To return the responsibilities of conducting elections to the Committee on Nominations.
Prior to the use of the on-line voting system, the Committee handled nominations and the actual conduct of the elections. Since 2003 the Senate Chair has conducted the elections using on-line tools. As such, the Senate Chair is the only person who conducts the election and has access to the results. The Senate Chair met with the current Committee on Nominations who acted as an ad hoc committee to propose the amendment described below.
Constitution Article III: Standing Committees of the Faculty
Section 1: Committee on Nominations and Elections
a. Membership: The membership of the Committee shall consist of six members of the teaching faculty, three of whom shall be elected each year on or before December 1 from a slate composed of nominations by the existing Nominations Committee and from the floor. The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes cast shall be elected for two-year terms. The Committee shall elect its own Chair. Re-election of any member shall be possible.
b. Functions: The Committee shall prepare and submit a slate of two or more candidates for each elective office, elective Faculty or College Senate Committee position or other elective position, including every three years the office of University Faculty Senator, at a time and place designated by the Chair of the College Senate with the advice and consent of the Executive Committee Constitution of the Faculty.
The Committee shall designate members to prepare an online ballot and conduct the voting procedure for each office in a timely way. At least three of the members of the Committee shall have administrator rights to the on-line ballot to examine election results.
The Committee shall notify eligible voters when elections begin and send a reminder one week before the end of the voting period.
The Committee shall notify the Chair of the Senate of the results of the balloting so s/he can notify the nominees of the results and announce same to the College community.
The Chair of the Senate shall keep a record of the results of elections so that if any elected representative cannot fulfill the term of her/his office, the person receiving the next highest vote total in that election will be asked to serve the remainder of that term.
A secretary in the Office of the Provost will be responsible for maintaining the database of voters.
