N'siah Guide to Chapter Elections - BBYO

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Step 5: Voting Inform the voting body which ballot they will be voting on and their options for voting. It is CRUCIAL that they vote on the correct ballot square. If you receive votes written on the incorrect square, you will need to re-vote (this prevents people from putting extra votes in the box). For each election, the voters may choose any of the candidates or to abstain. Make sure each candidate sits together, separated from the rest of the voting body (Suggestion: Set up chairs in the front of the room for candidates). DEMAND silence during voting. (It might be a good idea to write each candidate’s name on a poster-board, or call out each name) Also, remind the voting body that any blank or unclear ballots will be counted as abstentions. VOTING— even the N’siah votes, she DOES NOT pocket her vote during elections. Have each girl place the ballots in a box. Note: If a member leaves the room for any part of the process of electing a candidate (nominations, speeches), she is not eligible to vote in that election. Even if the election goes into a runoff, the delegate still may NOT cast a ballot for that office. The same people must vote throughout the election of an office. It is CRUCIAL that girls say “ami” and you acknowledge them before leaving the room so that you may accurately keep track of the number of votes that will be cast. Make sure your Mazkirah is taking detailed minutes throughout elections. Step 6: Counting the ballots Remind people not to talk about elections while you’re gone (they can make top 10 lists, tell stories, sing songs, or snack, as long as they are not talking about the elections – have your board members entertain the group), hand your gavel to your S’ganit, go outside the room, and count the ballots. Ballots should be counted by the N’siah and advisor. In the case that the N’siah is running for a position, the S’ganit shall take over the elections for that position. Monday, April 18, 2011 14
How to count the ballots... 1. Determine the Majority needed to elect a candidate (More than 50% of your voting body. Example, if you are collecting 29 ballots, 15 votes are required to win the election ~ 29/2 = 14.5= 15) 2. Count ballots while still CLOSED to ensure the correct # and determine if you need a recount/revote (all votes must be on the ballot square that you determined). 3. Open ballots and pile them up by candidate. 4. Count all of the piles, beginning with the abstention pile. To clarify: an abstention is a ballot marked abstention, a blank ballot, an unclear ballot, or a non-candidate. 5. Determine the majority. Majority: More than half of the votes cast by persons legally entitled to vote, excluding abstentions. For example in a delegation of 100 people with 10 abstentions, a simple majority would be calculated out of 90, not 100 voting members. (this directly follows Robert’s Rules of Order) • Any Ballot marked with ‘abstain,’ a blank ballot, an unclear ballot, or a with a person not in the election are counted as abstentions and do not count towards the majority. If the majority is 16, but there are 5 abstentions, the majority would then be only 11. In that case, no girl would receive the majority, and there will be a runoff between the girls who received the highest number of votes. 6. If a majority is not reached, determine the candidates in the runoff election using the instructions outlined below. Rules for Run-Offs... • In order to have a run-off, you have to have at least two people because there has to be a winner and a loser. • You must assume that if you went back into the room and said, “Everybody vote again!” without any other discussion or debate, they’d all vote the same way. • You automatically keep the candidate with the highest number of votes in the run-off and drop the candidate with the lowest number. • To determine other candidates, follow these steps: If the candidate with the second-lowest number of votes could achieve the number of votes needed to win when her ballots are added to the first candidate who was dropped, keep that candidate. If not, the candidate is also dropped and does not get included in the run off. Continue this process of adding the votes of dropped candidates to the person with the next highest number of votes. Monday, April 18, 2011 15
Page 2 and 3: What’s Inside: Message from Buzz
Page 4 and 5: Stay ORGANIZED & FOLLOW ME.... Read
Page 7 and 8: Monday, April 18, 2011 What type of
Page 9 and 10: Aym Ha-Chaverot •Recruits CONSTAN
Page 11 and 12: Election Day Monday, April 18, 2011
Page 13: Step 3: Nominations YOU: Are there
Page 17 and 18: PLEASE NOTE: • The N’siah votes
Page 19 and 20: It’s ELECTION day...Do I have my

N'siah Guide to Chapter Elections - BBYO

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