voting privileges
on leave without pay status due to becoming disabled by accident, illness, maternity or paternity, you may be eligible for dues-free membership status for a period not to exceed one year. If you are called up for active military duty you may also apply for dues-free status.
Note, however, you must continue to pay dues to run for office. Dues-free or gratuitous membership allows members to continue their insurance coverage while out of work. It does not protect your right to run for or hold office. This does not apply to members who are on leave due to being called up for military duty, who are considered to have had continuous membership status for election purposes.
Please notify CSEA Membership at 1-800-342-4146 of any change in your status and to make arrangements to continue direct payment of your dues so as to maintain your status as a “member in good standing.”
Important Information about running on a Slate and Slate Voting
Locals and Units with 150 or Fewer Members
implications. Your membership status affects your eligibility with respect to:
• Seeking or holding union office; • Signing nominating petitions for
potential candidates;
• Voting in union elections, and; • Voting on collective bargaining
contracts.
Only members in “good standing” can participate in these activities. To be in “good standing,” your dues cannot be delinquent.
If you go on unpaid leave or for
any other reason have a break in
your employment status, your dues
will not continue to be paid through payroll deductions. You must make arrangements to pay your dues directly to CSEA to continue your membership status. If you are either laid off or placed
Holding an Election at a Special Membership Meeting
Locals and Units with 150 members
or less may choose to appoint an Election Meeting Chairperson (instead
of an election committee) and conduct voting at a meeting. (Nominations cannot be held at a meeting.)
Holding an election at a Special Membership meeting simplifies the election process in that, where there are races (more than one candidate for an
office), the Election Meeting Chairperson calls a membership meeting for the purpose of voting for officers.
Application for Office
In these smaller Locals and
Units, completion of the Application for Election to Office replaces the requirement to obtain signatures on a nominating petition. Any member who timely submits the application and is eligible will qualify as a candidate.
A
status can have long-term future
break in union membership
16 The Work Force
January 2025